Keynote Presentation

CRITICAL THINKING AND JUDGMENT

Successful people tend to possess several key competencies and abilities. At the top of this list are the ability to build and maintain a high team and competency of demonstrating sound judgment. Judgment is labeled a competency because it is something that can be improved; it is not innate or immalleable.

The purpose of this Keynote is to inform and discuss the concepts of critical thinking in order to improve judgment. Critical Thinking can be defined in many ways because there are several disciplines that claim ownership to the subject. Thinking that is self-regulated, purposeful, unbiased, and reflectively skeptical would typically fall into the category of critical thinking. As leaders and thinkers we typically, and appropriately, do not apply critical thinking to each of our daily decisions. However, if the potential outcome of the decision is important, if the complexities of the issue are great, or if we would classify ourselves as having strong thoughts on the topic under consideration, then we should probably take the time to think critically on the topic before exercising judgment.

This Keynote presentation will expose you to foundational concepts of critical thinking in order to improve your decision making skills, judgment, and eventually your ability to be an effective leader in this complex 21st century environment.

BIO: STEPHEN (Steve) GERRAS is the Professor of Behavioral Sciences in the Department of Command, Leadership, and Management at the U.S. Army War College. He serves as the director of the strategic leadership curriculum at the War College. Colonel (Retired) Gerras served in the Army for over 25 years, including commanding a light infantry company and a transportation battalion, teaching leadership at West Point, and serving as the Chief of Operations and Agreements for the Office of Defense Cooperation in Ankara, Turkey during Operation Iraqi Freedom. He is an airborne ranger and holds a B.S. from the U.S. Military Academy and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from Penn State University. His main areas of interest are strategic leadership, leadership development, and improving the judgment and critical thinking skills of leaders. He has worked on numerous projects for the Chief of Staff of the Army related to leader development. Steve has published articles in the Journal of Applied Psychology, the Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, and the Information Age Warfare Quarterly.