n o t e 1 9 . c o m

This is a very interesting book (by Edward De Bono) and is based on the premise that creativity is a learned skill. The book covers the basis of lateral thinking (aka creative thinking) and has a number of excellent tools such as the “six thinking hats” as a way to view a problem from different perspectives. This technique can be very effective in meetings where the all the participants are asked to put on a different colored hat and present that specific perspective. Here are the six color hats and their meaning:

The white hat has to do with data and information. Everyone at the meeting is asked to see what information is available, what is needed and how it can be obtained. You’re supposed to put aside the proposal and arguments and focus on information.

The red hat has to do with feelings, emotions and hunches. The red hat gives people the option to put forward their feelings without apology, explanation or without having to justify them. Because the read hat signals emotions, they can be discussed without pretending to be anything else.

The black hat is the caution hat (think of a stern judge in his black robe). The black hat is for critical judgment. The black hat points out why something cannot be done, or why it cannot be profitable, and so on. The black hat is very valuable but is is very easy to over use it and thus kill creative ideas with early negativity.

The yellow hat is the positive spin on the proposal. Think of sunshine. The yellow hat is for deliberate optimism and logical positive view of things. The yellow hat looks for benefits, e.g., …the high cost of energy would make everyone more energy efficient. Every creative idea needs some yellow hat attention.

The green hat (think of vegation and rich growth) is for creative thinking, new ideas, alternatives and possibilities. The green hat makes it possible to ask directly for a creative effort, e.g., … could we do this in a different way?

The blue hat (think of sky) is for process-control, asks for next steps, action items, and so on. The blue hat is usually put forward by the organizer of the meeting. It can also be used to ensure that the other hats are used effectively.

The six hat approach looks very promising and I think it will make it a lot easier to discuss a proposal without getting into personal preferences, pet peeves and negative arguments.

Here are the some other tools that are offered:

• Creative pause…
• Focus…
• Challenge…
• Provocative Operation This technique is used to create a new idea. For example, someone asks how do we get water out of this hole? You can say: “Po, lets add water to the hole”. Po is a word that De Bono invented. It stands for Provocative Operation. The idea behind is to get us moving from the main track of thinking to the side track (the basis of lateral thinking). The word Po is intended to signal that I know this is crazy idea so don’t tell me all the negative aspects of it and the list of reasons why it cant work. In the case of the how we get water out of hole by adding water, you can add the water in a plastic bag and thus displace the original water.
• Random word. With this technique, you pick a random noun from the dictionary and use it in conjunction with the initial idea to move from the the main track to the side track.
• …more to come