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Topic for November 2025 - Thinking About Thinking
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This topic was chosen as an input to the Probably42 Project to build a bespoke version of ChatGPT called the Probably42 Ideas Partner.
The agenda is as follows:
Thinking About Thinking – Exploring How We Think
This discussion aims to draw on our personal and professional experiences of thinking and decision-making — in business, leadership and life — to identify what helps or hinders good thinking. What we want to identify are a list of approaches and rules of thumb we think important from our own experience.
These will form an input to a new initiative we are taking to build our own bespoke version of ChatGPT called the Probably42 Ideas Partner (PIP).
Agenda
- What is good thinking?
What does “thinking well” mean to us personally? What are the hallmarks of clear, effective or creative thinking?
- How do we actually think in practice?
Do we consciously follow steps, or rely on instinct, analogy, experience or conversation? How does our thinking differ under pressure, in groups, or when alone?
- What shapes our thinking?
How do upbringing, education, professional background and personality influence the way we approach problems? How much does emotion, bias or framing play a role?
- What habits or techniques help us think better?
What personal tools have we found useful — writing things down, visual mapping, walking, talking, sleeping on it, playing devil’s advocate, or asking AI?
- What stops us thinking clearly?
What are our most common thinking traps — rushing to judgement, confirmation bias, groupthink, fear of being wrong, over-complexity? How do we spot and counter them?
- How has experience changed the way we think?
Looking back, have we become more strategic, more reflective, more sceptical, or perhaps more open? What have we learned from decisions that went wrong or right?
- How do we combine logic and intuition?
When do we trust gut instinct, and when do we insist on analysis? How do we balance data with experience and empathy?
- How do others influence our thinking?
How do mentors, colleagues, family or AI challenge, stretch or refine our thinking? When do we welcome critique — and when do we resist it?
- What can we learn from the science of thinking?
Do ideas like metacognition, System 1/System 2, or lateral thinking help explain our own patterns? Which scientific models feel most useful or incomplete?
- How could AI help us think better?
Can AI act as a mirror, sounding board or guide through the stages of thought? How might a Human–AI partnership encourage reflection, creativity and rigour?
What principles of good thinking might Probably42 adopt?
From today’s discussion, what personal or collective practices would we want to embed in the Thinking Framework and in the Ideas Partner itself? - What is good thinking?
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The output of this discussion is now available at: