Classic de Bono:…the Six Thinking Hats® is such a very simple concept
Over the years Dr Edward de Bono has shared great insights through his messages. This series of blogs revisits some of those highlights.
Again and again, all over the world, I am meeting people who have been using the ‘Six Hats’ method of parallel thinking, and finding it useful. What continues to astonish me, is that for 2,400 years, we have been satisfied with ‘argument’ as a way of getting anywhere. Those who have been using the Hats, find that when they go back to the argument mode, it is so primitive, slow, crude and full of ego-plays. Yet the Six Hats is such a very simple concept. Why did it not come into general use hundreds of years ago? It is true that some understanding of brain chemical balances provides the logical basis for the Six Hats method, but the empirical use of the method provides more than ample justification for its use. The sad answer is that the guardians of intellectual process in society are so enamoured of the critical mode, that there has been no effort to develop constructive modes of thinking. Edward de Bono, June 2001
About the author: Dr Edward de Bono is a world leading authority on thinking skills. Creator of the famous Six Thinking Hats®, Lateral Thinking and many other workshops he has authored 62 books published in 32 languages.
