WENDELL GLENN P.

CAGAPE, MAFS COLUMN FOR:

August 26, 2007

A culture of thinking or a thinking culture?

Recently, in my PhD class at the Graduate School for Education at the La

Salle University, we deliberated on issues affecting school systems in the country
and how we can address it. Along the discussion routes we did, I offered to my
classmates the concept of author Ben Heirs, who wrote the national bestseller, “The
Professional Decision Thinker”. Heirs discussed the aspect of thinking strategically
and to enhance any organization to achieve its goal and vision as well as its mission
through the contextualization and adaptation of the culture of thinking.

In our daily lives, may it be in work, relationship and studies; we do think and
practice the skill of thinking albeit simply. To make it more proactive, increase your
level of thinking and accept new approaches to improve the manner that you think.
As I had been saying, the absence of a thinking culture restricts us to think deeply
and analyze the situation we are currently in because we feared that if we think too
much, our brains will explode in thin air or worse, people will see us as another
species out from the mental institution. Whatever you do, you need to think and you
will never get to where you are heading if you are handicapped with your thinking
skills.

The art of thinking is not a gift as opposed to the suggestion of my classmate

because a thinking culture can be acquired, nurtured and sustained. Strategic
thinking enables an organization to leapfrog to its objectives. Creating a culture of
thinking in our organizations and communities necessitates that our thinking
mechanism does not necessarily be coming from the top echelons of management.
All stakeholders in the organization must be consulted and ask to participate in the
thinking process. In a culture of thinking, the organization think, not only the
individual running it.

The unfortunate situation of our society and in most corporations and

organizations, thinking are apparently done by the top honchos and the
subordinates are treated as mere implementers or worse, become the end user of
such thinking processes. Because of this, our country is lagging behind in terms of
economic development, political stability as well as in the educational sector. If you
wonder why our universities and colleges are not at par with the rest of the world, a
culture of thinking is blatantly absent. Most decisions come from the top and
thinking is done sparingly. Worse, in a society like ours, we only think and plan
during meetings. We tend to focus on issues affecting our output whenever we are
mandated to think, some even went as far being coerced to think.

Mr. Heirs called this dilemma as reactive thinking and short-term

programming. Why reactive thinking? It is because most of our universities and
colleges, even LGUs and corporations are employing their thinking capability
whenever problem arises. Mostly, our behavior towards problems and irritants to
our operations are addressed by piecemeal. We are not hitting the right target and
because of this, frustrations ensue. The art of team thinking leadership as espoused
by Mr. Heirs is what we need. This is the kind of skill that we need to develop in
order for us to compete with Singapore and the rest of the world.

You might ask yourself why Singapore, a nation-state much smaller than
Mindanao, was able to promote itself as the knowledge capital or nerve center of all
knowledge-based industries in Asia. It is because Singaporeans excessively practice
the art of thinking. You may ask why Bill Gates became the most famous, well-loved
and respected billionaire that he is, it is because before he made money out of the
intranet/internet and the World Wide Web as well as the Microsoft operating
systems and other support software, he spent literally his entire day at the
basement of their home and strategically think. When he is asked what he is doing,
he responded that he is pre-occupied with thinking. Because of that culture of
thinking, he explored his wildest imaginations and search for the right answers to
his many questions, and look at him now, he is one of the richest man on earth.

Decision-thinking is necessary for any organization to prosper. It is very

important to be reliable and credible in your decision-thinking. The lifeblood of any
organization is the specific culture that it imbibes to its employees and stakeholders
and thinking enables it to be advanced productively and successfully. A thinking
culture is needed to make our senators and congressmen be accountable for their
behaviors in their respective work. It is through this that distinguishes a man from a
boy. Thinking embodies the concept of foresight. It is because in a culture of
thinking, one is encouraged to pursue opinions that are different from what the
institution holds or stands for but beneficial to the organization as a whole. Thinking
makes one a good manager and a leader. It is in a culture of thinking that men and
women are rewarded with the opportunity to take claim of the policy being adopted.