What is creative and critical thinking, and why does every company want these skills in 2025?

Are people either creative or analytical? Logical or emotional? Right-brained or left-brained? 

Can we be both? 

Do you only see yourself as creative, emotional, and right-brained? You may see yourself as left-brained, analytical, and rational. In that case, we will tend only to see problems and solutions from one angle.

Putting ourselves, our identity, into a box can be harmful to our self-image. It makes us believe that we can only ever be one way, think in one way, and that we can’t change that because “that’s just how I am”.

Instead, we have to challenge ourselves to do both, to think in different ways, especially ways we aren't used to or are uncomfortable with. We have to combine both creativity and critical thinking into our lives. Embracing both of these “soft skills” will allow you to discover all the different aspects of how you and others think, allowing you to empathize better and to connect better with other people, not just the like-minded crowd you have made for yourself.

Creativity and critical thinking are two skills employers require more and more these days, and are actively looking for them. Look at the latest reports from LinkedIn, St. John's University, and the World Economic Forum. They all report that employers are looking for “soft” skills such as creativity, communication, and critical thinking, but struggle to find employees capable of confidently implementing them.

Having these skills in the workplace is so important. When honing these skills, you will be able to boost your productivity, decrease the amount of time it takes to solve a problem, and come up with new and unique ideas on a whim. Making you the MVP of every team meeting. 

Now, imagine incorporating that into your everyday life as well. Been wanting to learn an instrument? Come up with some ideas on how you can add 15 minutes to your morning routine so you can practice. Is the light in your kitchen too dim in the morning? Find some ways in which you can add more light fixtures to your house through creative thinking.

These small tasks or even wants can seem out of reach or not doable at the time, especially in our adult lives, but if you take a moment to really think through how you can do it, you will be able to achieve anything. Plus, you’ll only be increasing your critical and creative thinking skills, making that next decision just that much easier to make.

After reading all of that, you might be asking me now, “You keep saying Critical and Creative thinking, aren't they the same thing?” To that I will say, “Great question! Let’s look into it.”

Is there a difference between critical and creative thinkers?

Yes…. and no. Let’s take a look.

Critical thinking and creative thinking sound very similar, especially on the surface, but digging deeper shows a wide branching of differences between the two. This is why many reports and studies are being done on both of them and not just one or the other.

The OECD recently published a report titled “Fostering Students’ Creativity and Critical Thinking: What it means in school.” This study was conducted in 11 counties over five years. Overall, they found that “creativity and critical thinking will become more important in people’s professional life, and in much higher demand in the labor market in the decades to come.” (2019)

But what does that mean? Creative and critical thinking?

Both creativity and critical thinking are higher-order skills that can be taught and practiced. Creativity and Critical Thinking are different skills, but they often rely on each other to accomplish goals. Like many skills, some people are better at one skill than others, but that doesn’t mean you’re not creative or can’t think critically. 

It's like going to the gym, just like lifting weights makes you stronger and healthier. Lifting mental weights by practicing thinking critically and creatively can boost those skills and strengthen them and your brain. 

So, what is the difference between creativity and critical thinking?

Aspect	Creativity	Critical Thinking
Definition	Aims to create novel, appropriate ideas and products	Aims to carefully evaluate and judge statements, trends, and theories relative to alternative explanations or solutions to the problem
Inquiring	Feel, observe, describe. Why? What is the problem, and what do you already know? How can you look at other disciplines and make connections?	Why? Rational thinking of the process of the problem. Acquire, challenge, and verify the information. Question any assumptions
Imagining	Free and playful generation of ideas.  Pushes ideas to the limit and explores unconventional ideas	Identify and review alternative worldviews and research.  Discover the strengths and weaknesses of the solution
Doing	Go!  Create! Have fun. Envision a meaningful product	Go! Experiment in a rational way to prove your reasoning. The process is logical, ethical, and meets aesthetic criteria.
Reflecting	Intentionally reflect on the critical aspects of what you created. Consider any consequences. This stage can come at any point in the process.	Intentionally reflect on if your way of thinking has limitations. Recognizing the validity of other competing ideas.

Creativity and critical thinking may be different, but they require the same aspects, two sides of the same coin, if you will. 

This leads us to the question of whether they can merge into each other to create a creative thinker? Can we creatively combine these two concepts to create one

During a day, you may need to embrace creativity or critical thinking separately, but if you combine the aspects, it can ultimately allow you to envision multiple possibilities for a single problem. Remember how two-year-old children ask “why” all the time.  Why is the sky blue?  Why do animals eat grass?  Why can’t they draw on the walls even if it looks really cool?

To be a creative thinker, you need to embrace that inner two-year-old, maybe don’t draw on the walls, though. Think about why you are doing things the way you do them. Can you do it in a more efficient and effective way?

Teamwork Makes the Dream Work, and also makes life a lot less stressful

Another beneficial skill that will help you embrace your creative thinking skill is communication and teamwork. You don’t need to go through these steps alone. In fact, surrounding yourself with creative thinkers makes the process of exploring stronger and, honestly, more fun! 

Collaboration is a huge catalyst for many of the best ideas out there. Think about all of the times you asked for someone else’s opinion before you did something. Whether that was buying a new car, picking out a new color of paint for your kitchen, or even checking on that weird mole on your back. Humans are social creatures, and it can be hard to trust ourselves sometimes, so asking for help or another opinion can be detrimental to not just our sanity but also our ability to do great work.

How many times have you felt stuck with a problem, and even if you come up with a million solutions, you just can’t seem to figure out which solution is the best? That’s something we like to call “Analysis Paralysis”, where even if you’re heading in the right direction and all of the paths still lead to the correct destination, it can still be hard to pick which path is best for you. 

So, asking a friend, a neighbor, or a co-worker, someone who is detached from your project at hand, what their thoughts are on it, or even asking for a little bit of help, can make that choice so much clearer for you. So even if you feel that you’ve become a master at critical and creative thinking, you will still find yourself getting stuck, and learning how to be on a team and to collaborate can be a major lifesaver.

Plus, not only will you make new friends and grow a stronger community around you, but you will also help train your brain to know which ideas work best for not just you but others as well. Making it easier for you to make those connections and decisions, even when it seems like you have too many options in front of you. 

Now it’s time for the real test. Are you a creative and critical thinker? 

Check all that apply to you and the way you learn and work:

• Are you an independent thinker? Rather than simply “Googling it,” do you work to figure it out on your own?

• Do you suspend judgment? Rather than jumping to conclusions and making a determination, do you look at all sides before deciding?

• Are you open and fair-minded? Rather than seeing just black and white, do you see all the colors of gray in between?

• Do you seek the truth? Rather than just looking at one side of an argument, do you consider all the facts before jumping to conclusions?

• Are you curious? Rather than being content with what you know, do you strive to be a lifelong learner?

• Do you challenge assumptions? Rather than just accepting what people say as fact, do you challenge the norm and question assumptions?

• Do you look for the “why” and “why not?”  Rather than thinking “this is how it always is,” do you imagine what it could be? 

Did you check one box?  Multiple?   Either way, having one thing resonate with you means that you are indeed a creative thinker - you may need practice in some of the other areas but that’s life, we always need practice.  

The attitude you exhibit while trying to solve a problem can alter everything.  Carol Dweck, in her book titled Mindset, speaks to the importance of keeping an open and flexible attitude. If facing a problem, embracing a mindset that is growth-minded instead of fixed can allow you to embrace creative and critical thinking in a more successful way.

So the next time you come across a problem that you need to solve, just remember to think critically and creatively about how you can solve the problem, and if you get stuck with analysis paralysis, go ask your friend, your loved ones, or your boss what they think is the best route. Even if you disagree with them, you now know what doesn’t work for you.

Now get out there and start being the critical and creative thinker that I know you are.

I'm Katie Trowbridge, the president and CEO of Curiosity 2 Create, a nonprofit organization offering professional development and coaching for educators and administrators.

We use the CREATE Method, an ESSA Level 4 backed method that reduces chronic absenteeism, improves student engagement, and increases student academic performance using our CREATE Method model. Schedule a call here to learn more about how Curiosity 2 Create and the CREATE Method can help you and your school today.

Resources

Critelli, Toni, et al. “Future-Proof Your Career: The Top 10 Skills Employers Are Looking for in 2025.” Top 10 Skills Employers Are Looking for in 2025, 21 Feb. 2025, www.stjohns.edu/news-media/johnnies-blog/top-skills-employers-are-looking-for-2025.

Dweck, C. (2007). MINDSET: THE NEW PSYCHOLOGY OF SUCCESS. New York: Ballantine Books, 2008.

Leopold, Till. “Future of Jobs Report 2025: The Jobs of the Future – and the Skills You Need to Get Them.” World Economic Forum, World Economic Forum, 8 Jan. 2025, www.weforum.org/stories/2025/01/future-of-jobs-report-2025-jobs-of-the-future-and-the-skills-you-need-to-get-them/.

News, LinkedIn. “Linkedin Skills on the Rise 2025: The 15 Fastest-Growing Skills in the US.” The 15 Fastest-Growing Skills in the U.S., 25 Mar. 2025, www.linkedin.com/pulse/linkedin-skills-rise-2025-15-fastest-growing-us-linkedin-news-hy0le/.

Vincent-Lancrin, S., et al. (2019), Fostering Students' Creativity and Critical Thinking: What it Means in School, Educational Research and Innovation, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/62212c37-en.