Book Report- Six Thinking Hats by Edward de Bono

This report is based upon the book Six Thinking Hats, written by Edward de Bono.
This book is published by Little, Brown and Company in 1985. Later by Penguin Life
an imprint of Penguin Books.

Introduction of the Author

The book, Six Thinking Hats was written by Edward de Bono.

Edward Charles Francis Publius de Bono  is a Maltese physician, psychologist,
author, inventor, philosopher and consultant. He is famous for originating the
term lateral thinking, and is a proponent of the teaching of thinking as a subject in
schools.
Edward de Bono argued that companies could raise money just as governments now
do – by printing it. He put forward the idea of private currency as a claim on products
or services produced by the issuer. invented the L-game, which he introduced in his
book The Five-Day Course in Thinking.

Introduction to the Book

Six Thinking Hats and the associated idea of parallel thinking provide a means for
groups to plan thinking processes in a detailed and cohesive way, and in doing so to
think together more effectively.

Summary

Six Thinking Hats is a powerful technique that helps us to explore different

perspective towards a complex situation or challenge.
It simplifies thinking by creating focus on one thing at a time and allows us to fit in
thinking without offending others. It has been proven to reduce meeting time, improve
the quality and speed of brainstormingand decision-making and improve thinking
productivity.

This book shows you how to disentangle your own or company’s cumulative thinking
process into six distinct areas, tackling a problem from different perspectives as a
group, in order to solve it with the power of parallel thinking and thus save time and
money.

Edward de Bono mentions in his book that the idea behind using the six hats is for an
individual it becomes simpler to seperate emotion from logic. Putiing on any one of
these hats defines a certain type of thinking.
Therefore,he came up with this way of structuring the thinking process of managers
and teams, to help them dissect what’s usually a messy pile of thoughts into useful
categories.
Each of the six thinking hats has a colour: white, red, black, yellow, green and blue.

Each coloured hat have its own significant thinking

1. Blue – Management.
2. White – Information.
3. Red – Emotions.
4. Black – Caution.
5. Yellow – Optimism.
6. Green – Creativity

1. White Hat- This is for putting up facts and figures in a neutral and objective way.
Looking at available information and also identifying information gaps, so that it
becomes easy choose to fill them or just take account of them. This is where to
provide background information, analyse and extrapolate historical trends.

2. Red Hat-The red hat represents the emotional view. It recognizes and gives
visibility to feelings, intuition and gut reaction as an important part of thinking. The
red hat allows a thinker to switch in and out of his feeling mode, and also to invite
others to share their feelings, in a non-judgemental way.

3. Black Hat-The black hat represents caution and what could go wrong. It points out
what doesn’t fit, what may not work, what is wrong, and hence protects us from fatal
flaws and wasted resources. The black hat recognizes the value of caution and risk
assessment; it makes our plans more robust.

4. Yellow Hat-The yellow hat focuses on value, benefits and optimism. It is positive
and constructive. It helps us to develop “value sensitivity” and invest time to seek out
value.

5. Green Hat-The green hat is about creativity, new ideas and change. This is when
we present alternative and new ideas, possibilities, and modify or improve suggested
ideas. It is about recognizing the value of creative effort and allocating time for it.

6. Blue Hat- The blue hat is for process control and for managing and organizing
thinking. It has a strategic role for laying out the overall plan, and also for moment-to-
moment instructions. It helps to organize the other hats, assess priorities etc. Unlike
other hates, blue hat is a permanent role.
Presentation and comments

A) Six Hats. Six colours - Edward in his book talks about how is each hat colour
signifies with its characteristics. He wanted his readers to visualize that the hats
are actual hats, but as a different shaped hat makes the imagination difficult, he
chose it to be colour as it makes it easier.

The colour of each hat is related to its function.

White Hat- White is neutral and objective, hence this hat is concerned with facts
and figures.

Red Hat- Red colour suggests anger, rage and emotions,hence this hat gives an
emotional view.

Black Hat-Black is sombre and serious therefore this hat is cautious and
careful,and it points out the weakness in an idea.

Yellow Hat- Yellow is sunny and positive, hence this hat is optimistic and and
covers positive thinking.

Green Hat- Green is grass,vegetation and abundant, fertile growth therefore it

indicates creativity and new ideas.

Blue Hat- Blue being the colour of the sky and above everything else,is concerned
with control, the organisation of the thinking process and the use of the other hats.

B) Benefits of using the six thinking hats method - Edward de Bono mentions “If
you have to drive to a certain destination and the people involved know the roads
only vaguely, there will be a lot of argument about which road to take.If, however,
there is a road map laying out the roads,the traffic densities, and the nature of the
road surface,then it is easy to choose the best road.” Exactly the same thing
happens with the Six Hats method.

• More power- Utilization of the thinking capacity, experience and knowledge of

all the group members.
• Time saving- There is no longer a need to respond out of politeness, or to argue
every point of view. Meetings can take half to one-fifteenth of the time.
• Removal of Ego- There is no ego to be exerted from attacking and putting down
others, to get your way or show off how clever you are. The only way to exert
your ego with Six Hats is to be a good thinker.
• Making it simple- This is by focusing on one thing at a time, it is easier to move
complex tasks and challenges and get a full picture at the end.
Conclusion

The biggest enemy of thinking is complexity, for that leads to more confusion. When
thinking is clear and simple, it becomes more enjoyable and more effective. The Six
Hat technique is very simple to understand and also simple to use.
There are two main purposes to the Six Thinking Hats. The first purpose is to simplify
thinking, by allowing a thinker to deal with one thing at a time. The second purpose is
to aloow a switch in thinking.

Hats are about direction (what can happen), not descriptions (what is or what has
happened). The Hats are not meant to label or categorize people, the main idea is that
one should think in every direction. And finally to use it like a game, to set rules of
behaviour and have everyone follow it.

The concept is pretty simple and powerful. It enables a thinking that comes to you
easily and is always present in your mind. It makes people not only think about
things, but also think about how they are thinking about those things, organizing their
thoughts better and standardizing the methods of expression for improved interaction
with the other participants (or team members).

Bibliography

1. https://fourminutebooks.com/six-thinking-hats-summary/#:~:text=1%2DSentence
%2DSummary%3A%20Six,thus%20save%20time%20and%20money.
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Thinking_Hats
3. https://www.debono.com/
4. https://readingraphics.com/book-summary-six-thinking-hats/#:~:text=Book
%20Summary%20%E2%80%93%20Six%20Thinking%20Hats%C2%AE%20by
%20Edward%20de%20Bono&text=Six%20Thinking%20Hats%C2%AE%20is,in
%20thinking%20without%20offending%20others