11 Skills AI Will Never Replace: Skill #5 Critical Thinking

Welcome to The Learn-It-All Podcast’s 11 Skills AI Will Never Replace-- our 11-part special series exploring the essential human skills that AI cannot replicate. With the start of the new year, we’re all facing unprecedented technological disruption and workplace transformation. To help you thrive in this new landscape, we’ve leveraged a study from MuchSkills that analyzed data from 28,000 professionals to identify the capabilities that will make you irreplaceable in an AI-enhanced workplace.    

Each week, dive deep into one critical skill, providing you with actionable strategies, expert insights, and Learnit’s proprietary frameworks to future-proof your career. This series isn't just about adapting to change – it's about mastering the unique human abilities that will define leadership success in the age of AI.   

Critical Thinking: Your Competitive Edge in the AI Era

Are your teams making 35,000 daily decisions based on cognitive biases instead of clear analysis? In today's AI-driven workplace, the ability to think critically isn't just valuable—it's irreplaceable. Yet most organizations continue to rush through decisions without a framework for objective analysis.

In this episode of The Learn-It-All Podcast, host Damon Lembi speaks with Dr. Mickey Fitch-Collins, learnIt's top-ranked facilitator and leadership expert, about mastering critical thinking. Through real-world examples and practical frameworks, they explore how leaders can foster environments where teams move beyond cognitive biases to make better decisions. Mickey shares the CARE framework (Correlation vs. Causation, Alternative Explanations, Reliable Sources, Evidence) and explains why slowing down to think critically leads to faster, better results in the long run.

This Episode Covers:

• How one university dramatically increased enrollment by using critical thinking to discover that mental health and financial insecurity—not academic issues—were the real drivers of student attrition
• Why the organizational pressure for speed often leads to dangerous cognitive shortcuts, and how intentionally slowing down actually accelerates better decision-making
• The CARE framework for evaluating information and claims in an age of information overload
• How leaders can model critical thinking by actively seeking opposing viewpoints and creating psychological safety for team members to challenge assumptions
• Ways to use AI as a thought partner to challenge your thinking and identify potential blind spots in decision-making
• The crucial connection between psychological safety and critical thinking—teams need to feel safe questioning the "bandwagon effect"
• How the "Five Whys" technique from Toyota can quickly uncover root causes and deeper understanding

Episode Highlights:  

00:00 – The Rising Importance of Critical Thinking – Why 93 percent of employers prioritize critical thinking over degrees and how AI makes this skill even more vital.

04:58 – The CARE Framework for Critical Thinking – A structured approach to evaluating information and avoiding common decision-making pitfalls.

09:04 – Real-World Application: Solving the Wrong Problem – A case study on how critical thinking helped uncover the true reasons behind student attrition.

14:00 – Cognitive Biases That Sabotage Decision-Making – Why confirmation bias, the bandwagon effect, and resulting lead to poor choices.

19:45 – Fostering Critical Thinking in Organizations – How leaders can create a culture that encourages better thinking and...