EDWARD DE BONO'S MESSAGES - 1st May 2000

A question of colour!

We have been using argument as the main mode of operation for a discussion. We have been doing this for 2,400 years. Today, many people are finding argument to be crude, primitive and ineffective. These are the people who have started to use "parallel thinking" as demonstrated in the Six Thinking Hats framework. In "parallel thinking" all parties think in the same direction at any one moment. Each of the six metaphorical hats indicates the direction. The APTT network has 923 trainers worldwide. About 200,000 people have now been trained in the method.

ABB in Finland tell how multi-national project discussions which used to take 30 days can now be done in two days. At a meeting Siemens told how their product development time had been reduced by 50 per cent. Someone from a senior IBM research lab told me how their meeting times had been reduced to one quarter of what they used to be. When I was last in Australia, the person in charge of fisheries and marine biology told me that since introducing parrallel thinking, they have had the smoothest and most productive meetings they ever had. In the USA the judiciary is seriously interested in having the method taught to all juries because it removes the ego component and allows full exploration.  In two parallel cases, one jury took 4 hours to reach a decision. In the other case, using the Six Thinking Hats method, the decision took fifteen minutes.

Consider a court of law. If the prosecutor thinks of something which would help the defence, the prosecutor is not going to mention it. If the defence lawyer thinks of something that would strengthen the prosecution case, the defence lawyer is never going to mention this - but might prepare to meet it. This is "case making" not full exploration of the subject.

The method is being increasingly used by major corporations around the world, both in the USA and elsewhere.

Consider then the following absurdity.

Some person in a well known US corporation decided they could not us the Six Thinking Hats method because the "black hat" might upset Afro-Americans.

Now the "black hat" represent 'caution' and 'critical thinking'. The "black hat is the most used hat and possibly the most useful. The "black hat" keeps us out of danger and trouble. The "black hat" is the very basis of Western Thinking!! There is nothing wrong with the "black hat". Like all the hats it is excellent but should not be overused.

A judge who has to deal with offenders is not therefore a 'bad person' or a bad thinker. A doctor who deals with ill people is not himself or herself ill, or a bad thinker.

Interestingly, there has never ever been any such concern with the 'hats' in South Africa. Indeed, in Zulu culture, if someone is in a bad mood you might say, "that person has a black cloud hanging over them".

At one time, in Dade County, some such concerns were raised. The Afro-Americans themselves regarded such concerns as extremely patronising.

In a short experiment with public servants in Singapore, the use of the 'hats' raised thinking productivity 495 per cent.

So this particular corporation is denying its employees  powerful thinking tools and denying its shareholders productivity improvements on grounds which are totally absurd.

I wish no harm to that corporation which is why I have not provided the name here. The decision was doubtless made by some individual who did not understand the process. The name could be supplied on request.

Edward de Bono nmt
30th April 2000
U.S.A.