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Summary of Six Thinking Hats by

Edward De Bono
 First published by StoryShots 2021

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 Contents

About Edward De Bono 1

Introduction 2
The Premise 3
Advantages of Six Thinking Hats 4
Explanation of The Six Thinking Hats 6
The Blue Thinking Hat Is About the Process 8
The White Thinking Hat Seeks Facts 8
The Red Thinking Hat Uses Their Feelings 9
The Black Thinking Hat Looks for Faults 10
The Yellow Thinking Hat Is About Benefits 12
The Green Thinking Hat Calls for Creativity 12
The Movie Example and Exercise 15
Final Summary 17
Related Book Summaries 19
 About Edward De Bono

Edward De Bono is one of the pioneers of Brain Training. In

1967, he invented the world famous Lateral Thinking Technique.
De Bono is a proponent of the direct teaching of thinking as
a skill. He has dedicated his life to helping people worldwide
improve their thinking abilities and creativity skills. His courses
have been used by top corporations, governments and world
leaders. That said, they are also highly accessible, having been
used by schoolchildren. De Bono believes his techniques help
people of all thinking levels to make smarter decisions in less
time.

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 Introduc on

Six Thinking Hats provides six approaches that can be used

interchangeably as a critical thinking tool. Imagine you were
an explorer and found yourself on an island. Naturally, you
would like to find out what is happening on that island. The
most common approach would be to observe and take notes of
every prominent feature. The issue with this approach is that
it neglects many less prominent details that are still important.
The Six Thinking Hats approach helps you look at every critical
detail one bit at a time. These six thinking hats have different
colors and each color functions differently.

2
 The Premise

Six Thinking Hats’ premise is that doing everything simultane-

ously would only create confusion. Basically, Six Thinking Hats
gives you a frame of reference. This reference provides three
clear uses.

You can use it as a tool for group discussion and individual

thinking. That means you can use it to help you to optimize
them.
It helps a group think together more effectively. Imagine you
have six people in your group. There would be six different ways
of thinking. Crucially, if the group adopts six thinking hats, they
can focus on one thing at a time.
It offers a way to plan thinking processes in a detailed and
cohesive way. With six thinking hats, you know exactly what
you’re going to do for each step of the process. So, you cover
all the required areas. The result is thought processes and work
that are more cohesive.

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 Advantages of Six Thinking Hats

Before delving into the specifics of each thinking hat, De Bono

provides five strong reasons why you should adopt the six
thinking hats. The five advantages that De Bono provides are:

They encourage parallel thinking. Parallel thinking means that

all your group members are thinking in the same direction. The
longer you work in this way, the more influential your team will
become.
They encourage full-spectrum thinking. Full-spectrum think-
ing means that you cover all possibilities.
They separate ego from performance. Whenever you do a
group discussion, you are engaging in social aspects. It is a social
event because you’re not working by yourself; you’re working
with people. Sometimes people believe that they own their ideas.
This ownership leads to people feeling threatened when “their”
idea is challenged. Crucially, the six thinking hats will help you
separate your ego from performance. So, people criticizing an
idea is no longer about you and becomes a vital part of solving a
problem together.
They allow the team to obtain fuller input from more people.

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 ADVANTAGES OF SIX THINKING HATS

When you work in a group, there will be different personalities.

The six thinking hats can help you obtain input or information
from each person and personality.
They encourage performance rather than ego defense. Once
you realize the group performance is more important than
individual performance, you can be more encouraging to others.
You can also become more open.

So, now you should have an understanding of the benefits of the

six thinking hats.

5
Explana on of The Six Thinking Hats

6
 EXPLANATION OF THE SIX THINKING HATS

The six thinking hats each have unique features that comple-
ment each other but are clearly distinct. The picture below
displays this point and the following outlines will also make
this clear.

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 SUMMARY OF SIX THINKING HATS BY EDWARD DE BONO

The Blue Thinking Hat Is About the Process

Out of the Six Thinking Hats, the blue thinking hat is the only one
that focuses on the process. Focusing on the process means that
this does not consider the subject. This hat starts by asking the
group how they are going to discuss the subject. So, this hat does
not look at the subject itself but the thinking behind the subject.
In technical terms, the blue hat is more concerned with meta-
cognition. Meta-cognition is a specialist term for thinking about
how we should think. Meta-cognition also considers what type
of thinking is needed and organizes this thinking. This thinking
hat considers the premise first, then plans out the process of
thinking and subsequent actions. This makes the blue thinking
hat in charge of decision-making.

The White Thinking Hat Seeks Facts

“Real life, however, is very different from school sums.

There is usually more than one answer. Some answers are
much better than others: they cost less, are more reliable
or are more easy to implement. There is no reason at all
for supposing that the first answer has to be the best one.”
- Edward De Bono

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 EXPLANATION OF THE SIX THINKING HATS

The white thinking hat is all about the facts. Common questions
asked by those wearing the white thinking hat are:

• What materials do we have?

• What information do we have?
• What further information do we need?
• How are we going to get them?

This thinking hat is focused on information. So, they collect this

data and information to guide the team’s decision-making and
efficiency. The white hat is neutral and objective. That means
they should not be passing judgment while wearing this hat.
Instead, white hats are merely collecting.

The author offers an example to help you remember the

information-oriented nature of white hats. He explains that
paper is generally white and we use paper to write information.
So, white hats write facts on white papers.

The Red Thinking Hat Uses Their Feelings

The red thinking hat pays attention to their feelings and re-
sponds accordingly. While wearing this hat, you should be

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 SUMMARY OF SIX THINKING HATS BY EDWARD DE BONO

relying on your gut reactions. You do not need to justify your

intuitions or gut reactions. Instead, just provide statements
based on how you feel.

The author explains that this hat is crucial to team unity. Often
people are happy to go along with something they disagree with
as long as they are allowed to express their feelings. So, the red
hat allows team members to vent and feel like they are free.

This hat is all about expressing how you feel in every moment.
It is fine to have a change in your emotional state. For example,
you might dislike the sound of an idea at first but then change
your mind. Instead of worrying about seeming inconsistent, De
Bono suggests you state every change in your emotions.

The Black Thinking Hat Looks for Faults

“We may have a perfectly adequate way of doing some-

thing, but that does not mean there cannot be a better
way. So we set out to find an alternative way. This is the
basis of any improvement that is not fault correction or
problem solving.” - Edward De Bono

The black thinking hat is perhaps the most common hat in

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 EXPLANATION OF THE SIX THINKING HATS

organizations that do not use the six thinking hats. People are
used to finding faults with concepts. They’re also used to talking
about obstacles. Finding faults can be positive, but it can have a
negative impact when it is being overused. This is why De Bono
believes it is better to have a single hat dedicated to finding
faults.

Black hat thinking covers bad point judgment. Logic is applied

to identifying flaws, barriers and obstacles. The black hat is also
concerned with difficulties, weaknesses and dangers that you
might face. The crucial point is that while wearing the black hat,
you have to give justification for all judgments. You have to give
your logical reasoning. Based on this point, black hat thinking
is the opposite of red hat thinking.

The benefit of black hat thinking is it helps you spot the risks
associated with decisions. People talk about bad things all the
time, which can make meetings counterproductive. So, black
hat thinking should not be purely about negative points. Instead,
it should also be about minimizing risk through policy and
regulations.

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 SUMMARY OF SIX THINKING HATS BY EDWARD DE BONO

The Yellow Thinking Hat Is About Benefits

Yellow hat thinking considers all the positive aspects of an

idea or concept. So, while wearing this hat, you should be
talking about all the good features. But, as with the black hat
thinking, yellow hat thinking must also be applied with logic.
When identifying the benefits, you must be logical and provide
justification.

The purpose of yellow hat thinking is to seek harmony through

finding positives. So, while wearing a yellow hat, you should
constantly be considering how an idea is useful, which requires
you to value sensitivity. Instead of considering law and policy,
you should be talking about what values go with a particular
topic. Plus, what type of ethics judgment that the team needs to
be aware of.

The Green Thinking Hat Calls for Crea vity

“Creativity involves provocation, exploration and risk

taking. Creativity involves “thought experiments.” You
cannot tell in advance how the experiment is going to turn
out. But you want to be able to carry out the experiment.”
- Edward De Bono

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 EXPLANATION OF THE SIX THINKING HATS

The final thinking hat is the green thinking hat. This hat aims
to create the solution to the problems that you find in black hat
thinking. The green hat is also responsible for answering the
statement of provocation and investigation. So, they investigate
and seek solutions, ideas and alternative possibilities.

De Bono takes time to explain what he means by the statement of

provocation. This may immediately sound like you are starting
an argument. The reality is that the statement of provocation is
about proposing hypotheses or scenarios and seeing where they
go. For example, if Superman fought with Incredible Hulk, who
would win? That is a statement of provocation. It provides the
team with a spark to start thinking in an interesting way and
offer alternative viewpoints.

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SUMMARY OF SIX THINKING HATS BY EDWARD DE BONO

14
 The Movie Example and Exercise

The easiest way to understand a concept is to use an example.

So, suppose a team of six thinking hats is considering the topic
of movies. With this example, the tasks and approach of each
hat would be:

• Blue Hat - Decide what the focus and objectives of the

conversation should be. This hat does not talk about the
movie itself.
• Red Hat - Asking yourself whether you feel like you love
or hate the movie. Then, telling the group your intuitive
feelings.
• White Hat - Collecting the facts and information on the
movie. For example, the director, scriptwriter, lead actor
and the plot.
• Yellow Hat and Black Hat - Often, these two hats will work
together. The yellow hat is supposed to be positive and
the black hat is meant to be negative. So, they offer a nice
balance. With the example of a movie, it should be more
complicated than the black hat saying negative things about
a commonly criticized part of the movie. Instead, the black

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 SUMMARY OF SIX THINKING HATS BY EDWARD DE BONO

hat should try to find something negative in the movie’s

most positive area. Similarly, the yellow hat should find
something positive in the movie’s biggest criticism.
• Green Hat - The green hat should always be looking to be
creative. You might introduce an exciting scenario to spark
conversation. For example, “which movie would be best
suited to a crossover with this movie”?

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 Final Summary

The six thinking hats offer balance in a world where teams

tend to focus on the negatives. They also help prevent us from
focusing on our ego and encourage us to consider the team’s
performance. Six Thinking Hats supports the separation of
different modes of thinking. When you talk about one thing
at a time, you can give it your full attention. This is why it makes
sense to put on one hat at a time. So, Six Thinking Hats promotes
single-tasking and focused work. When you mix everything up,
you slow yourself down.

Single-tasking within a team that includes all thinking hats will

allow you to think together in a focused manner. Crucially, you
don’t have to use six thinking hats at all times. For example,
suppose you have a meeting or a collaborative effort. In that
case, you can simply decide in the middle of a meeting, “Hey,
we need to just think of the advantages for a few minutes.”
So, everyone will put on a yellow hat at the same time. It’s
a deliberate focusing tool you can use at different times or can
be used simultaneously within a well-balanced team.

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 SUMMARY OF SIX THINKING HATS BY EDWARD DE BONO

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 Related Book Summaries

• Creativity Inc. by Amy Wallace and Edwin Catmull

• Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
• Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely
• Linchpin by Seth Godin
• Where Good Ideas Come From by Steven Johnson
• Originals by Adam Grant
• Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
• The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande
• The Laws of Human Nature by Robert Greene

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