Dr Edward de Bono at Creative Innovation - "Re-thinking the future"
Dr Edward de Bono is regarded as the global leading authority in the field of creative and conceptual thinking. An MD, PHD and Rhodes Scholar, he has authored 72 books in 41 languages.
If questioned today, many people would say the biggest problem facing humanity is Climate Change. According to de Bono, this is not true. The biggest problem facing humanity is our poor thinking... The only bigger problem is that we don't realise this.
The way our minds work today is simply to recognise and respond to patterns. As our education system was based in religion from the time of the renaissance, we have been taught to think in ways that would be useful to the church, ie. truth, logic and argument.
This system has been excellent and worked for us in many aspects, namely scientific and technological pursuits.
Though however excellent, it is not enough. Historically, we have not been taught creativity, design and perceptual thinking. We are able to identify a problem with ease, however we are not able to effectively create new ways to fix it.
There is no magic to this way of thinking... There are a number of very simple methods we can use in order to achieve this.
Watch the wonderfully entertaining Edward de Bono in his presentation at Creative Innovation 2010 to discover how you can add to your current way of thinking and increase your ability to design and create.
Creative Innovation is an annual future-shaping conference event. It is the place to learn from world-changing innovators, futurists, inspired thinkers and curious souls gathered together in an interactive community.
Edward de Bono
Parallel Thinking (Six Thinking Hats)
Part one show:
What's important? Human potential harnessed. Techniques to optimize effort. Efficient data management. Intelligence and thinking. Hats to the rescue.
The technique
The Six Thinking Hats technique of Edward de Bono is a model that can be used for exploring different perspectives towards a complex situation or challenge. Seeing things in various ways is often a good idea in strategy formation or complex decision-making processes.
It provides a means for groups to think together more effectively, and a means to plan thinking processes in a detailed and cohesive way.
Types of hats
The six hats and the thinking processes that they represent
White hat Facts & Information
Red hat Feelings & Emotions
Black hat Logical negative
Yellow hat Logical positive
Green hat Creative thinking & Possibilities
Blue hat Control of process & Steps
Main benefits
Main benefits of Six Thinking Hats method:
1. Allow to say things without risk
2. Create awareness that there are multiple perspectives on the issue at hand
3. Convenient mechanism for 'switching gears'
4. Rules for the game of thinking
5. Focus thinking
6. Lead to more creative thinking
7. Improve communication
8. Improve decision making
