Thought Assessment Framework.xlsx

	A	B	C	D	E
1		Thought Framework Assessment
2	1. A new business venture has been offered to you but it isn’t something you’ve explored previously. How do you feel about it?	Unless there’s really compelling evidence to convince me, I’ll probably avoid it	I’ll see if there’s any similarities between what I’ve known from before, and this new idea	I’m excited by new ideas, regardless of whether they’re within my area of knowledge	I’ll ask my peers/colleagues/mentors/partners to seek advice and gain their opinion
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4	2. When was the last time you took a significant amount of time to test your assumptions that you tend to rely on in decision-making, to see whether they are still valid?	I can’t recall	Fairly often	I don’t have assumptions	I regularly test whether my assumptions are valid
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6	3. How often do you find yourself getting distracted by new and seemingly exciting things, but then lose interest after a relatively short time?	All the time	I’m not distracted by much	It happens occasionally	I probably do it more than I realise
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8	4. When you argue,what do you feel your primary objective is?	I need to be seen as being right	I see arguments more like conversations to gain deeper understanding	I try and avoid arguments as much as possible	It depends the circumstance
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10	5. Think of a recent major decision you made. How did you prioritise the information you used to assess your options?	I just acted upon instinct	I naturally prioritise things without realising	I rely on what I’ve most recently thought	I don’t prioritise information, I see all data as equally balanced and worthy
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12	6. How do you tend to assess what you believe in?	I don’t need to assess my beliefs, I just know them to be true	I cross-match things I believe in, with evidence I can access	I tend to instinctively know what is true or not	I don’t have a particular process
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14	7. How regularly do the actions of someone you compare yourself to, motivate you to follow their lead?	Not at all, I think totally independently	I’m guided by other people’s actions a lot	Not very much but occasionally it happens	I think it’s a good thing to be a follower rather than a leader in most cases
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16	8. How rational do you consider yourself to be?	Highly rational - I take everything into account reasonably and seldom let my own pre-existing beliefs colour my decision-making	Quite rational - I try and be as balanced as possible	Not very rational, I already know what I need to know and don’t need to consider other elements	I can be as rational as needed, depending on the circumstances
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18	9. What’s your level of understanding your own biases?	I don’t have any biases	I’m fully aware of the biases I have	I’m curious to understand my biases more	I don’t see biases as important to me
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20	10. How often do you challenge your preferences by forming a contrary argument that represents the opposite or different point of view?	All the time - that’s the way I make decisions	I don’t need to challenge my preferences	I try and maintain a balance but could do more	I’d like to do this more but I’m not sure how
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22	11. How do you ensure that you’re not preferring something just because it supports what you already believe?	Quite the opposite - I always prefer things that support choices I’ve already made	I always test what I think I prefer to ensure it’s not a previous choice that’s biasing me	When I am conscious of it, I try and maintain a rational process of decision-making	I am aware I make decisions based on past choices but I’m not sure how to address it
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24	12. When you’re in a situation with a group of people, how much of your decision-making is based on not wishing to cause conflict?	Never - I don’t consider conflict (or the avoidance of it) when making decisions	Sometimes - it depends on what we’re trying to achieve	Often - I think conflict within a group of people should be avoided at all costs - even at the expense of progress	Conflict isn’t productive but if it’s the cost of progress then so be it
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26	13. How deeply do you investigate the correlation between something happening because something happened before?	I’ve never considered this to be something to investigate	I often see correlation between the past, present and future. I don’t need to investigate it much	I often see correlation between the past, present and future - but I investigate that correlation to ensure it’s accurate	I don’t see very much correlation between the past, present and future
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28	14. If you were offered a smaller reward now than a larger reward much later, what decision would you make?	I’d probably go for the smaller reward now rather than wait - who knows what could happen in the meantime?	I tend to wait for the larger reward. It’s almost always worth it	The larger and later reward would have to be massive for me to wait. So unless that’s the case, I’ll take what I can now	It totally depends. I don’t have one particular view on this unless I know the exact value of both rewards
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30	15. When you spot a correlation between things, how much do you test to see if they are actually random?	Always - I’m sceptical of correlation until I can prove it’s definitely there	Sometimes - I try and ensure a rational view of things that appear correlated	Never - if I’ve spotted a correlation then there tends to genuinely be one. I don’t need to test it	It’s never occurred to me that things that seem correlated may not be
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32	16. How do you avoid continuing to invest more money/time/energy into something, even when the outcomes are increasingly negative?	I can stop investing money/time/energy instantly as soon as I realise the outcome is becoming more negative	It’s tough to break the cycle as I feel committed to continuing down the path that’s been agreed to	I try and maintain a balanced view but tend to keep going a bit longer than I should	I do this quite often - it’s something I’m aware of
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34	17. How much influence on my preferences comes from what I am familiar with?	None - my preferences are unlinked to what I find familiar	A huge amount - I create my preferences based on what I find most familiar	Not a huge influence because I’m continually curious to explore new things to widen my preferences	I’m curious to discover more things in life but I tend to revert back to what I find familiar
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36	18. When you consider the probability of something happening, what’s your approach?	I weigh everything up, I seek out information that I may not have known, and finally make a decision on the level of probability	I tend to instinctively sense what the likelihood is	I try and be as fully informed as possible	I don’t have a particular approach
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38	19. How prepared are you for a ‘worst-case’ scenario?	I spend a lot of time planning for what could go wrong	I tend to go with the flow and take things as they come	I always have a backup plan so even if things go wrong, I feel I’m pretty covered	I don’t see the need to prepare for ‘worst-case’ scenarios
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40	20. If someone else develops something that you would find really useful, despite trying to develop something similar yourself, what would your response be?	I would continue developing something myself, I’d prefer it that way	I don’t have a preference as to who develops what, I’m more interested in the overall outcome	My competitive advantage is based on ownership so I’d prefer to develop things in-house	I would prefer someone else to develop something I can then use, it’s better that way
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42	21. When you ask questions of other people, how much influence on their response (or your interpretation of their response) do you think you have?	I don’t have any influence on others when I ask questions of them and I view responses agnostically	I’m aware that how I ask questions may lead people into responding a certain way so I take that into account when I consider their responses	I’ve never considered this before	I’m aware of this happening and it’s actually a useful way of getting the right information
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44	22. How likely do you feel you are to experience a negative event?	I’m pretty fortunate so I think it’s fairly unlikely	Life is often a challenge so I think there’s a fair chance of experiencing a negative event at any stage	I try to stay positive and assume the best will happen	I don’t mind what the chances are because its more about how I choose to respond to what happens
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46	23. What level of honesty and transparency do you prefer to experience?	I want (and provide) 100% honesty and transparency, regardless of whether it’s good or bad	There are certain times when total honesty and transparency could cause bad outcomes so it varies	It depends on the level of importance. You can’t be totally honest and transparent the whole time	I don’t believe that 100% honesty and transparency is a good thing
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48	24. Are you ever truly certain about anything?	When I’m certain about things I tend to check my certainty with other people	I’m certain about somethings and I know them to be true	I’m certain about a lot of things as I have experienced and observed a lot of things in my life	I’m not certain about anything
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50	25. If the answer to a question is unremarkable, boring or tedious, what does your response tend to be?	I’d prefer to seek an answer that’s more interesting but I’ll accept whatever the answer is	I don’t mind what the answer is provided that it’s the best one possible	I tend to focus on answers that are more striking and unusual	I disregard answers that don’t excite me in some way
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52	26. When a new concept is introduced to you, what tends to be your most immediate reaction?	I prefer to stick with what I know	I’m really curious about new approaches, even if they haven’t been tested before	It depends on the concept. A low-risk concept is more likely to be tried than others	Ideally I’d like to try new things but that isn’t realistic in some cases
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54	27. In general, do you think most people around you are in agreement with you?	Yes - my views are mostly agreed with	Sometimes - it varies depending on the context	No - I tend to have opinions that most people don’t agree with	I don’t tend to think about whether people agree with me or not
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56	28. If you see someone you find attractive promoting something, do you tend to think more positively about the product or service?	Absolutely, if they endorse it it’s likely to be good	It makes no difference to me, I’ll make my decision based purely on the quality of what’s being promoted	Not often but I’d probably spend more attention to the product or service than I usually would	I’m against all kinds of marketing so it’d actually be a turn-off
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58	29. When things go right or wrong, who tends to be responsible for it?	When things go wrong, they tend to be because of factors outside of my control	When things go right, they tend to be because I’ve enabled them to happen	Mostly good and bad things tend to be caused by how I’ve thought or behaved	I don’t monitor who is responsible for good and bad things happening
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