Six Thinking Hats

Sometimes when you change your mind that changes everything. In his book, "Six Thinking Hats," Edward De Bono points out that "The main difficulty of thinking is confusion. We try to do too much at once. It is like juggling with too many balls." Emotions, information, logic, hope, obstacles and creativity all crowd in on us.  The more people involved in the thinking process, the more confusing it may become!
 
To counter this state of confusion, De Bono offers a simple process for doing one type of thinking at a time – one of "six thinking hats" that represents a distinct way of thinking or perspective.  Individuals or groups put on or take off a “hat” to signal the type of thinking being used. This helps us to be cooperative rather than adversarial. When we "put on" different hats in a sequence it aids the problem-solving process in a shorter amount of time.
 
The Six Thinking Hats are:
 
The White Hat - facts and figures

• What information do we have?
• What information do we need?
• What information is missing?

 
The Red Hat - emotions and feelings

• What are our hunches, intuitions, impressions?
• No need to justify or make a case

 
The Black Hat - cautious and careful

• Why it may not work, focus on obstacles
• Pointing out difficulties and problems
• Sticking to rules, values and ethics

 
The Yellow Hat - speculative, positive

• Positive thinking, focus on benefits
• Constructive thinking and making things happen

 
The Green Hat - creative thinking

• Deliberate creation of new ideas and perceptions
• Alternatives and more alternatives

 
The Blue Hat - control of thinking

• Thinking about thinking
• Organizing, controlling other hats

De Bono continues, "The six thinking hats allow us to conduct our thinking as a conductor might lead an orchestra." Groups avoid confusion and the problems of adopting random positions at random times.  It helps push individuals and teams beyond typical or habitual patterns of thinking.
 
Six Thinking Hats help us individually and corporately see opportunities, challenges, decisions and obstacles from new perspectives. When we see our circumstances from new perspectives, very often we uncover possibilities that otherwise we would have missed.

By: Mark Sturgell