Edward de Bono on creative thinking
"Dr Edward de Bono was a Rhodes Scholar has an M.D. and 2 Ph.D.’s, (philosophy & psychology). He held faculty appointments at the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, London and Harvard.
"Dr de Bono is considered the world’s leading authority in the field of creative and conceptual thinking and has spent his life traveling the world bringing his “new thinking” tools and methods to governments, organizations and people around the world who have applied his concepts to their specific situations." Professional thinking and learning processes
"The Six Thinking Hats technique of Edward de Bono is a model that can be used for exploring different perspectives towards a complex situation or challenge. Seeing things in various ways is often a good idea in strategy formation or complex decision-making processes.
"The STH technique is designed to help individuals deliberately adopt a variety of perspectives on a subject that may be very different from the one that they might most naturally assume. In wearing a particular thinking hat, people play roles, or "as if" themselves into a particular perspective. For instance, one could play the devil’s advocate, even if only for the sake of generating discussion. The purpose of devil’s advocacy is to deliberately challenge an idea: be critical, look for what is wrong with it.
"Each of the Hats is named for a color that is mnemonically descriptive of the perspective one adopts when wearing the particular hat. For example the devil’s advocacy is what one engages in when wearing the Black Thinking Hat.
"The 6 hats and the perspectives they represent are:
* White (Observer) White paper; Neutral; focus on information available, objective FACTS, what is needed, how it can be obtained
* Red (Self, Other) Fire, warmth; EMOTIONS, FEELINGS, intuition, hunches; present views without explanation, justification
* Black (Self, Other) Stern judge wearing black robe; judgmental; critical; why something is wrong; LOGICAL NEGATIVE view.
* Yellow (Self, Other) Sunshine; optimism; LOGICAL POSITIVE view; looks for benefits, what’s good.
* Green (Self, Other) Vegetation; CREATIVE thinking; possibilities and hypotheses; new ideas
* Blue (Observer) Sky; cool; overview; CONTROL of PROCESS, STEPS, OTHER HATS; chairperson, organizer; thinking about thinking
"De Bono’s hats are indicative of both emotional states as well as frames of mind (i.e., perspective from which an issue is viewed). He noted: 'Emotions are an essential part of our thinking ability and not just something extra that mucks up our thinking' (1985, p27). One thinking style (or hat) is not inherently 'better' than another. A full, balanced team recognizes the need for all hats in order for the team to consider all aspects of whatever issues they are facing.
"Main benefits of Six Thinking Hats method:
1. Allow to say things without risk
2. Create awareness that there are multiple perspectives on the issue at hand
3. Convenient mechanism for 'switching gears'
4. Rules for the game of thinking
5. Focus thinking
6. Lead to more creative thinking
7. Improve communication
8. Improve decision making 6 Thinking Hats - Bono de, Edward
Mind Map® Examples"Six Thinking Hats is a great process for managing meetings. you will get an equal voice for all participants and con census on the actions.
"A summary of the process, a link to the book, an example of Six Thinking Hats in action and a downloadable MindManager template ave available here http://www.cabre.co.uk/sixthinkinghats.html"
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