MODEL OF THINKING

“The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.” (Plutarch)

Having this as our motto, we created a model of thinking for organizations which aims, not to give sterile information of any kind, but to provide opportunities to the people working in them to kindle the fire of their mind.

OUR GOAL

Our goal is twofold: to enrich an organization’s way of thinking by analyzing and showing how certain philosophical theories can be implemented, in order to improve its productivity; to acquaint the members of the organization with the philosophical way of dealing with problems, and therefore to think out of the box.

The best tool to introduce such an innovative way of thinking and achieve our goals is the one that kindled Western Civilization:ancient Greek philosophy.

Strange though it may seem, philosophy in general, and ancient Greek philosophy in particular, has a lot to offer to organizational life. Since philosophy is about thinking out of the box, it can teach us novel ways to “see” both the people we work with and our customers.

OUR METHODOLOGY

We combine philosophy with management psychology. Through philosophy we gain insight into the ideal state we pursue at a personal, team and organizational level. Through management psychology, we discover ways in which we can realize this ideal state and the reasons why we should do so.

The method we use focuses on certain corporate issues (e.g. leadership, ethics, teamwork etc.). Then, we present and analyze the relevant philosophical theories and, in the end, we present and discuss the suggestions offered by these theories.

Our model of thinking has the following elements:

It follows steps. The participants in the dialogues learn how to use certain basic steps in order to locate and solve corporate problems, such as doubting, questioning, searching, evaluating, testing, making decisions, solving problems, being responsible, showing respect for others etc.

It is interactive. Since our aim is to help participants think creatively and, therefore, work efficiently with others, we use working teams. Each team is given a certain philosophical theory and is called to defend it against those of the other teams and find an appropriate solution to a certain corporate problem.

It is based on seminal philosophical texts. Even though we focus on ancient Greek philosophy, we are moving forward, as one should always do, and gradually enrich our model of thinking with other philosophers, such as Machiavelli, Nietzsche, Sartre etc.

It is delivered by experts. Our team is composed of experts in philosophy and management psychology. They facilitate the workshops and encourage participants to engage in creative and challenging discussions.