Great Reminders: Master High-Performance Skills with Simple, Structured Frameworks
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Master Critical Thinking — The Triangle of Insight
Quick guide • 4–6 min read
Think Clearly Under Pressure
Make better calls in minutes, not meetings. Use PEG — Perspectives • Evidence • Gaps — to turn messy inputs into a clear, defensible decision fast.
PEG Quick Check (7s): Others think __. Facts show __. I’d flip if __.
Who it’s for: managers, product & ops leaders, analysts, consultants — anyone making decisions under pressure.
Why this skill matters
Clarity on demand: cut through noise when the clock is ticking.
Credible leadership: decide — and state why — in one sentence.
Future‑proof: tools change; judgment scales across roles.
Critical thinking = testing ideas through three lenses — Perspectives, Evidence, and Gaps — then acting with clarity.
Metaphor — The Rope Bridge Test (PEG Thinking)
You and your team are about to cross a rope bridge over a canyon. The wind picks up — one wrong move could cost you.
Perspectives: You first look around — each teammate checks from a different angle. Someone spots a loose plank you missed.
Evidence: You pull the ropes and test the pegs — are they really holding? Facts, not guesses, decide if it’s safe.
Gaps: Finally, you scan the drop below — the risks if a peg fails, what you can’t yet see. You only step forward once you’ve seen the full picture.
💬 Memory line: “See all sides. Test what holds. Know what falls.”
Memory Blueprint (PEG)
Perspectives: Who sees this differently — sales, finance, ops, or the customer? What are their reasons?
Evidence: What’s fact vs. assumption? How reliable are the numbers, sources, or examples we’re using?
Gaps: What might we be missing? What would prove us wrong — counterexamples, blind spots, or missing data?
Say it out loud: “Others say __. Facts say __. I’d flip if __.”
Why this matters: Critical thinking isn’t for every tiny task — it’s for moments that shape outcomes. When pressure, uncertainty, or disagreement rise, PEG helps you step back and think clearly before acting.
When to Use It:
Before major decisions — strategy, pricing, hiring, or investments.
When data conflicts with intuition and you need clarity fast.
When your team disagrees and you want to move from opinions to insight.
When you’re under time pressure but can’t afford a mistake.
How to Run PEG Thinking (in 4 Moves):
Clarify — State the question or decision clearly, and define success. “What outcome are we optimizing for?”
Run the 3 Lenses:
P: What do others think — and why?
E: What’s fact vs. assumption?
G: What would prove me wrong?
Decide & Why — Make a one-sentence call that explains both the decision and the reasoning.
Revisit Trigger — Name what new info would make you change your mind. (This keeps learning alive.)
Reflection & Tips:
Personal: Use PEG in your next 1:1 or decision memo. You’ll instantly sound clearer and more grounded.
Team: Add PEG to your meeting agenda. Spend 2 minutes per lens before jumping to conclusions.
Pro Tip: Time-box it. Run PEG in 10 minutes: 3 min for Perspectives, 3 for Evidence, 3 for Gaps, 1 to decide. It turns debate into progress.
“Slow is smooth, smooth is fast — clear thinking saves time later.”
Goal: One of the core pillars of critical thinking — Perspectives helps you escape your mental tunnel by deliberately seeking strong, opposing takes. It sharpens judgment, exposes bias, and builds balanced decisions.
Engaging Prompt: If your smartest critic wrote your plan’s headline tomorrow, what would it say — and what would they be right about?
Definition: Perspectives = intentionally mapping who sees it differently (sales, finance, ops, legal, frontline, customer, competitor) and why. The aim: reveal risks and insights hidden from your own viewpoint.
Examples:
Price +10%: Finance favors margin; Sales fears renewals; Customer team says timing, not price, is the friction; Competitor likely follows in enterprise but undercuts SMB.
Feature X drives retention: Product believes yes; Success says onboarding quality is the real driver; Data notes sparse sample; Security flags compliance risk.
Reflection & Tips:
Personal: Write the steel-man version of the best opposing view. If you can’t, you haven’t understood it.
Team: Run a 5-minute “Round the Room”: Sales → Finance → Ops → Legal → Customer → Data. One insight each. No debate.
Pro Tip: Ask for predictions, not opinions — “What metric will move, by how much, and by when?” Predictions uncover assumptions and incentives fast.
“Your first blind spot is thinking you don’t have one.”
Goal: The second pillar of critical thinking — Evidence keeps decisions grounded in reality. It separates what’s verified from what’s guessed, protecting you from bias and false confidence.
Engaging Prompt: If you had to defend this decision in front of your CEO tomorrow, which numbers or facts would you bring — and which would fall apart under one question?
Definition: Evidence = information you can verify — measurable, sourced, and recent — not belief, gut feel, or anecdote. Strong evidence connects to outcomes, weak evidence hides behind opinion.
Examples:
Claim: “Churn dropped 10%.” → Ask: 10% of what? Which cohort? Over what period? Was it measured or estimated?
Claim: “Users love the new design.” → Ask: Based on NPS? Survey? Conversion data? Or one loud customer?
Claim: “Competitors are cheaper.” → Ask: On which product line, at what volume, and including what terms?
Reflection & Tips:
Personal: Before each major call, write one line: “We know this because __.” If the sentence feels weak, you’ve found an assumption.
Team: Add a 60-second “Evidence Check” in meetings — label each input as Fact (F), Assumption (A), or Unknown (U).
Pro Tip: Rate the quality of your data — High / Medium / Low. This creates instant shared confidence and avoids false certainty when evidence is thin.
“What gets measured gets clarified — and what’s not measured gets misunderstood.”
Goal: The final lens of critical thinking — Gaps — protects you from overconfidence. It reveals blind spots, missing data, and the “unknown unknowns” that can turn a smart decision into a risky one.
Engaging Prompt: If this decision failed tomorrow, what reason would appear obvious in hindsight — and why didn’t we see it coming?
Definition: Gaps = what’s missing, uncertain, or untested. It’s about asking, “What would prove me wrong?” before reality does. Great thinkers don’t fear doubt — they use it to make stronger calls.
Examples:
Claim: “Feature X drives retention.” → Counterexample: accounts that added X but still churned. Missing variable: onboarding quality.
Claim: “Our forecast is accurate.” → Check: Have we stress-tested it against worst-case scenarios? What if demand drops 15%?
Claim: “Customers won’t leave.” → Ask: Which customers left last time — and why didn’t we predict it?
Reflection & Tips:
Personal: Before finalizing, write: “I’d change my mind if __.” It forces awareness of your uncertainty threshold.
Team: Run a 3-minute “Red Team” drill — assign one person to argue why the idea could fail. You’ll instantly uncover blind spots.
Pro Tip: Keep a “Decision Log.” For each key choice, note what you didn’t know at the time. Reviewing it later builds judgment faster than any course.
“It’s not what you don’t know that hurts you — it’s what you’re sure about that just isn’t so.”
Decision / Question:
Success criteria (how we’ll judge it):
PERSPECTIVES — Strong opposing views
View A:
View B:
Stakeholders impacted:
EVIDENCE — Facts vs. Assumptions
Facts:
Assumptions:
Evidence quality (H/M/L):
GAPS — What would prove me wrong?
Counterexamples:
Missing data:
Bias to watch:
Decision + Why (1–2 sentences):
Change-my-mind trigger (what new info flips it?):
Owner & next step:
Due date:
Decision: Launch price +10%?
Perspectives: Sales warns enterprise renewals in Q4; Finance needs margin; Success notes adoption friction for new users; Customer interviews split by segment.
Evidence: Facts — competitor +8% last quarter; cohort ARPU up 5% post-packaging; Assumptions — elasticity stable, no major churn risk. Quality: Medium.
Gaps: Counterexample — SMB churn spiked last time we raised quickly; Missing — elasticity by segment this quarter; Bias — recency from one big logo loss.
Decision + Why: Pilot +10% for Enterprise only; hold SMB. Because evidence supports high-value segments with lower risk; revisit in 30 days with elasticity readout.
Monitor: Win-rate ≥ baseline; NPS ±3 pts in pilot accounts (30 days).
Mantra:Perspectives. Evidence. Gaps. Decide — and say why.
Go to the Next Step: Decision Making with DOOR
PEG sharpens your thinking before the decision. DOOR helps you choose the path, commit, and review.
