mm007 wrote:
Analyst: Creative professionals, such as clothing designers, graphic designers, and decorators, often have very poor managerial skills and do not succeed when they try to run their own businesses. In fact, most of these creative types are less skilled in business than is the average white-collar professional who does not work in a creative field. Generally, creative talent and business acumen rarely go hand in hand.
If the analyst's argument is taken as true, which of the following statements can properly be concluded?
(A) No successful business people are creative.
(B) Some creative types are not less skilled at business than is the average white-collar worker who is not creative.
(C) Creativity precludes success in business.
(D) Any white-collar worker who is not creative is more successful in business than any creative professional.
(E) Business is not a creative endeavor.
OFFICIAL EXPLANATION
The analyst presents several points about the business talents of creative professionals. In drawing a conclusion from the analyst's argument, we must be careful to choose a provable claim, whether or not this claim pulls together all the premises. We also must avoid extending the analyst's argument or selecting statements that are too extreme. Finally, we must not allow this process to be clouded by reactions to the content of the argument; whether or not we agree with the premises, we have to find a provable conclusion.
(A) This choice takes the passage's claim that creativity and business acumen rarely go hand in hand to an extreme. The analyst does not assert that absolutely no successful people are creative.
(B) CORRECT. The passage states that most creative types are less skilled in business than the average white-collar worker who does not work in a creative field. This implies that some creative types are not less skilled than the average white-collar worker who is not creative.
(C) This choice again takes the passage's claim that creativity and business acumen rarely go hand in hand to an extreme. Creativity and business acumen are not mutually exclusive.
(D) The passage does not say that all white-collar workers are successful, nor does it say that no creative professionals are successful.
(E) The passage makes a distinction between creative talent and business acumen. This does not mean that there are no aspects of business that fall under the realm of creativity.