Peter Bealo

Bealo_Peter_Headshot

I am a Retired Project/Product Manager from the semiconductor industry. Now conducting research in the area of academic performance of musicians compared to athletes and students who do neither. I also lead a local AARP Tax-Aide team, providing FREE tax returns to anyone who needs our assistance.

Fun Fact: Santa and Mrs Claus can claim dry cleaning of their suits and whitening of their hair (and Santa's beard!) as business expenses! I do their returns annually.

1.  How do you use Applied Critical Thinking in your professional practice, teaching, or research, and what are your favorite resources?
By guiding team members in problem solving using a Socratic method, NOT just solving every problem myself. Over time, this empowered my teams to accomplish more and solve more difficult problems themselves.

2. Why do you think Applied Critical Thinking is important in your domain or role?
It enables my teams to accomplish more difficult tasks more quickly. And in semiconductors, time-to-market is EVERYTHING.

3. Can you share a story where quality Applied Critical Thinking was key to your success?
A customer needed a new semiconductor designed and manufactured on a short timeline. Because my team was well-versed in ACT, we were able as a group to succeed quickly, with everyone contributing to the success, not just me making all the decisions. That won us orders for 50,000,000+ chips.

4. How do you use Applied Critical Thinking in other areas of your life outside of your profession?
As a Board member of a scientific non-profit, I am a more effective member by applying critical thinking. I can help guide the Board to better policies and decisions. And as one of the few Board members lacking a PhD, I have been able to gain the respect of members with PhDs.

5. Any last critical thoughts you wish to share?
As someone else stated: "Practice makes decent." But I also need to stress that most decisions do not need to be "perfect", in most cases, perfect is the enemy of good enough! Doing things well enough for the situation allows me to move on to the next problem more quickly. Solving most problems well enough almost always beats solving only the first, but perfectly.