Breakfast of Champions No 23 Critical Thinking, Trust and Humour

You will begin a new year the same way that you ended last year. This year’s Breakfast of Champions began on a positive note, analysing the essential topic of critical thinking. On the one hand, this skill is important not just for us as marketing people, but also for everyone. On the other hand, I daresay that we use very small doses of critical thinking on an everyday basis. At the same time, the most influential brains in the world’s economic forum decided that critical thinking will be the second most demanded labour skill in 2020.

DDB Latvia strategist Edgars Lapiņš shed light on the cornerstones of critical thinking and the way in which authentic marketing can address those who are thinking critically. He is one of the founders of the SkeptiCafe group. Critical thinking and argumentation skills can also be learned independently by listening a course on critical thinking that is taught by Edgars Lapiņš and Mārtiņš Vaivars.

The next speaker was former Economics Minister Daniels Pavļuts, who talked about trust in people, companies and brands. He posed fairly challenging and uncomfortable questions such as whether you (a person, company or brand) are competent, trustworthy and honest. Before trust, it must be found out whether you are worthy of trust. What have you recently done to ensure that your brand can be trusted? 

Dessert involved the journalist and writer Mike Collier, who reduced positive tensions with good British humour, declaring that it is very hard to be funny. It is by no means easy. He suggested that Latvians look for all possible references in our literature that can be used to engage in humour and satire.

Let’s hope that we will not lack critical thinking. Let’s hope that we are worthy of trust and, of course, with a good sense of humour that is probably one of the most demanded characteristics in our personal lives.