Introduction: Ruth McCarthy is an extreme listener and thought provoker. She is faculty at Time to Think, is a Time to Think Coach & Facilitator. Ruth’s business is called Think it Through and she operates from London. Formerly a Student from Trinity College Dublin where she studied Modern Languages. She has a Master’s degree in Critical Thinking and Cultural Studies from Birkbeck, University London and of course several Licenses and Certificates from Time to Think LTD.    Podcast Episode Summary This episode explores the conditions necessary for generative thinking. 10 principles housed in the Thinking Environment are brought to life across this episode. Ruth shares the material developed by Nancy Kline, work introduced to the world by her books, Time to Think in 1999, More Time to think in 2009 and just lately the book, The Promise that changes everything as well as the many course offerings and bespoke trainings provided by the company Time To Think LTD where Ruth is a Global Faculty Member.     Points made over the episode Ruth shared how she believes she has lived her life backwards. Somehow in her late 50’s Ruth discovered the work of Nancy Kline and was struck by the provocative nature of what she was discovering about how we as humans think She essentially created a career at a later stage in life on material new to her.  Earlier Ruth had a career in book publishing.  Ruth shares the conditions that create a thinking environment.  Place- Producing a physical environment-the room, the listener, your body, that says you matter Attention-Listening without interruption and with interest in where the person will go next in their thinking  Equality-Regarding each other as thinking peers; giving each and equal time to think  Ease-Noticing and discarding internal rush  Appreciation-Noticing what is good and saying it Encouragement-Giving courage to go to the unexplored edge of our thinking by ceasing competition as thinkers  Feelings-Welcoming the release of emotions  Incisive Questions-Freeing the human mind of an untrue assumption lived as true  Information-Absorbing the facts, data, denial, social context Difference-Championing our inherent diversity of identity and thought The thinking environment is a beautiful paradox. Its seeming simplicity is the other side of complexity  It is as simple as saying I will listen to you and I promise not to interrupt you.  I promise to be fascinated by the fact you are thinking rather than focusing on your content and employing my meaning making. It is a promise that says I will not derail your thinking by providing you with exquisite attention  In the presence of this benign generative force (you the listener) the brain of the other can wire and fire The conditions that support a generative thinking environment are available and yet often unpractised. In fact the presence of a thinking environment is often exceptional  To experience the ease that says I will not interrupt you calms your internal system and allows you to think freely. Encouraging the thinker, made implicit by attention, allows the thinker to go far and wide with their thinking.  Encouragement means shutting down competition between members of the team It says you are in a place that matters.  Appreciation is a great unsung hero. We are often taught to be cynical of appreciation and yet it is a hard psychological reality that if we are told what is good about us it creates the neuro chemistry for good thinking  Information and disinformation. We are in an age of mis-information. To think well we need to be presented with the facts, to be able to absorb the data, which is why rounds on teams gives the team an opportunity to hear all the available data Hierarchy and inequality can be a tipping point for teams. Ruth often asks how it would be for a team if it shared the time equally.  Resistance often comes in the form of assumptions. It is the work of a Time to Think facilitator to sur