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COEUR - BCM Business Creativity Module Critical Thinking and the Creative Personality Carolyn McNicholas Aberdeen Business School, RGU. Key Questions. How do creative/ entrepreneurial people differ? What makes one creative/ entrepreneurial? Can anyone be creative/ entrepreneurial?
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COEUR - BCMBusiness Creativity ModuleCritical Thinking and the Creative Personality Carolyn McNicholasAberdeen Business School, RGU
Key Questions • How do creative/ entrepreneurial people differ? • What makes one creative/ entrepreneurial? • Can anyone be creative/ entrepreneurial? • Do you need special skills and characteristics to be an entrepreneur? • Are entrepreneurs born or made?
Personality Traits Strong need for achievement (Nach) McCelland 1965 • high achievers • spend time considering how to do a job better or how to accomplish something important to them. • They actively seek out opportunities to take responsibility and • They welcome feedback on their actions Risk taking propensity • Medium, calculated risk takers • Avoid high and low risk situations • Ability to evaluate risk
Personality Traits • Locus of control Rotter 1966 • desire to be in control of their own fate • High internal LOC • the achievement of a goal is dependent on their own behaviour • Tolerance of ambiguity Schere 1982 • have an open mind, • respond quickly to change, • need to know only the key facts • have a flexible attitude
Personality Traits • Desire for autonomyBirley and Westhead 1993 • high need for independence • Smith 1967- fear of external control • Determination • Initiative • Creativity • Self confidence • Trust
Personality Traits Chell, Haworth and Brearley (1994) & Chell 2008 • Opportunity recognition/ Opportunistic • Entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) • Social competence • Intuitive • Innovative • Imaginative • Proactive • Agents of change
The ‘Big Five’ based on Costa and McCrae’s (1992) model of personality structure
The Personality Approach Observations are that: • Some personality traits can be acquired by people • Some traits eg high energy, emotional stability are innate • Most entrepreneurs do not possess all of the ideal personality traits • The validity and reliability of personality scales are questioned
The Personality Approach • Entrepreneurs are not homogenous • Gender, age, social class, nationality and education make a difference • Environment and cultural influences must also be taken into account • Entrepreneurial decision making is based on the interaction of many factors (motivations, stage in life cycle, personal economic context)
Background of Entrepreneurs Entrepreneurs are: • Female • Immigrant • Socially oriented • Family oriented • Rurally based • Young and old • Life style oriented (hobby/part time) • Serial Entrepreneurs
Dreamers Decisive Doers Determined Dedicated Devoted Details Destiny Dollars Distribute The 10 Ds Bygrave (2010)
Critical Attributes for Success Brannick 1995 • Numerical ability 1% • Verbal ability 3% • Professional marketing qualification 5% • Computer literacy 5% • Imagination 17% • Observational powers 18% • Personal judgement 24% • Ability to get on with others 27% • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tod1moy8VZM
Desirable and Acquirable Attitudes Timmons (2008) Commitment and determination • Tenacity and decisiveness • Able to commit quickly • Disciplined • Persistent in solving problems • Willing to undertake personal sacrifice Leadership • Self starter • Team builder and hero • Share the wealth • Integrity and reliability • Superior learner and teacher
Desirable and Acquirable Attitudes Timmons (2008) • Opportunity obsession • Have intimate knowledge of customers needs • Market driven • Obsessed with value creation and enhancement • Tolerance of risk, ambiguity and uncertainty • Calculated risk taker • Risk minimiser/ sharer • Tolerant of uncertainty • Tolerant of stress • Able to resolve problems and integrate solutions
Desirable and Acquirable Attitudes Timmons (2008) contd • Creativity, self-reliance & ability to adapt • Creative and lateral thinker • Ability to adapt and change; creative problem solver • Ability to learn quickly • Rely on own judgement & lack of fear of failure • Motivation to excel • Goal and results orientation • Low need for status and power • Aware of weaknesses and strengths • Have perspective and a sense of humour
Characteristics of Entrepreneurs Kaplan 2009 • Passionately seek to identify new opportunities • Pursue opportunities with discipline and focus on a limited number of projects • Focus on action and execution • Involve and energise networks of relationships
So what is an Entrepreneur? • “Who is the entrepreneur ?” may be the wrong question • Why successful entrepreneurs think the way they do, might be better? • Thinking processes can be taught, so we can all be entrepreneurs if we learn how to develop and evaluate opportunities
Cognitive abilitiesWesthead, Wright & McElwee 2011 • Information acquisition and dissemination • Intelligence, ability with information • Sense making • Unlearning • Implementation and improvisation, autonomous behaviour, experimentation, reflection and action
Entrepreneurs Cognitive Processes (Palich & Bagby 1995) • Entrepreneurs do NOT perceive themselves as being more pre-disposed to taking risks than managers • Entrepreneurs interpret equivocal data in a more positive way than managers • Strengths versus weaknesses • Opportunities versus threats
Entrepreneurs Cognitive Processes (Palich & Bagby 1995) • “What each man wishes, that he also believes to be true” - Demonsthenes • Entrepreneurs categorise situations as having strengths and opportunities, because the positive attributes, are more salient to them
Components of CriticalThinking • A set of skills to process and generate information and beliefs, and • The habit, based on intellectual commitment, of using those skills to guide behaviour It is contrasted with the mere acquisition and retention of information alone, (because it involves a particular way in which information is sought and treated)
Critical Thinking Core Critical Thinking Skills Interpretation Analysis Evaluation Self-Regulation Inference Explanation Source: Facione, P. A (1998)
Attributes Of A Critical Thinker Ferrett 1997 • Asks pertinent questions • Can/does admit a lack of understanding or information • Has a sense of curiosity • Is interested to find new solutions • Is willing to examine beliefs, assumptions, and opinions and weigh them against facts • Listens carefully to others and can provide feedback • Seeks evidence to support assumptions and beliefs • Can/does adjust opinions when new facts are found
Hemispheres of the brain Ornstein 1896 The left side handles language, logic and symbols. • Information processing; step by step • Systematic thinking The right side takes care of the body's emotional, intuitive and spatial functions. • Information processing; intuitive • Unsystematic thinking http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spinning_Dancer
Right brain thinking Lewis 1987 • ask if there is a better way of doing things; • challenge custom, routine and tradition; • be reflective – often deep in thought; • play mental games, trying to see an issue from a different perspective; • realise that there may be more than one “right” answer; • see mistakes and failures as pitstops on the route to success; • relate seemingly unrelated ideas to a problem to generate a solution; and • see an issue from a broader perspective, but have the ability to focus on an area in need of change.
Entrepreneurial skills • communication skills, especially persuasion; • creativity skills; • critical thinking and assessment skills; • leadership skills; • negotiation skills; • problem-solving skills; • social networking skills; and • time-management skills.
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