Stop Thinking Faster. Start Thinking Better.

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Morning friend ☕️ 

How was the Father’s Day Weekend?

Did you feel like it passed by way too quickly?

Does life in general seem like it’s passing by in a blur?

How do you cope with this? Increase your speed accordingly?

I’ve had a lot to think about recently: new job, relocating, life being upended…

How to structure your thinking with things changing so fast?

According to Nancy Kline, we should actually slow things down if we want to improve the quality of our thinking.

An interesting idea to unpack!

Grab your coffee ☕️ 

Let’s chat!

1. The world is moving fast. But your mind shouldn’t.

Most of us are living reactively.

We rush from meeting to meeting, ping to ping, and call it productivity.

But constant motion is not leadership.

Busyness is not effectiveness.

Activity is not progress.

If you never pause to think, you are not leading.

You’re just managing chaos faster.

In Time to Think, Nancy Kline, puts it bluntly:

“The quality of everything we do depends on the quality of the thinking we do first.”

So, how to improve the quality of our thinking?

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2. The Solution: A Thinking Environment

Kline’s research shows that what people need to think clearly and originally isn’t a genius IQ or an MBA, it’s a better environment.

A thinking environment has:

• No interruptions

• Full attention

• Permission to pause

• Encouragement to go deeper

And here’s the kicker: the listener’s behavior shapes the speaker’s thinking.

When you create space for others to think, you also begin to think more clearly yourself.

When you are listening to someone, much of the quality of what you are hearing is your effect on them.” - Nancy Kline

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3. How to build a Thinking Environment?

See the Youtube video below for Nancy’s 10 elements of a Thinking Environment, but here’s 3 simplified ways and practices to achieve this:

1. Give Full Attention (without interruption)

“The quality of your attention determines the quality of other people’s thinking.” - Nancy Kline

When you give someone your full, uninterrupted attention, with no rushing, no interrupting, no “uh-huh” while checking your phone, they think better.

Attention is not passive; it's an act of generosity that creates psychological safety and opens space for clarity and insight.

Practice it:

• Don’t finish people’s sentences.

• Let silence stretch. Don’t rush to fill it.

• Listen to ignite, not to respond.

2. Create Equality in Conversation

“Everyone gets a turn. No one interrupts.”

When people know they will have an equal chance to speak and be heard, they think more clearly and feel more valued.

This is especially critical in meetings and team discussions, where louder voices often dominate.

Practice it:

• Use structured rounds in meetings. Everyone speaks once before anyone speaks twice.

• Rotate who opens and closes discussions.

• Make space for junior or quieter team members.

3. Build a Thinking Environment - the 10 elements

“People think for themselves best in the presence of others who think they can.”

A good thinking space should be “somewhere where we can think effectively and creatively, experiment and fail, reflect and learn, address challenges and make the best decisions.”

Practice it:

• Check out the Youtube video below for the 10 elements you need to nuture to create a Thinking Environment:

4. Final thought:

When everything feels urgent, your edge isn’t in speeding up.

It’s in pausing to think.

And creating an environment where quality thinking can happen.

So this week, slow your mind down. Because the smartest leaders aren’t the ones who move the fastest.

They’re the ones who think the clearest, and get the best thinking from their teams.

That’s it, and hope you enjoyed today’s letter, friend.

Till next Monday!

Vaugan

Chess Puzzle

White to play.

Move the pieces around and try to solve it here.

Check out the book: