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Six Thinking Hats

An Edward De Bono Concept

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 Objectives of Six Thinking Hats
 Increase the constructive output from meetings and
decrease meeting times
 Explore each situation or problem and generate
alternatives that go beyond obvious solutions
 Half Black & Half White Car
 Use 'Parallel Thinking' techniques as a powerful alternative
to Adversarial Thinking
 Removes the “ego” from the discussion process
 De Bono uses the thinking "hat" metaphor because of familiar
expressions such as “put on your thinking cap (hat)”
 Results
 ABB multinational project discussions from thirty days down
to two days
 IBM reduced meeting times by one quarter
 Australian Cricket Team recognized the role played by Six
Thinking Hats in World Cup 2003 victory
 Venezuela has formally introduced de Bono's thinking
methods into the school curriculum
 Does that have any link to their producing so many Miss
Universe & Miss Worlds ??
 Six Thinking Hats
 Six Hats Reduce Confusion
 The main difficulty with thinking is confusion
 We try to do too much at once. Emotions, information, logic,
hope and creativity all crowd in on us.
 Why not try and do these different types of thinking one at a
time

 Six Hat Think Parallel

 Everyone sees the same situation with a different perspective
from everyone else
 In arguments we try to best each other
 Facts versus opinions
 Positive possibilities versus negative possibilities
 Unrealistic expectations versus practicalities
 Six Thinking Hats- Summary
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Informative
Emotional Positive

Focused Creative

Cautious
 The Green Hat- Creativity
 Green Hat Role
 Takes us out of usual patterns of thinking
 Generate new concepts and perceptions
 Brings momentum & breaks the rut
 Think “outside of the box”
Green Hats Professionals
 Green Hat – Experience Sharing
 Ideas come from everywhere. Even from Customers

 Everyone is expected is to have ideas!

 How they got used ? Not be territorial

 Spend some time every week on Green Hat

 Google : One day a week on a project
Yellow Hat - Sunshine
 Yellow Hat - Sunshine
 Yellow Hat Purpose
 See the good parts of even a bad idea
 Optimistic that a new idea will work
 Tend to see the valuable contributions in people’s ideas
 Usually positive and constructive
 Yellow Hat Pays- Martin Seligman
 Young Girls Smile
 30 Years Later
 Questions on Divorce, Marital Satisfaction & Life Satisfaction

 Similar Experiment with Young Undergrad Students

 30 professions studied. Only in one the Optimists

performed poorly
Yellow Hat Role-Play
 There’s Always a Bright Side
 Bright Side of Global Warming:

 Bright Side of Marriage ?!!

 The Red Hat- Feelings, Intuition
 Red Thinking Hat Purpose
 The emotional perspective to an issue
 Convenient to switch in and out of the feeling mode
 Never attempt to justify feelings or provide a logical base for
them
 Use of intuition
 Hunches about the best decision

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 Red Hat- Experience Sharing
 Blink
 Art Expert sees a 10 Million USD sculpture & realizes it is fake

 Masaru Ibuka & his herbal tea

 Intuition
 Benzene Ring in a Dream

 Archimedes in a Bath
 White Hat- Facts & Figures

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 The White Hat - Information
White Hat Role
 What are the facts/information is available?
 Neutral and objective in presenting information - like a
computer
 Distinguish facts and not in opinions
 Statistical evidence concerning a decision

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 White Hat – Experience Sharing
 Data is apolitical
 Ethnic Divide in Texmaco

 Ideas don’t get favoured

 Releases people from pressure

 Data throws New Insights

 Most senior management complaints
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What Black Hat : Reality Check
What Black Hat is Not: Negativity
 The Black Hat : Caution
 Black Hat Role
 Not argument; objective attempt to identify negative
elements
 Project an idea into the future to see what may fail or go
wrong
 Not to be used for negative feelings which should use Red Hat
 Quickly see why an idea will not work
 The “devil’s advocate”
 Black Hat in Meetings
 Timing of the Black Hat invocation
 if the devil jumps in at the earliest stage, the idea never has
a hope in hell, or ends up having its sharp edges smoothed
over
 Black Hat has to draw a fine line
 Big difference between someone crushing an idea based on
spinning out possible negative scenarios, vs. someone who
voices a genuine concern backed with real facts.
 Black Hat Overdone
 "We tried that before and it didn't work." is probably the
fastest way to stop an idea
 If only they listened to Black Hat …
 Challenger Disaster
 Tsunami Disaster
 The Blue Hat- Manager/Organizer
 Blue Hat Role
 Sets the focus, defines the problems, shapes the questions,
determines the thinking tasks
 Responsible for overviews, summaries, & conclusions
 Monitors thinking, stops argument, enforces discipline
 Ensures the “rules of the game” are observed
 Focus on the big picture
 Six Thinking Hats- Summary
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Informative
Emotional Positive

Focused Creative

Cautious
 Six Thinking Hats

 Objectives of Six Hat Session

 The Great Debate

 Purpose of Six Thinking Hats

 Meanings & Usage of Six Hats

 Six Hat Group & Actual Exercise

 Use of Six Hats by Leaders

Spouse has left the job & plans to
start a Pizza Franhisee

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 Spouse Starting a Pizza Franchise
Yellow Hat
· Quit your job and be your
own boss
· Free pizza
· No commute       within five miles?
· Learn business principles
· Your spouse can work for you
· The franchise is affordable
· The equipment is new
· The location is in a good spot
· College is near by 
Red Hat
· What is your gut feel about
buying this franchise and why?
•How do I feel being a
franchisee owner?
White Hat Black Hat
· How profitable is a Smoking · Given our bank balance,
Joes franchise? can I really afford it?
· How many pizza places are · Do we have the
appropriate credentials to
· How many people in the get a loan?
area eat pizza? · What is our POA if
· What other kinds of places another food competitor
are there to eat near by? moves in nearby?
· Average sale value?
Green Hat Blue Hat
· Why Smoking Joes? · Control the meeting, the
· How about another pizza rules, and the flow of ideas.
place?
· How about a Dosa Diner
franchise?
· Why buy a franchise, how
about independent
ownership?
· Why buy a restaurant, why
not a health club?
 Exercise :What Would You Do as a Leader ?
 If the group is becoming jaded & seems to have fallen into
a rut ??

 If the team is discussing a Sensitive/Emotional Issue and

team members are not forthright with their emotions

 If the team is cozy & in a ‘Yes Boss’ mood

 If the team has got carried away by a host of ideas in a

meeting!

 If the team is become defensive & is not open to change

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Thank You

http://strategy-execution.blogspot.com
“You see, all the right things are written in books and
research papers.

The trick is to ensure that there is no gap between

what is written in the books and your vision; from
what is happening on the shop-floor and what is going
on in the marketplace.

That is execution. That is what makes the difference”

Mukesh Ambani

www.mastersungroup.com
chandra@mastersunindia.com
Sarvajeet : +91 9920803060
Jasravee : +91 9892301590
Office :+91 22 65209702
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