Why military leaders need Critical and Creative Thinking to be Essay

Why military leaders need Critical and Creative Thinking to be successful - Essay Example Todays military leaders are constantly compelled to act as "out of the box" thinkers. Such statements give the impression that the only comprehensive solutions are those that have never been conceived. However, what a professional military education system (PMES) as well as the military really endeavor to produce are leaders that have strongly critical as well as creative thinking skills (Hbr 1). Both indirectly avoid the idea that the box even exists. Todays organizations function in what the U.S War College describes as a VUCA setting. Volatility, complexity, uncertainty, and ambiguity are continuous realities within the 21st century. The military tries to prepare for challenges it could probably face by creating realistic training scenarios as well as routinely adding such activities into its ongoing operations. The objective is not to teach them what to think, but to develop their ability to think creatively and critically about the number of contingencies posed by a dynamic environment—in essence to educate them how to think appropriately. The expression "professional military education"(PME) shows the duality of the system. It is intended to both increase the military’s professionalism as well as educate it. These are related as well as overlapping goals, but they are not similar. Professionalism means that the military leaders share both an amount of knowledge directly associated with their mission and ethics. While education implies a widening beyond the limitations of knowledge directly associated with the mission and the advancement of critical and creative thinking. Good decision making is one of the traits together with good leadership that is significant when it comes to command. Critical and creative thinking also has significant consequences for group dynamic skills as well as quality control. Critical and creative