The Thinking Skill Every Leader Thinks They Have… Until They Need It! If there is one competency that separates managers from transformational leaders, it is not confidence, charisma or even experience, it is critical thinking. But not the academic version we memorised in school. The real-world version. The kind that determines whether you can see clearly when the room is filled with noise, pressure and competing agendas. This kind of thinking is lived, not learned.