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27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
Thinking skills explained with extreme simplicity
Edward DeBono explains what is often viewed as a complex skill in such a simple way that anybody who reads the book should understand how to improve their thinking. The book is easy to read with short captivating illustrations which drive home the message being put across. There are no theories, principles or models in the book. It is not a book based on "so many steps to...
Published on 14 Feb 2003 by M O OWOADE
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25 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
Worthy of a read if you can bear the style.
According to Edward de Bono's book-jacket biography, there are over 4,000,000 references to his work on the internet . The figure is to be found from general search results, which will throw up all references to anyone called Edward, as well as all references to Bono. Dr de Bono has clearly not thought this through, which is unfortunate for someone whose book claims to...
Published on 12 Mar 2006 by Kris Devin
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27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
Thinking skills explained with extreme simplicity, 14 Feb 2003
Edward DeBono explains what is often viewed as a complex skill in such a simple way that anybody who reads the book should understand how to improve their thinking. The book is easy to read with short captivating illustrations which drive home the message being put across. There are no theories, principles or models in the book. It is not a book based on "so many steps to achieve a goal", neihter does it reveal a new formula to successful thinking. Each section is well arranged giving a summary of each thinking hat at the end of each hat's session in the book. Overall this is a compulsory read for anybody interested in improving their thinking and facilitators running brainstroming sessions. Although it can be used to tackle any type of project requiring idea generation or problem solving.
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
A Book Every Serious Thinker Must Read, 24 May 2002
By A Customer
Important work demonstrating how to take full advantage of the various ways you think in solving problems and making decisions. Explores the limits of logic and shows how to move in new, more creative directions reason alone cannot reach. More than thinking outside the box, this book let's us escape the box and leave it behind. Also consider reading the newer Why Didn't I Think of That? - Think the Unthinkable and Achieve Creative Greatness, which is filled with vivid illustrations and challenging thinking exercises which will expand your creativity, problem solving and decision making skills at work and home.
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33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
De Bono will make you THINK, 18 Mar 2006
Every so often you read a book that is so obvious that you are amazed you did not see it before. For me, this is such a book. Yes, I could argue about the slow nature of the book, about the style or choice of phrase. However, the very simple idea (singular) at the core hit me like a billiard ball between the eyes at three paces.De Bono takes the idea of thinking, and breaks it down into six different aspects, and proposes that all should be allowed at appropriate times in a meeting. The key is not that (say) raw emotion can be expressed unjustified, but that where necessary such feelings are not only encouraged, but that it is an everybody thing. Participants are allowed to express a simple yes / no to an idea with no further comments. This, by the way, is 'red hat thinking'. Each aspect of thinking is given a colour, so participants will wear the SAME hat at the same time, to view topics from a similar perspective. There is no compelling reason to have physical hats, but presumably this may help initially. Examining each proposal in a critical way is allowed, but not all the way through any discussion - only at 'blackhat' time. This is a short, easy-read book. It would be possible to give a summary here of the six hats, and their meanings – however, it is better to let de Bono do that. Chapters are small and bite-sized, with an introduction and summary to each coloured hat. You do not need to read the book in one sitting, but it is probably advisable to tackle the 170 pages within 2 or 3 days. The author has written a number of other books on 'thinking', and these are referred to in the text of the volume. For me, the references were about right - neither too many (a sales pitch) or too few (not giving readers the opportunity to get further information). What did irritate me was the summary chapters for each hat, where the majority of sentences seemed to begin with e.g. "Blue hat thinking ..". At the end de Bone gives a possible framework for using the principles within a meeting. This is helpful, and adds to the comments and examples throughout the text. The overall feel is that this is a book about thinking that is based in reality. My final thoughts concern interminable meetings I have attended, and national flags. Use of the core idea of this thin volume would have saved man-months of my time, sometimes concluding that a meeting was not necessary. The national flag theme? Take a South African flag into meetings with you. This will remind you of the thinking hats, for the colours are the same. Buy it, learn it, practice it, and do it. Peter Morgan, Bath, UK (morganp@supanet.com)
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
Pass the Idea, 20 April 2007
I presume to suggest that you read this book before you read de Bono's Six Action Shoes and strongly urge you to read both. As he explains in Chapter 6, "The first value of the six thinking hats is that of defined role-playing....[the second] is that of attention directing....[the third] is that of convenience....[and the fourth] is the possible basis in brain chemistry" which de Bono outlines in the previous chapter.
What about the hats? The conceit is brilliant. Each hat is of a different color: white, red, black, yellow, green, and blue. De Bono assigns to each a quite specific combination of qualities and characteristics. Since childhood, my favorite color has always been green. Here is what de Bono says about it: "Green is grass, vegetation, and abundant., fertile growth. The green hat indicates creativity and new ideas." De Bono also briefly characterizes the other colors and then devotes an entire chapter to discussing each of them in depth.
According to the subtitle, de Bono provides "an essential approach to business management." That is true. He helps his reader to increase various reasoning skills through carefully defined and structured role-playing, and, by directing and then focusing attention where it is needed most. How? By understanding and then developing entirely different perspectives which the various hats represent: White (neutral and objective), Red (powerful emotions), Black (gloomy and negative), Yellow (sunny and positive), Green (fertile and creative), and Blue (logical and in control). You get the idea. De Bono urges his reader to SEE all of the hats while associating with each its own defining qualities and characteristics.
Here's an exercise (inspired by Bono ideas) which will work very well with those who have been required to read Six Thinking Hats prior to getting together to brainstorm. Buy several of those delightful Dr. Seuss hats (at least one of each of the six different colors, more if needed) and keep the hats out of sight until everyone is seated. Review the agenda. Review what de Bono says about what each color represents. Then distribute the Dr. Seuss hats, making certain that someone is wearing a hat of each color. Proceed with the discussion, chaired by a person wearing a Blue or White hat. It is imperative that whoever wears a Black hat, for example, be consistently negative and argumentative whereas whoever wears a Yellow must be consistently positive and supportive. After about 15-20 minutes, have each person change to a different colored hat. Resume discussion. Thanks to de Bono and (yes) to Dr. Seuss, you can expect to have an especially enjoyable as well as productive session.
In addition to de Bono's Six Action Shoes, there are other excellent books also worthy of your consideration. They include Michael Ray and Rochelle Myers' Creativity in Business (based on the highly acclaimed Stanford University course) as well as several written by Guy Claxton, Michael Michalko, Joey Reiman, and Roger von Oech.
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24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
I've struggled in the past with de Bono but this is fun, 29 Mar 2003
This is a great little book and one that will get the best out of brainstorming sessions.I'm still reading the book, I take so long and usually leave books to one side for ages, I have so many unread and tend to use them as a reference library. What reminded me about this was that we wanted feedback about how we were performing at work as team leaders so we called in our Quality Manager who is a great facilitator. When we looked through the first sessions results I saw he had been using the Six Hats technique and he has been using it for some time. He finds it a great ice breaker and in the past he has had the clouored hats in the centre of the table and people put on a different one to let the others know how they are feel. This got results but as de Bono points out in one of his examples the quality manager was not using the technique as he had intended it to be used. Everyone should wear the same colour hat at the same time. It gets them to think logically if they are wearing Yellow, with feeling and warmth when they wear Red etc you get the idea. Many good ideas come out of a relax atmosphere instead of fear or being self conscious the hats get you to think in a way that perhaps you would stop and do. It gets you away from your natural thought processes. My recommendation is to read the book make some hats and see what happens, our team has certainly come up with lots of ways for us to be better team leaders and according to the quality managers survey we are headed in the right direction our team like the changes we are doing.
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43 of 46 people found the following review helpful:
Improved Parallel-Thinking Process for Evaluating Issues, 23 May 2004
Seldom do I find a legitimate improvement on existing thinking processes, but there certainly is one in Six Thinking Hats. De Bono reports that this process reduces time spent in meetings by 20 to 90 percent, based on experiences reported to him since the book was first published. It also seems that many people feel that the evaluations that emerge are more useful ones, as well.De Bono himself makes this statement: "The Six Thinking Hats method may well be the most important change in human thinking for the past twenty-three hundred years." You'll have to decide for yourself, if the book lives up to that claim. De Bono diagnoses the fundamental problem of decision-making as being muddled thinking. Groups are simply not well equipped to deal with a wide range of data and perspectives simultaneously. The meeting often bogs down into conflicts of personalities and over focus on inimportant points. By creating a simpler way to think about issues, de Bono claims to eliminate many of these problems. The process is not one that I have used, but it makes sense to me as an improvement over less structured evaluation methods. It can be used by an individual or a group working together. The amount of structure you use can be high, or you can be more ad hoc. People learn best when they are playing, and the six hat approach clearly encourages a spirit of play. By giving each person a role (and each person eventually playing all of the roles), the method reduces the amount of personality-based conflict, encourages more participation, and gives validation to many different ways to present the question at hand. This should make each person feel more affirmed and invested in the process. Also, since the route is focused on getting lots out on the table, it also suspends judgment longer so that more ideas can emerge. As such, it is closer to the Japanese method of making evaluations than the American one (as de Bono points out). Here is the color scheme. Blue is the process coordinator (like the conductor of an orchestra) and starts and leads off the meeting (plus helps keep it on process) -- except sometimes it is better to have red finish just after blue summarizes at the end. Red goes second, and represents emotions and feelings to present both positive and negative emotional reactions, as well as more subtle things like intuition. It seems to be more free form from there. Let's go to yellow next, which is speculative and positive -- the optimistic side of the case. This view is to open up the possibilities. Naturally, that has to be balanced by looking at the downside, which is black (cautious and careful). This hat is normally worn the most in evaluations, and can easily be overdone. The idea is not to be negative, but to search out the risks. White plays an important, but neutral, role -- pointing out the facts that are known or are likely to be true. Care in characterizing what is known is important. Green is the wild card -- finding alternatives. This color connects very well with de Bono's original claim to fame, as someone who has good ideas for stimulating individual creativity. By giving each person a role in being creative in a meeting, he extends that focus in a useful way De Bono makes two interesting comments about how all this leads to decisions: "In the end, all decisions are really red hat." But we should assume that it is a more informed set of emotions and feelings than would exist otherwise. "Decisions seem to make themselves." Knowing how painful decisions are in many circumstances, if that were the only benefit, that would be enough to make this book essential. My suggestion is that you give this process a trial run with something unimportant before unleashing it on a big issue. Otherwise, you might be stalled by lack of understanding about how the process works. Keep practicing until you are satisfied that it is working well. Good luck with overcoming your stalled thinking about making decisions and the issues that face you and your organization!
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
Brilliant for creative people too!, 3 Feb 2000
By A Customer
De Bono's book is a pragmatic, easily understood volume that will help you tackle projects or problems successfully. I recently used his principles in a creative writing seminar, because De Bono's methods prevent negative or emotional thinking from dominating in work. I agree that the text might have been better edited; De Bono's sentences are wordier than necessary, and while the multitude of short paragraphs may be good for marking significant passages, they are awkward to read straight through. However, none of these disadvantages outweigh the book's benefits.
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
Excellent thinking tools for use anytime, 5 Jul 2001
By A Customer
Excellent subject matter. Once you get your head round the principals you can apply the process to any work or personal situtation where you have to constructively reason out a solution to a problem.However the book was written as though all the flip chart pages for a 5 day workshop were handed to a copy writer and listed in a book. Can be tough to read but well worth it.
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25 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
Worthy of a read if you can bear the style., 12 Mar 2006
According to Edward de Bono's book-jacket biography, there are over 4,000,000 references to his work on the internet . The figure is to be found from general search results, which will throw up all references to anyone called Edward, as well as all references to Bono. Dr de Bono has clearly not thought this through, which is unfortunate for someone whose book claims to deliver a supreme method for thinking. This very fact that such a dishonest exaggeration of the author's importance is given within the first paragraph sets the tone that continues throughout this entire book (in the second paragraph, he reports that he was named one of the 250 most important people who have contributed to humanity throughout history: Jesus Christ, Mohammed, Buddha, Lao Tzu, Homer, Pythagoras...Edward de Bono?!).
That's not to say there is no merit in this book at all, even if the method is not entirely idiot [i.e. de Bono] proof. The Six Hats method enables us to evaluate any given situation by applying a series of approaches to our thinking. According to de Bono, these six approaches (objective, emotional, cautious, optimistic, creative, control) encapsulate the full spectrum of human thought, although most untrained people limit their potential for thinking in habitually applying only one or two.
The beauty of the method is in the simplicity - it is easy to grasp and easy to apply (though the author's struggle to pad out this simple idea for 177 pages is at times nothing short of painful, and most readers will grasp the method effectively by reading only the key parts of each section). It might well change the way you think for the better; that is, if you can bear to put up with de Bono's self-aggrandising, word-filling style.
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9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
6 Thinking Hats, 17 Dec 2005
By A Customer
I am training to be a primary school teacher and heard about the book while on school practice and then from a lecturer back at uni. Excellent value for money, easy to read and understand. Absolutely fascinating yet so simple.
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