Seventy five highly motivated people came together in Malta over the last week to exchange their experiences. This the first ever international meeting of people interested in my work in thinking, was initiated and organised by my brother Peter - who also runs this site. There were people from Korea, Australia, South Africa, Singapore, Canada, USA, Russia, UK, Germany, Greece, Italy, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Oman. There were people involved in the APTT training network. There were members of the Creative Team. There were people specifically interested in the direct teaching of thinking in schools using the CoRT programme. I felt the meeting was a great success. There was a lot of networking and new contacts were made. In the APTT training area some powerful success stories were told. In one case a problem which had been occupying people for some time was solved in twelve minutes using the Six Hats method - with a saving of $10 million. In another case the same method solved a problem that had remained unsolved for fifteen years. In another instance bank managers who had never been able to agree or work together found a framework for doing so.
In general there seemed to be four strands that emerged.
- Thinking frameworks for senior people to work constructively together and to overcome jealousies and turf problems. This was the story in several presentations. The methods provided a way of thinking together. This is notably absent in our intellectual culture which focuses on argument and random expression.
- Thinking frameworks for shop floor workers to work co-operatively in teams. This meant solving local disputes, planning their work and producing far more. It also meant working better with other teams (day and night shifts etc).
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Better thinking for problem-solving. Thinking which makes fuller use of the experience and intelligence of all those involved.
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Opportunity development and fuller use of existing assets. This involved product and service development.
What came out very strongly in the meeting is the sharp divide between those who knew from their own experience that thinking can be taught as a skill and makes a huge difference (from 210 major grievances a month to just 4) - and those in education and in business who seemed totally unaware that thinking is a skill that can be taught. It always seems incredible that with all the accumulating evidence there are people who believe:
- That thinking is a matter of intelligence.
- That out traditional thinking methods are adequate.
Such views seem crude, primitive and, undeed, laughable.
What came across very clearly at the meeting is that there are a group of highly motivated and effective people who are showing in their daily lives that thinking is a skill that can be greatly improved.
I have not singled out individuals in this message because everyone, in their way, contributed to the success of the meeting and it would be unfair to list some and not others,
There was general agreement that the meeting should be repeated every two years. The location would rotate.
I thank all those who made the effort to come to the meeting. Some of you came from a very great distance on the other side of the world (Korea, Australia, Vancouver, California).
I encourage those who are not yet involved in this 'mission' to develop better thinking, to become more clearly involved in the different ways suggested on this site.
Edward de Bono
in Malta
9th August 1998
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