Six Thinking Hats

http://members.optusnet.com.au/~charles57/Creative/Techniques/sixhats.htm
Edward de Bono
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Year Published: 1985

From the cover:
:Thinking is the ultimate human resource. Yet we can never be satisfied with our most important skill. No matter how good we become, we should always want to be better."
Edward de Bono

"Thinking often proceeds as drift and waffle and reaction" writes de Bono. In Six Thinking Hats the author presents a simple but effective way to become a better thinker. He separates thinking into six distinct modes, identified with six coloured "thinking hats":

• White - facts, figures, and objective information
• Red - emotions and feelings
• Black - logical negative thoughts
• Yellow - positive constructive thoughts
• Green - creativity and new ideas
• Blue - control of the other hats and thinking steps

"Putting on" a hat focuses thinking; "switching" hats redirects thinking. With the different parts ofthe thinking process thus clearly defined, discussions can be better focuses and more productive.

Using real-life situations as examples, Dr de Bono creates scenarious that show how the effective use of "thinking hats"" can:

• focus thinking more clearly
• lead to more creative thinking
• improve communication and thus decision making

Dr de Bono's concepts are applied by some of the world's largest corporations. Six Thinking Hats clearly illustrates why they have found his ideas essential for their management techniques.