Luncheon Workshop # 4: Cut the Crap: Reality-Based Leadership

Successful people know they need to see the world and their organizations the way they are—not how they want them to be. Frankly, much of what we see, hear, (and maybe even say) is full of crap. This workshop is about why it’s important to recognize the BS, falsehoods, and poor reasoning that surround us. You’ll learn about the fallacies and psychological traps that mislead us about the nature of reality. And, we’ll provide practical approaches to sound reasoning, evidence and critical thinking and the tools to help you make better decisions in school, life, and work. As economist Steven Pinker writes, we want to help people see the “the distinction between two modes of believing: the reality mindset and the mythology mindset.” The workshop will begin with a mini-lecture to introduce the topic followed by participants completing in a short baloney detection critical thinking exercise and then joining in group discussion.  Lunch will be provided.

What skeptical thinking boils down to is the means to construct, and to understand, a reasoned argument and — especially important — to recognize a fallacious or fraudulent argument. The question is not whether we like the conclusion that emerges out of a train of reasoning, but whether the conclusion follows from the premise or starting point and whether that premise is true.

Carl Sagan, The Fine Art of Baloney Detection