The biggest enemy of thinking is complexity, for that leads to confusion. When thinking is clear and simple,
it becomes more enjoyable and more effective. The Six Thinking Hats concept is very simple to understand. It is also very simple to use. „Thinking is the ultimate human resource. Yet we can never be satisfied with our most important skill. No matter how good we become, we should always want to be better." - Edward de Bono "Thinking often proceeds as drift and waffle and reaction" writes de Bono. In Six Thinking Hats the author presents a simple but effective way to become a better thinker. He separates thinking into six distinct modes, identified with six coloured "thinking hats": White - facts, figures, and objective information Red - emotions and feelings Black - logical negative thoughts Yellow - positive constructive thoughts Green - creativity and new ideas Blue - control of the other hats and thinking steps "Putting on" a hat focuses thinking: allowing a thinker to deal with only one thing at a time; "switching" hats redirects thinking. With the different parts of the thinking process thus clearly defined, discussions can be better focuses and more productive.Using real-life situations as examples, Dr de Bono creates scenarious that show how the effective use of "thinking hats"" can: focus thinking more clearly lead to more creative thinking improve communication and thus decision making Using this method one major corporation reduced the time taken for multinational project discussions from thirty days to just two days. Argument is inefficient, ineffective and extremely slow. Argument was never designed to be constructive. The parallel thinking of the Six Hats method is rapidly replacing argument around the world. Six Thinking Hats clearly illustrates why they have found his ideas essential for their
management techniques. And one more fact: the purely simple and well-understandable language as well as the charming and lovely style of de Bono makes this reading a joy of self-improvement. A must have!