While it is an artificial construct, the six hats described in this book can be a significant tool for fostering understanding of multiple facets of any problem and the particular dispositions people may have toward solving them. I am looking forward to using this concept in my fall courses to help students construct new knowledge.

This book discusses six thinking hats. They each have a different color and they each stand for a different fundamental perspective or approach to a problem or issue.

The book discusses how this construct can be used in group meetings where each person is assigned a role. For example, the positive viewpoint would be a person just pointing out all the positives. The other viewpoints include emotional viewpoint, the negative viewpoint, a viewpoint concerning rules of the process, etc.

The reason I liked the book is that it goes into detail on why approaching a problem, an issue or an opportunity should be done by utilizing a multitude of viewpoints. This ensures better thinking.

I thought the book was excellent and highly recommend it to anyone interested in learning to be a better overall critical thinker.

The Six Thinking Hats is an easy to learn and apply, but powerful method to group decision making. Edward De Bono's common sense approach is both refreshing and insightful.

The Six Thinking Hats helps people use both their left and right brains efficiently by separating them into compartments (Thinking Hats). In other words, De Bono teaches how to achieve a strong Left Brain, Right Brain Crossover.

Each of the hats uses part of the left, or the right brain.
* The White Hat addresses facts and data -Left Brain
* The Red Hat addresses emotions - Right Brain
* The Black Hat addresses the weaknesses in ideas- Left Brain
* The Yellow Hat is hopeful and positive - Right Brain
* The Green Hat addresses creativity -Right Brain
* The Blue Hat is concerned with control -Left Brain

By separating thought patterns into compartments De Bono argues convincingly it is easier to come to rational conclusions for solving problems based on all aspects of the brain. In the Conclusion of the book he states:

"The biggest enemy of thinking is complexity, for that leads to confusion. When thinking is clear and simple, it becomes more enjoyable and more effective. The Six Thinking Hats concept is very simple to understand. It is also very simple to use."

Overall a fascinating and useful thinking tool for solving problems!

The Re-Discovery of Common Sense: A Guide to: The Lost Art of Critical Thinking

This is a short, easy-read book. Chapters are small with an introduction and summary to each colored hat.
De Bono not only criticizes our way of thinking, but gives a solution for a more productive thinking. While most successful people believe that they are competent at thinking and make no efforts to improve; De Bono presents a brilliant new method to tackle any problem that can be present during a decision making process.
His methodology is so simple that there are no theories, principles or models in the book. Overall this is an essential read for anybody interested in improving their thinking and facilitators running brainstorming sessions.
I found this book very useful and the time I spend reading it worth while. The method in the book of using six ways of looking at something, the six thinking hats does work in real life and gives benefit. I sincerely recommended it.

Edward De Bono's Six Thinking Hats is a quick read.
I thought it was redundant and could have been half
as long. I Was bored at times. De Bono's Six Hat Method
was intentionally designed to be simple. that is the beauty of it.
The six thinking hats can very easilily be applied to a meeting
in order to really get things moving and that is extremely valuable.
i believe people should read this book, not because its a good book,
but because what De Bono demonstrates is a very powerful toolway tool.
-Rogelio Potash
CPP

Six Thinking Hats was written by Edward de Bono. This is a great book to read not only if your a manager of a company and you want to make your meetings more productive but also an average person will be able to use de Bono's methods to make good decisions. This book is a great read for people who typically don't like to read, its easy to understand, it goes straight to the point, and at the end of it you'll be thinking "its that simple?" And yes it is that simple, de Bono doesnt try to confuse you but he just makes you understand that thinking in 6 different ways is better than one.

This has been my first book that I've read from cover to cover since....elementary school and I enjoyed it. I would recommend this book to anyone especially people who are fed up of non productive meetings.

Unlike Harrison and Bramson's "Styles of Thinking," which approaches the issue from the point of view of practical non-psychological advice to those who lack awareness about the mechanics of their own thinking styles, in this book de Bono focuses on the psychological motivations driving one towards one style of thinking or another.

But like Harrison and Bramson, de Bono also seeks the same result: He hopes to make the act of using one's thinking a conscious process rather than a "background" drift and waffle into a mindless reaction.

In order to accomplish this, the author identifies six (as opposed to five identified by Harrison and Bramson) styles, which he refers to as thinking hats.

According to his taxonomy, there is the WHITE HAT of those who gather facts, figures and other objective information; the RED HAT for those who rely primarily on their emotions and feelings to formulate their thoughts; the BLACK HAT for those who drift all too easily into negative thoughts without having to think about how they got there. Then there is their opposite: the YELLOW HAT, for those who find no difficult with positive and constructive thought. Then there is the GREEN HAT for those who find creativity easy and always accessible; and finally the BLUE Hat for those who try to control the thinking of the other hats.

Putting on a particular hat focuses thinking; "switching" hats, redirects thinking. Once the different parts of the thinking process can be clearly defined, thinking can become more focused and productive. If one "playacts" at being a particular kind of thinker, he can become that kind of thinker. That is to say: He must actually put on a particular thinking hat to do that kind of thinking.

As in his other books, De Bono uses many real life situations, both within the corporation and in everyday common situations taken from real life to drive his points home.

Both this book and the Harrison and Bramson's book have different things to offer and should be read as a set. Together, they cover the waterfront.

This book is very interesting in a sense that it teaches you how to take a simple concept, turn it into a 200 page book and sell for 15 bucks. Keep your dollars because all you need to know is these lines...

1. Thinking is a skill that can be developed - good perspective
2. instead of thinking everything at once, you plan to go step by step
concentrate on tasks - white hat
think of everything can go wrong - black hat
think of feelings - red hat
think positive - yellow hat
think solutions - green hat
and control this process - blue hat.

Thanks

Simple stuff. Not that it isn't powerful stuff. It's just that it's a 12-15 page brochure at most, and DE BONO turned it into a 175 page book. Why?

I can think of no audience who'd benefit from this book who wouldn't get all they need from a summary of it.

If you like reading hundreds of quotes like, "yeah yeah yeah, let get some of your best red-hat thinking on that" and "I heard you, but I would really like you to put some yellow-hat on that" then this book may be for you.

It's so condescending, it calls into question every one of his well-rated books.

In the early 90's we worked with Dr. de Bono and learned about his creative thinking techniques. This book is one I always recommend to companies. It helps people to generate new ideas, brings obstacles into the open, and helps align the group's vision. It puts a short leash on the naysayers so they don't automatically dominate meetings! Allows a full range of viewpoints to be heard. A must read.

I thought this book is excellent. This is the perfect book for a teacher or business men. The book shows you how to think logically and clearly. I give the book 5 stars.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating. We tried the six hats in our office and it does WORK. What more can you say about the book.

Kishore Dharmarajan
Author of EIGHTSTORM: 8-Step Brainstorming for Innovative Managers

De bono's six thinking hats covers the different mind-sets for the thinker. He explains the need for different types of thinking processes, each type of thinking symbolized by wearing a different hat. The book is filled with amusing ideas and interesting philosophy about thinking. It is a easy read. I believe that if the logic of this book is followed before making important decisions, one will never rush into a conclusion they are not prepared for. Some people in life are born with the ability to think....or they have had much practice.....others follow the program previously set in place or what they are told. Practice thinking and you can become a six hat thinker. Read this book a let a thinker...De Bono....teach you how powerfull your mind can become.

I would recommend this book to students of every discipline, as well as non-students. This book has great examples for each lateral thinking concept. It's one of those feel-good books that can be motivating and empowering.

Edward de Bono writes about using different styles of thinking that can be used for any situation. He organizes philosophies about thinking that has been around for ages into visual concepts to be applied in daily scenarios.

Brief spoiler ahead..
White Hat- State the facts
Red Hat- State the emotions
Black Hat- State the negative aspects
Yellow Hat- State the positive aspects
Green Hat- Think creatively (outside the box)
Blue Hat- Think about thinking!

Yes the blue hat is tricky, so you should buy the book and get more details.

The six thinking hats is a great read. This book is well written and simple to read, which makes reading this book a breeze. As a reader, one will be enhance to different thinking techniques that promote thinking.
There are six different approaches to solving problems/situations that anyone can relate to. The six different approaches are color coordinated with hats. These hats have theory as well as plenty of examples throughout the book. Therefore the reader has the ability to read or imagine how the application of each approach is utilized.
I think this book goes hand in hand with everyday life as well as the work place. When reading the book one can remember themselves or someone else applying the different hat in certain situations. In the work place one can analyze and categorize how their approach in solving situations take place.

Six Thinking Hats is not as good as Edward De Bono may believe. Now that is not saying that Six Thinking Hats is a bad book, it is just that Edward De Bono is extremely arrogant. He promotes his method constantly throughout the entire book. Once you get over his arrogance, the ideas of his method are actually pretty interesting. Having everyone in a meeting working together on a common purpose using the six thinking hats will greatly increase the productivity. The book is pretty easy to read and it is filled with tons of good examples. His arrogance is a little annoying, but just get over it because this book is totally worth reading.

The method outlined in this book is incredibly useful and yields very powerful results...albeit its somewhat goofy hat metaphors for thinking styles. There is little point going on about the details - many reviewers have covered the strengths.

Several items detract from the book:

1. Each exploration of the different thinking styles (aka "hats") has significant repetition; I'd be surprised if you ended up reading this book word-for-word.

2. Some of the assertions made - months' long problems solved in 15 minutes, etc. - seem a bit on the extreme end of the spectrum, and as such, detract from the power of the methodology. Realistically, in my work with this method, it takes a bit to get folks comfortable enough to do their best work consistently. I've yet to see a 15-minute miracle solution appear.

Yet these are minor quibbles. If you work with organizations or teams to solve problems, whether as an outside facilitator or consultant, or you deal with a significant number of heated meetings and have the capability to suggest framework and process changes, this is definitely a method that belongs in your toolkit.

J. Avellanet, Co-Founder of Cerulean Associates LLC (www.ceruleanllc.com)

De Bono has broken down the steps an individual takes to make a decision and presented it in a way that can be utilized by groups. The importance of the book is to eliminate argument from any decision making process. In argument each side tries to prove their point, allows emotion to get the better of them and in many cases the better arguer (not the better solution) wins in the end.

He uses a very basic image of 6 colored hats and assigned the type of thinking you should accomplish while wearing each hat. For example black hat is cautious and careful, looking for weakness in an idea while yellow hat is positive and uncovers the positives in an idea. The importance is to make sure everyone in a discussion is wearing the same hat at the same time, so as to give focus to a discussion. Depending on what the issue is the hats can be worn in a variety of different orders and it is up to the blue hat to decide what order.

The main problem I have with the book is its conclusion. Throughout the book he refers to an information map and at the end he says that by using the information map the answer suddenly appears to everyone in the room? I think it would have been a great idea to add an additional chapter discussing the information map and how the blue hat thinker could capture the information from the discussion. Obviously there are many techniques available but his book is incomplete without one designed around the 6 Hats. In fact he goes as far as to say if a decision does not jump out at everyone in the room then another method may be required.

I think this book is incredibly usefull for solving discussions that are plaqued by argument. It basically is a method to stop argument and start collaboration.

Overall I would recomend this book as it is a very easy read. It will help you realize when a discussion is turning into an argument and when the Six Hats should be utilized.

This book is a practical tool for understanding the how and why of 6 Hat Thinking and for learning how to use 6 Hat Thinking in your personal, family and work life.

I read this book immediately after reading "I AM RIGHT, YOU ARE WRONG" also by Edward de Bono. I'm not sure that I would have understood the need for 6 hat thinking if I hadn't read the books in conjunction with one another.

Before reading the books, "I didn't get it." 6 hat thinking seemed "corny" before I understood that the hats were not real, they are just imaginary tools that give us permission to think in differently focused ways.

6 hat thinking takes the confusion and inefficiency out of thinking. My own thinking was predominately Black (Rational/Critical/Negative) and White (Data) hat. I didn't understand the need for Yellow (Positive), Green (Creative), Red (Emotions), or Blue (thinking about thinking) or appreciate creative momentum that can be achieved by using the hats.

Reading about de Bono's Six Thinking Hats was a difficult way to learn the material. There are lots of examples but taking a class on the subject is the way to get a real idea of how to use this process.

Ed De Bono's 'Six Thinking Hats' is absolutely crucial if you are managing complexity. The book provides a simple, sound, and structured methodology for dealing with decision-making. The process also helps folks, from management to support, in becoming more disciplined and rigorous thinkers.

Marina Kushner
Author
The Truth About Caffeine: How Companies That Promote It Deceive Us and What We Can Do about It

All of Dr. de Bono's book are full of tips that make you think about thinking, some go into deep technicalities while other repeat variations-on-a-theme. This book is one of the best I've read on a coherent method to adopt as a group and to even impose on others so as to to have every thought and emotion in its proper and valid compartment.

Its a very enjoyable book to read and I would suggest re-reading each chapter for some days until it sinks in.

All of Dr. de Bono's book are full of tips that make you think about thinking, some go into deep technicalities while other repeat variations-on-a-theme. This book is one of the best I've read on a coherent method to adopt as a group and to even impose on others so as to to have every thought and emotion in its proper and valid compartment.

Its a very enjoyable book to read and I would suggest re-reading each chapter for some days until it sinks in.

Every so often you read a book that is so obvious that you are amazed you did not see it before. For me, this is such a book. Yes, I could argue about the slow nature of the book, about the style or choice of phrase. However, the very simple idea (singular) at the core hit me like a billiard ball between the eyes at three paces.

De Bono takes the idea of thinking, and breaks it down into six different aspects, and proposes that all should be allowed at appropriate times in a meeting. The key is not that (say) raw emotion can be expressed unjustified, but that where necessary such feelings are not only encouraged, but that it is an everybody thing. Participants are allowed to express a simple yes / no to an idea with no further comments. This, by the way, is `red hat thinking'.

Each aspect of thinking is given a colour, so participants will wear the SAME hat at the same time, to view topics from a similar perspective. There is no compelling reason to have physical hats, but presumably this may help initially. Examining each proposal in a critical way is allowed, but not all the way through any discussion - only at `blackhat' time.

This is a short, easy-read book. It would be possible to give a summary here of the six hats, and their meanings - however, it is better to let de Bono do that. Chapters are small and bite-sized, with an introduction and summary to each coloured hat. You do not need to read the book in one sitting, but it is probably advisable to tackle the 170 pages within 2 or 3 days.

The author has written a number of other books on `thinking', and these are referred to in the text of the volume. For me, the references were about right - neither too many (a sales pitch) or too few (not giving readers the opportunity to get further information). What did irritate me was the summary chapters for each hat, where the majority of sentences seemed to begin with e.g. "Blue hat thinking .....".

At the end de Bone gives a possible framework for using the principles within a meeting. This is helpful, and adds to the comments and examples throughout the text. The overall feel is that this is a book about thinking that is based in reality.

My final thoughts concern interminable meetings I have attended, and national flags. Use of the core idea of this thin volume would have saved man-months of my time, sometimes concluding that a meeting was not necessary. The national flag theme? Take a South African flag into meetings with you. This will remind you of the thinking hats, for the colours are the same.

Buy it, learn it, practice it, and do it.

Peter Morgan, Bath, UK (morganp@supanet.com)

Dr. de Bono's method is a simple and powerful one - by concentrating all thinking in one direction and making sure all competing views get attention, a very strong output can be achieved in the minimum timespan. I would recommend it to any team going through a problem solving exercise.

This book was very disappointing for me. I've heard of Dr. De Bono and expected much more than what he offers in this book. It's bascially an elementary book about common sense divided into different segments (hats). I would not recommend this book.

The idea is great, but the book expounds too long on each hat. I would have preferred something between the short summary here: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTED_07.htm and the book. Still, great stuff, and it's worth buying the book, but I'd just stick to the summaries at the start/end of each section.

In The Six Thinking Hats, De Bono is able to create a simple analogy of colors linked to specific thought patterns that everyone is familiar with. Using six of the most common colors including black, red, blue, green, white, and yellow to represent negative criticism, emotion, logic, creativity, objectivity, and exuberant optimism respectively, De Bono creates an easy to remember model that can create great flexibility in thinking patterns. This model is applicable and easy to remember to to its fundamental nature of linking familiar colors with unique traits to their predisposed thinking patterns. All people are biased and have a certain natural behavioral thinking patterns they follow based on nature and nurture characteristics. Tinkering with different hats allows individuals to witness a wider spectrum of viewpoints and thus potential solutions and discourse to their issue at hand.

This book was given to me during an meeting and six thinking hats represent each of the thinking styles we employ when problem solving or generating new ideas and concepts.Good one for decision makers.

[...]

This book isn't even well-written. Someone outlined common sense and divided it up among six colored hats.

Also, the author mentions that several companies have used these methods but it is careful not to say how effective the methods are. He does not give any concrete examples from any of these companies.

Also, the beginning is just one big ego trip from the author. Read if you want to learn how to write a simple book that may make you a lot of money.

I don't know that much about the author, but this book is nothing but the usual obvious bromides. Optimal Thinking: How to Be Your Best Self by Rosalene Glickman Ph.D. is superior to this book in every aspect. I also suggest Learned Optimism by Martin Seligman, Ph.D., as a much more worthwhile read .

...not terribly well written.

I think the method is overblown. It can be useful in a group setup since it delineates and formalizes the roles and different aspects of mental attack, so to say. However, all of them are rather obvious and you'd do precisely this thing on your own even if you didn't know about "the six thinking hats" trick or didn't think of the process this way. And why six? I think, one could express the same idea with ten (or three). It is somewhat arbitrary I think. Also, the transition, borders so to say, between different mental postures is blurred and, again, somewhat arbitrary, I think. Anyway, no harm in skimming this book when you got nothing else to do, just don't expect any breakthroughs coming out if it.

Though I despise the author's self boasting and over exaggeration of the impact and influence which he wrote in the preface that "The Six Hats method may well be the most important change in human thinking for the past twenty-three hundred years" and "the introduction of it increased thinking productivity by 493 percent in a simple experiment with three hundred senior public servants", I am obliged to describe it simple, interesting, easy to remember and helpful.

In short, the six hats refer to six different perspectives (white-facts, red-emotions, yellow-positive views, black-negative views, green-creative/alternatives, blue-organizing/goals). The author suggests that by putting one hat/perspective at a time, thinking and thus problem solving will be much enhanced, both on an individual and on a group discussion setting when all participants are required to put on the same color of hats together sequentially.

Of course the reality is more complicated and difficult than what the author paints as office politics always come into play. Nevertheless, this book reminds me of "Who Moved My Cheese? An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life by Spencer Johnson and Kenneth H. Blanchard" in that readers can easily recall the concept well. Anyway, it's an outstanding book not to be missed.

Edward De Bono's book is an invaluable, practical guide to increasing mental agility. His research is detailed and the results appear as clear, unadorned prose. Each chapter is a cogent unity in itself, yet each builds upon the other to create a synaptic skyscraper. De Bono certainly knows his subject, as the final sentence of his 'Preface' demonstrates: 'Wear your 6 Hats of Intelligence as often as you can, providing it's not windy and preferably not at the same time because you'll look ridiculous. And above all, have them blocked regularly.' With De Bono leading humankind into The Forest of Fulfilment, the rest of us had better carry a Compass of Concern and a carton of bread crumbs.

In De Bono's preface to this book, he states: "The Six Thinking Hats method may well be the most important change in human thinking for the past twenty-three hundred years." Yuk! Narcisism personified.

Frankly, I believe Optimal Thinking: How to Be Your Best Self by Rosalene Glickman Ph.D. is superior to this book. Optimal Thinking enables the realist to make the most of any situation.

I also prefer Learned Optimism by Martin Seligman, Ph.D. to explain the advantages and disadvantages of optimism and pessimism.

Good thinking is simple. The goal of effective thinking is to make complexity managable. The Six Thinking Hats Method is by design a KISS system that is not intended to emphasize how clever any individuals in a group are, but to make actionable decisions--in most cases to achieve business results (as de Bono wryly notes elsewhere, most academics aren't interested in effective thinking).

The reason I'm writing this review is to correct an inaccuracy in the previous review. Having each person in a group adopt a different hat is exactly the OPPOSITE of what is intended with the Parallel Thinking method (a virtual synonym for the Six Hat method). The idea is that everyone in a group focusses on a specific element (Hat) at the same time, not individually. Doing it this way reduces argument and the role of ego in the conversation.

As de Bono notes, an important element in his work is also to demystify creativity, and help people understand you don't need lava lamps and candles to "do" creativity effectively. You don't have to be goofy. Ordinary business people working on engines and vaccines--and, as far as that goes, Accounts Payable, Sales, and Project Management--need creativity to be effective and competitive in a 24 hour global marketplace.

I teach this course. ....

Disappointed in this work of de Bono. It's very elementary and superficial. His book "Lateral Thinking" is a classic. This book is embarassing.

The Six Thinking Hat method may well be the most important change in human thinking for the past twenty-three hundred years - states Edward De Bono himself. I have lost count of the amount of times I have been involved in meetings for presentation groups at uni, and nothing gets decided. The meetings are often bogged down by personality clashes, and most of the time is strung out because we all just focus on irrelevant points that become the main topic of the conversation. The majority of human beings all have a one sided view on every possible topic, and find it very difficult to change, when we are asked to think about a view differing from their own. During meetings, some people argue their point of view, and never seem to stop. How do we go about solving these problems of wasting time in meetings? How do we go about focusing more on the points that really matter instead of concentrating on those unrelated, and inappropriate topics? How do we stop endless discussions, or at least reduce them? How can we improve communication and decision-making in groups? All these questions are extremely difficult to answer, but there seems to be an elucidation �ESIX THINKING HATS �EBy Edward De Bono.

Greater thinkers think from multiple perspectives. He has proclaimed that this process reduces time spent in meetings by 20 to 90 percent, based on letters that he received after publishing the book. The core problem that De Bono addresses is the fact that our way of thinking is extremely muddled and cluttered. Groups are not well equipped to deal with a broad array of statistics and perspectives concurrently. De Bono endeavors to abolish these problems �Ehere is how he does it.
According to De Bono, people learn best when they are playing. Therefore his approach (the six hat approach) deals with thinking, learning, deciding, and communicating - in a playful and good-natured type of manner. By assigning each person a role to play, the method reduces the amount of personality-based conflict, encourages much more contribution, and gives rationale to many diverse ways to present the issue at hand. This way, everyone is getting involved, and thinking about sides of the dice that they wouldn't have thought about originally. Also, since the means is focused on getting lots out onto the table, it also postpones judgment longer so that more ideas can immerge. Thus, as De Bono points out himself, it is much closer to the Japanese approach of making evaluations than the American one.

The color scheme is quite straightforward -

The person, who is wearing the blue hat, is considered to be the coordinator and organizer. The book relates this person to a conductor of an orchestra. The function of the blue hat is to make sure that the dialogue keeps on route. Cool and control�Ethinking about thinking�E

White plays an imperative and crucial role. It must be stressed that the white hat is exceptionally unbiased and contemplates on figures and information. The white hat should not offer any interpretations, analysis or opinions about the information given. While wearing the white thinking hat, the thinker should imitate the computer.

The black hat points out what is erroneous, and explains why something won't succeed. So, as you can probably gather, the black hat is accountable for a pessimistic evaluation. This includes asking negative questions. Devil's advocate, negative judgment, why something won't work�E

The idea of the green hat is to be as creative as possible. Most ideas begin with the green hat - and which then get analyzed from the black and yellow hat. I would classify this one as the entrepreneurial hat - fertile, creative, plants springing from seeds, movement, provocation.

Yellow resembles sunshine. Sunshine creates brightness. And brightness allows opportunity to exist. This is the significance of the yellow hat. The view of this hat is to open up all the possibilities and potential. Extremely speculative and affirmative �Ethe yellow hat is unquestionably the optimistic and buoyant side of the coin. Yellow hat thinking covers �Edreams, visions and hopes�E

The red hat's role is to embody feelings and emotions to present both optimistic and pessimistic emotional reactions. Intuition is a word that relates very much to the red hat. The red hat allows the thinker to say: this is how I think about the matter.

Enjoy the book - its a fabulous read - 5 stars to say the least! I recommend it to anyone. This thought process can be used either on an individual level, or on a group level. It's a lot of fun - and yes! it does work! Give it a try!

Regards,
Vaughan Allison

University Student
Degree - Asia Pacific Management
University - Ritsumeikan APU

The Six Thinking Hat method may well be the most important change in human thinking for the past twenty-three hundred years - states Edward De Bono himself. I have lost count of the amount of times I have been involved in meetings for presentation groups at uni, and nothing gets decided. The meetings are often bogged down by personality clashes, and most of the time is strung out because we all just focus on irrelevant points that become the main topic of the conversation. The majority of human beings all have a one sided view on every possible topic, and find it very difficult to change, when we are asked to think about a view differing from their own. During meetings, some people argue their point of view, and never seem to stop. How do we go about solving these problems of wasting time in meetings? How do we go about focusing more on the points that really matter instead of concentrating on those unrelated, and inappropriate topics? How do we stop endless discussions, or at least reduce them? How can we improve communication and decision-making in groups? All these questions are extremely difficult to answer, but there seems to be an elucidation ?ESIX THINKING HATS ?EBy Edward De Bono.

Greater thinkers think from multiple perspectives. He has proclaimed that this process reduces time spent in meetings by 20 to 90 percent, based on letters that he received after publishing the book. The core problem that De Bono addresses is the fact that our way of thinking is extremely muddled and cluttered. Groups are not well equipped to deal with a broad array of statistics and perspectives concurrently. De Bono endeavors to abolish these problems ?Ehere is how he does it.
According to De Bono, people learn best when they are playing. Therefore his approach (the six hat approach) deals with thinking, learning, deciding, and communicating - in a playful and good-natured type of manner. By assigning each person a role to play, the method reduces the amount of personality-based conflict, encourages much more contribution, and gives rationale to many diverse ways to present the issue at hand. This way, everyone is getting involved, and thinking about sides of the dice that they wouldn't have thought about originally. Also, since the means is focused on getting lots out onto the table, it also postpones judgment longer so that more ideas can immerge. Thus, as De Bono points out himself, it is much closer to the Japanese approach of making evaluations than the American one.

The color scheme is quite straightforward -

The person, who is wearing the blue hat, is considered to be the coordinator and organizer. The book relates this person to a conductor of an orchestra. The function of the blue hat is to make sure that the dialogue keeps on route. Cool and control?Ethinking about thinking?E

White plays an imperative and crucial role. It must be stressed that the white hat is exceptionally unbiased and contemplates on figures and information. The white hat should not offer any interpretations, analysis or opinions about the information given. While wearing the white thinking hat, the thinker should imitate the computer.

The black hat points out what is erroneous, and explains why something won't succeed. So, as you can probably gather, the black hat is accountable for a pessimistic evaluation. This includes asking negative questions. Devil's advocate, negative judgment, why something won't work?E

The idea of the green hat is to be as creative as possible. Most ideas begin with the green hat - and which then get analyzed from the black and yellow hat. I would classify this one as the entrepreneurial hat - fertile, creative, plants springing from seeds, movement, provocation.

Yellow resembles sunshine. Sunshine creates brightness. And brightness allows opportunity to exist. This is the significance of the yellow hat. The view of this hat is to open up all the possibilities and potential. Extremely speculative and affirmative ?Ethe yellow hat is unquestionably the optimistic and buoyant side of the coin. Yellow hat thinking covers ?Edreams, visions and hopes?E

The red hat's role is to embody feelings and emotions to present both optimistic and pessimistic emotional reactions. Intuition is a word that relates very much to the red hat. The red hat allows the thinker to say: this is how I think about the matter.

Enjoy the book - its a fabulous read - 5 stars to say the least! I recommend it to anyone. This thought process can be used either on an individual level, or on a group level. It's a lot of fun - and yes! it does work! Give it a try!

Regards,
Vaughan Allison

University Student
Degree - Asia Pacific Management
University - Ritsumeikan APU

This book illustrates the advantages of multiple perspectives in creativity and problem solving. It emphasizes multiple perspectives much the same as "Cracking Creativity (The Secrets of Creative Genius)."

Readers will be satisfied with the content of this book as long as they realize that the author has nothing to do with the lead singer for U2. Some people have made that unfortunate confusion to their later dismay.

Edward de Bono does not suffer from a small ego. The first sentence of the preface to his book is: "The Six Thinking Hats method may well be the most important change in human thinking for the past twenty-three hundred years." Digest this and two more pages of obnoxious self-advertisement that follows. Then put the book down. After an hour continue to read the rest of the book. It is worth while.

Essentially, "Six Thinking Hats" is about improving communication and decision-making in groups. De Bono's style is accessible, succinct, well-structured and easy to follow. It is not with a certain justification that he claims that "his work is in use equally in board-rooms of some of the world's largest corporations and with four-year-olds in school." Well, where is the difference, anyway?

What de Bono wants to achieve is to structure thinking and make it more effective. "Thinking often proceeds as drift and waffle and reaction to what turns up from moment to moment. [...] Suggestions, judgements, criticism, information and plain emotions are all mixed together in a sort of thinking stew," he writes. The six "thinking hats" are different ways of looking at an issue that has to be decided: under the white hat one presents the facts, under the red hat one says how one feels about the issue, under the black hat one looks at the negative effects of the decision, under the yellow hat one looks at the positive effects of the decision, under the green hat one thinks of alternatives, and under the blue hat one clarifies which kind of thinking is going on. Overall, thinking becomes clearer when the different parts that go into it are brought into the open.

The idea of the "hat" has the advantage that it allows people to play with a new perspective. People who argue by criticism, for example, can remain mostly critical. But by putting on the red hat they can voice their emotions, or by putting on the yellow hat they can think about positive effects. Western thinking tends strongly to focus on "black hat thinking," says de Bono: "At a Western-style meeting the participants sit there with their points of view and in many cases the conclusion they wish to see agreed upon. The meeting then consists of arguing through these different points of view to see which survives the criticism and which attracts the most adherents." De Bono wants to get away from this judgmental, confrontational style towards a more open, positive, creative and playful way of discussing.

De Bono's model tries to make discussions more rational. It acknowledges the importance of emotions in decision-making, and tries to separate them from the facts and from the positive or negative implications of the decision: "once the emotions are made visible, then a thinker is more free of them". But making the discussion more transparent and structured is not enough. De Bono's model needs a "facilitator", a person who puts a "blue hat" on, someone who organizes the discussion and leads it.

In the world of business, discussions are very often about power. The "six thinking hats" model requires a very enlightened, open-minded "powerful" person to work, or very assertive, courageous "less powerful" persons.

What are the problems with power? A person in power can abuse his "blue hat" position, for example. Or the culture of the company can be built on "black hat" critical thinking, where "yellow hat" positive thinkers tend to become scapegoats when things go wrong. "Red hat" revelations of the emotions behind one's point of view or "green hat" creative ideas are not forthcoming when power games are being played. People in power can abuse any of the six thinking hats. Here the book could profit from some ideas about how to deal with the abuse of power in communication. But having said that, I want to stress that it was stimulating to read this book, and I found it very interesting to analyse my own thinking under the "hat" categories of de Bono.

Edward de Bono's "hats" method has been practiced by people in a variety of organizations, from executives in multinational corporations to children in elementary schools. It provides a convenient, easy way to cut through confusion and make decisions based on clear thinking. The hats are useful visualization tools to help sidestep the ego and provide a nonjudgmental path to decision making. Each chapter provides a clear descriptions of a different color hat. The book offers plenty of quotes to suggest how to use the hats in conversation. We [...] recommend this book as particularly helpful for managers, teachers, group leaders or anyone involved in group decision making.

Have you ever attended a meeting to resolve an issue and found some of the participants causing havoc simply because they don't share yours and your colleagues point of view? You know, some people always argue and their quite good at it too, so why not let the same people argue your case? With the six thinking hats you can do just that.

By putting on a different hat you are obliged to argue the case in question colored by that hat. So the only person who is allowed to be negative has the black hat. The person who wears the yellow hat speaks truly on the behalf of the case. The one with the white hat simply states facts and share objective information. If you feel strongly about something, put on the red hat and say it. When you wear the green hat your role is to generate ideas. And finally blue is the leader handling the hat swapping and the process of reaching a solution.

It is absurdly strange what a colored hat can do to change a person's mind. You won't believe how a negative person will open up when he is put to challenge his own thoughts! And it is in fact a relief having a red hat, because then you h-a-v-e to say what you feel about the issue, an often needed thing to do to clear the air. And the result are evident: You get to know each other a lot better, solving issues faster and thus getting better solutions.

It is of course an advantage that you do this with a group of people which is open-minded and is willing to do such "stupid" thing as wearing hats during a meeting. A bit of preparation and practice is recommended. Enjoy and get better results faster!

This is a very useful model for facilitating groups/brainstorms/conflicts. I have used the different hats often in facilitating groups with great success. The book is easy to read (chapters can be a little choppy) but otherwise a great read.

This book was given to me during an interview, and I have used it's simple principals over and over again. The six thinking hats represent each of the thinking styles we employ when problem solving or generating new ideas and concepts. Each "hat" represents a step used in the decision-making process (i.e, red hat = emotions, white hat = information, blue = organizing, etc.) Each "hat" focuses on one thought process at a time. This is an exceptional and powerful set of tools when needing to quickly bring a group to concensus. I highly recommend the book for individual or group decision making.

This book is useless, don't waste your time and money. Instead read DeBono's Lateral Thinking book.

Seldom do I find a legitimate improvement on existing thinking processes, but there certainly is one in Six Thinking Hats. De Bono reports that this process reduces time spent in meetings by 20 to 90 percent, based on experiences reported to him since the book was first published. It also seems that many people feel that the evaluations that emerge are more useful ones, as well.

De Bono himself makes this statement: "The Six Thinking Hats method may well be the most important change in human thinking for the past twenty-three hundred years." You'll have to decide for yourself, if the book lives up to that claim.

De Bono diagnoses the fundamental problem of decision-making as being muddled thinking. Groups are simply not well equipped to deal with a wide range of data and perspectives simultaneously. The meeting often bogs down into conflicts of personalities and over focus on inimportant points. By creating a simpler way to think about issues, de Bono claims to eliminate many of these problems.

The process is not one that I have used, but it makes sense to me as an improvement over less structured evaluation methods. It can be used by an individual or a group working together. The amount of structure you use can be high, or you can be more ad hoc.

People learn best when they are playing, and the six hat approach clearly encourages a spirit of play. By giving each person a role (and each person eventually playing all of the roles), the method reduces the amount of personality-based conflict, encourages more participation, and gives validation to many different ways to present the question at hand. This should make each person feel more affirmed and invested in the process. Also, since the route is focused on getting lots out on the table, it also suspends judgment longer so that more ideas can emerge. As such, it is closer to the Japanese method of making evaluations than the American one (as de Bono points out).

Here is the color scheme. Blue is the process coordinator (like the conductor of an orchestra) and starts and leads off the meeting (plus helps keep it on process) -- except sometimes it is better to have red finish just after blue summarizes at the end.

Red goes second, and represents emotions and feelings to present both positive and negative emotional reactions, as well as more subtle things like intuition.

It seems to be more free form from there. Let's go to yellow next, which is speculative and positive -- the optimistic side of the case. This view is to open up the possibilities.

Naturally, that has to be balanced by looking at the downside, which is black (cautious and careful). This hat is normally worn the most in evaluations, and can easily be overdone. The idea is not to be negative, but to search out the risks.

White plays an important, but neutral, role -- pointing out the facts that are known or are likely to be true. Care in characterizing what is known is important.

Green is the wild card -- finding alternatives. This color connects very well with de Bono's original claim to fame, as someone who has good ideas for stimulating individual creativity. By giving each person a role in being creative in a meeting, he extends that focus in a useful way

De Bono makes two interesting comments about how all this leads to decisions: "In the end, all decisions are really red hat." But we should assume that it is a more informed set of emotions and feelings than would exist otherwise. "Decisions seem to make themselves." Knowing how painful decisions are in many circumstances, if that were the only benefit, that would be enough to make this book essential.

My suggestion is that you give this process a trial run with something unimportant before unleashing it on a big issue. Otherwise, you might be stalled by lack of understanding about how the process works. Keep practicing until you are satisfied that it is working well.

Good luck with overcoming your stalled thinking about making decisions and the issues that face you and your organization!

Donald Mitchell

Coauthor of The Irresistible Growth Enterprise (available in August 2000) and The 2,000 Percent Solution

(donmitch@fastforward400.com)

I presume to suggest that you read this book before you read de Bono's Six Action Shoes and strongly urge you to read both. As he explains in Chapter 6, "The first value of the six thinking hats is that of defined role-playing....[the second] is that of attention directing....[the third] is that of convenience....[and the fourth] is the possible basis in brain chemistry" which de Bono outlines in the previous chapter.

What about the hats? The conceit is brilliant. Each hat is of a different color: white, red, black, yellow, green, and blue. De Bono assigns to each a quite specific combination of qualities and characteristics. Since childhood, my favorite color has always been green. Here is what de Bono says about it: "Green is grass, vegetation, and abundant., fertile growth. The green hat indicates creativity and new ideas." De Bono also briefly characterizes the other colors and then devotes an entire chapter to discussing each of them in depth.

According to the subtitle, de Bono provides "an essential approach to business management." That is true. He helps his reader to increase various reasoning skills through carefully defined and structured role-playing, and, by directing and then focusing attention where it is needed most. How? By understanding and then developing entirely different perspectives which the various hats represent: White (neutral and objective), Red (powerful emotions), Black (gloomy and negative), Yellow (sunny and positive), Green (fertile and creative), and Blue (logical and in control). You get the idea. De Bono urges his reader to SEE all of the hats while associating with each its own defining qualities and characteristics.

Here's an exercise (inspired by Bono ideas) which will work very well with those who have been required to read Six Thinking Hats prior to getting together to brainstorm. Buy several of those delightful Dr. Seuss hats (at least one of each of the six different colors, more if needed) and keep the hats out of sight until everyone is seated. Review the agenda. Review what de Bono says about what each color represents. Then distribute the Dr. Seuss hats, making certain that someone is wearing a hat of each color. Proceed with the discussion, chaired by a person wearing a Blue or White hat. It is imperative that whoever wears a Black hat, for example, be consistently negative and argumentative whereas whoever wears a Yellow must be consistently positive and supportive. After about 15-20 minutes, have each person change to a different colored hat. Resume discussion. Thanks to de Bono and (yes) to Dr. Seuss, you can expect to have an especially enjoyable as well as productive session.

In addition to de Bono's Six Action Shoes, there are other excellent books also worthy of your consideration. They include those written by Guy Claxton, Michael Michalko, Joey Reiman, and Roger von Oech.

I seem to find some of the most meaningful work by accident,and this one is a great find. Bono talks about the skills of thinking and how they can be taught an used in all areas of our decision making. He is a dry speaker but the content makes it worth while to concentrate and learn from his amazing insight within the mind. Bono simplifies the thinking exercise by using hats with different colors, making it easy to discipline your thinking in the way of steps. These thinking concepts enable one or teams to thinking together looking at different areas of a situation and brainstrom together to a end result that can be arrived at within harmony. Bono puts thinking into steps: 1. Information 2. Benefits 3.Critical thinking 4. Feelings 5. Creative thinking 6. Thinking about the thinking and creating and action plan for implementation. Very good book.