Thinking systems

Edward De Bono
By Gabriela Cervino, Diego Maldonado and Sol Matossian
Introduction
 Dr. Edward De Bono
 Born in Malta in 1933
 M.D., Ph.D., (medicine & psychology)
 Faculty at the universities of Oxford, London, Cambridge and Harvard
 World-renowned consultant to business, governments, schools and industry
 Author of 62 books in 47 languages
 Originator of the following:
o Direct teaching of thinking as a skill
o Lateral Thinking (1967)
o Parallel Thinking (1985)
o Six Thinking Hats (1985)
 Traditional Thinking
OOriginates from ‘western’ thinking. It is also known as rhetoric, or basic
arguing skills.
O2400 years old, based on the philosophies of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle
- Socrates used to point out ‘what was wrong’ to clarify the concepts
- Plato believed that we can see only shadows of truth as we go through life
- Aristotle believed that people would put together different ‘boxes’ in their
mind based on their experience & judge things into one of those boxes
- So, traditional thinking is concerned with “what is” which is determined by
analysis, judgment & argument. It is not constructive or creative and doesn’t
involve design.
 What is parallel thinking?

 All members look in the same

direction at any moment

 All views (even contradictory) are

put down in parallel

 Direction of thinking can be changed

(six thinking hats)
Traditional thinking vs Parallel thinking
Traditional thinking
 2400 years old  Plato, Aristotle,
Socrates
 Partial exploration of subject/problem
 Concerned with ‘what is’
 Involves analysis, judgment and
argument
 Thinks about too many aspects/things
at a time
A B
Parallel thinking
 First published in 1985
 Full exploration of subject/problem
 Concerned with ‘what can be’
 Involves constructive and creative
thinking, ‘designing a way forward’
 Deals with only one aspect/thing at a
time
A
B
Lateral Thinking
 What is lateral thinking?
 Means thinking differently or thinking out of the box
 Creativity is a skill that can be learnt and trained
Lateral thinking
activity!
Puzzle 1: Let’s see your skills…
Three switches outside a windowless room are connected to three
light bulbs inside the room. How can you determine which switch is
connected to which bulb if you may enter the room only once?
Answer:
Switch one light on for a minute; turn it off and turn another on. Go
into the room and feel the off bulbs. The warm bulb is connected to
the first switch, the on-bulb is connected to the second and the cold
bulb is connected to the third switch.
Puzzle 2:

A man lives on the tenth floor of a building. Every day he takes

the elevator to go down to the ground floor to go to work. When
he returns he takes the elevator to the 7th floor and walks up the
stairs to reach his apartment on the 10th floor. He hates walking
so why does he do it? Clue: on rainy days he goes up in the
elevator to the tenth floor.

Answer:

The man is a dwarf and can only reach the button for the 7th floor.
On rainy days he uses his umbrella!
 Basic nature of lateral thinking
O Lateral thinking is concerned with changing patterns.
O Purpose: overcome the limitations by providing a means for restructuring, for escaping
from cliché patterns, for putting information together in new ways to give new ideas.
O In a self-maximizing system with a memory the arrangement of information must always
be less than the best possible arrangement.
O The rearrangement of information into another pattern is insight restructuring.
O The purpose of the rearrangement is to find a better and more effective pattern. A
particular way of looking at things may have developed gradually. An idea that was very
useful at one time may no longer be so useful today and yet the current idea has developed
from that old and outmoded idea.
O Lateral thinking is also a particular way of using information in order to bring about
pattern restructuring.
 Lateral thinking vs vertical thinking
O Vertical thinking: Selective, Rightness.
O Lateral thinking: Generative, Richness.
O Vertical thinking selects a pathway by excluding other pathways, while,
lateral thinking does not select, but seeks to open up OTHER pathways.

The Lateral Thinker says: “I’m looking but I won’t know what I am
looking for until I have found it.”

The Vertical Thinker says: “I know what I am looking for”.

 Introduction to six thinking hats
o A method for effective team meetings, problem-solving, decision making and
proposal/design evaluation
o Can be used by businessmen, professionals, students, teachers, children or
individuals.
o Hats help a group use parallel thinking.
o Color of hat identifies the type or direction of thinking
O The blue hat is the overview or process control. It is for organizing and controlling
the thinking process so that it becomes more productive. The blue hat is for thinking
about thinking. In technical terms, the blue hat is concerned with meta-cognition.
O Look not at the subject itself but at the 'thinking' about the subject
O Set the agenda for thinking
O Suggest the next step in the thinking, " I suggest we try some green hat thinking to
get some new ideas"
O Ask for a summary, conclusion, or decision, "Could we have a summary of your
views?"

O The white hat covers facts, figures, data and information. Too often facts and figures
are embedded in an argument or belief.
O Wearing your white hat allows you to present information in a neutral and objective
way.
O What information do we have here?
O What information is missing?
O What information would we like to have?
O How are we going to get the information?
 OThe red hat covers intuition, feelings, hunches and emotions. Usually, feelings and intuition can only
be introduced into a discussion if they are supported by logic. Often, the feeling is genuine but the
logic is spurious. Allows letting out feelings and intuitions without the need for justification,
explanation or apology.
OYou express what you feel about the project. Examples:
OMy gut-feeling is that this will not work.
OI don't like the way this is being done.
OThis proposal is terrible.
OMy intuition tells me that prices will fall soon.

o The green hat is specifically concerned with creating new ideas and new ways of
looking at things:
o creative thinking o interesting proposals
o Additional alternatives o new approaches
o putting forward possibilities and hypotheses o provocations and changes
o Makes time and space available for creative thinking. Often green hat thinking is
difficult because it goes against our habits of recognition, judgment and criticism.
o Typical questions include:
 Are there any other ideas here?
 Are there any additional alternatives?
 Could we do this in a different way?
 Could there be another explanation?
O The yellow hat is sunny and positive. It’s logical and
optimistic. It covers hope and positive thinking. It looks for
benefits and values and how can we make something work.

O The black hat is serious. It’s, caution, risk, assessment and

critical. It is mentioned that it’s the most useful hat. The
problem is its’ very easy to overuse. It points out the weakness
in an idea.
 How to use it in a meeting?
Correct Incorrect
• Everyone present • Someone has been
wears the black hat at chosen as the black hat
the appointed time. person, another as the
• Everyone present white hat person and so
wears the white hat the on.
next appointed time. • They keep those roles
during the whole
meeting.
 Benefits of using six thinking hats
O Saves time
O Focused thinking
O Improved exploration
O Improved creativity & innovation
O Fosters collaborative thinking
O Removal of ego from decisions (reduces confrontation)
O Allows a switch in thinking without threatening ego