Six Thinking Hats – a review

A while back I read ‘Six Thinking Hats’ by Edward De Bono. It’s a creative thinking book all about the Six Thinking Hats technique that focuses on modal thinking when brainstorming or resolving problems. The idea is that you wear one of the hats, not a physical hat, but it’s a metaphor and you only think in that mode. For example, the green hat is all about generating ‘new’ ideas. So when you wear the green hat you’re only concerned about generating as many new ideas as possible.

The hats

White hat – deals purely with information. What information do we have,  what don’t we have, what are the facts?

Red hat – it’s all about feelings. Discuss your emotions, your gut feelings and hunches. No justification required.

Black hat – the critical hat. Talk about risks, dangers and the unknowns.

Yellow hat – the positive hat. What are the benefits of pursuing a particular idea or approach.

Green hat – it’s all about generating new ideas.

Blue hat – think calmness and control. When in blue hat mode you can group and rationalise your ideas.

For me, I found the rule that ‘no idea is a bad idea’ very powerful in freeing group members to really think of ambitious, ‘blue-sky’ ideas without any restrictions in place. De Bono also covers the problems of argumentative thinking, how the mind works, the search for alternatives and different ideas to solving problems. Another benefit of using the Six hats technique is that it can be used in a group or you can use it on your own.

I’ve had the opportunity to use the technique once in a brainstorming session with my colleagues and found the technique to be useful and fun!

I’d definitely recommend the book, as it’s a great read on the train or at home, with simple and very practical ideas that you can use!