Oct 11, 2004 04:14 PM
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(Updated Oct 11, 2004 04:57 PM)
Six thinking hats-Edward de bono
Scene 1
Every day you come across a beautiful looking girl who studies in your college/works in your office, and you desire to flirt with her and keep trying your best to woo her. You muster courage to approach her. Once you approach her, the butterflies start to flutter in your tummy and your brain goes blank. And you have no idea what to say and how to say, complete chaos all over. But you still try harder? your obsession and desperation irritates the girl and she drops you like a hot potato. You end up dejected, clueless and again with a bad experience to remember!
Scene 2
You have just started a new business with great enthusiasm and thought of making it big. Some problems crop up with your employees in between, regarding marketing the product, lack of information, decision making etc. and you are in the middle of chaos! And you don?t know what to do!
I guess you all agree, that we face such above situations some or the other times in our life and we are confused and don?t know what to do because, we lack the proper solution/answer for that very problem on many factors, which we are again confused, thinking, what are they? All this because we lack clarity in our thinking!
Not any more if you start reading and following the advice in the book called ?Six Thinking Hats? by Edward De Bono!
The tactful writer clears all the webs and clutter in our minds by his Radar Sharp Crystal Clear advise and information, which helps us cut the problem like ? cutting a solid butter With a hot knife'!
The author intelligently reminds us about our secret yet simple faculties of mind in the form of ?Six Thinking Hats? which makes all the difference in the way we think!
These hats are,
White Hat which stands for ? Information, Facts and Figures
Red Hat ? The language of Emotions
Black Hat ? Caution and Careful
Yellow Hat ? Optimism, Positive, Constructive thinking
Green Hat ? Creative thinking, Alternatives, Lateral Thinking
Blue Hat ? Overview, Thinking about Thinking, Monitoring
The biggest enemy of thinking is complexity. This Mr. De Bono effectively erases(complexity) from our minds by making us think clearly by using these thinking hats. He emphasizes on engaging ?One Thinking at A Time?!
Like by putting a White Hat, first we seek and get all the information, which is need. The checked facts as well as unchecked facts.
Red Hat, to use the required emotions only where it is really needed. And advises us to restrain our emotions using inappropriately at inappropriate times!
Black Hat. He stresses on where the caution and critical thinking is need. Negative assessment. At the same time he advises us not to over use the Black Hat often which acts as a resistance in the process of thinking by making us over cautious!
Yellow Hat, this helps us to see the positive side of things. Think of sunshine. Think of optimism. It helps us to make positive assessment of the situation. Like seeing ?half glass full rather half glass empty?. Yellow hat thinking is constructive and generative.
Greet Hat. This hat is the energy hat. Think of vegetation. Think of growth. The green hat is creative. Under green hat we generate and put ideas forward. We lay out options and alternatives. We seek to modify and improve the suggested ideas. In short it is lateral thinking, which is used to generate new concepts and perceptions.
Blue Hat. Blue hat is blue sky ?Overview?. This hat is about ?thinking about thinking?. It is for organized thinking, which helps us in controlling the process of thinking. In short it is like the conductor of orchestra. The conductor gets the best of orchestra by seeing that, what should be done is done at the right time. Blue hat is the control hat.
Through out the book the author makes us know the importance of every hat so subtly yet so effectively, that it eventually gets super imposed on our brains forever. Over a period of time by following and practicing this book?s suggestions, our minds becomes like a skilled fighter pilot, who just knows what to do at the right time in maneuvering a supersonic fighter plane during a warfare! (This is my own opinion). But surely we will become good strategists and efficient decision-makers!
Hats off to the tactical Edward De Bono who writes so well and makes us realize that Thinking is a skill. And the worst enemy of thinking is ?complexity?. And the best thing according to author is that, this skill (thinking) can be developed and mastered by practice!
This book is worth an investment for a lifetime. Simple, Clarity, Crystal Clear Thinking is what we are gonna get from this lovely book called ?Six Thinking Hats?. Wow!
Cheers!
