From the course: Critical Thinking

Unlock the full course today

Join today to access over 22,600 courses taught by industry experts or purchase this course individually.

Use the five whys of critical thinking

Use the five whys of critical thinking

From the course: Critical Thinking

Start my 1-month free trial

Use the five whys of critical thinking

“

- One of the most effective critical thinking tools I've ever come across is the five whys. When I was a young analyst as a consultant, I was at a client engagement, and I was responsible for doing a lot of analysis. One morning I did a bunch of analysis around some things that my client was purchasing. And when I went to lunch with my project manager, he said, "What have you been doing today?" And I said, "Well, I was doing the analysis on this one category of spend." And he said, "Okay, what'd you learn?" I said, "Well, I think this is happening." And he said, "Okay, well why?" "What do you mean, why?" "Well, why is that happening? Why do you think that's happening?" I said, "I don't know, maybe it's this." And he said, "Okay, well why?" "What do you mean why?" "Well, why would that be happening?" And I stopped and I thought, and I said, "Well, it might be this." And he said, "Well, why?" And I said, "Oh my…

Contents