Think! by Edward de Bono Page A

the outcome, summary and next steps. The Blue Hat is like a bookend: one at the beginning and one at the end.
    White Hat: Think of white and paper and printout. The White Hat is concerned with information. What information do we have? What information is missing? What information do we need – and how are we going to get it? Questions can be asked under the White Hat. If conflicting information is put forward, there is no argument. Both versions are put down in parallel and then discussed when that information needs to be used.
    Red Hat: Think of red and fire and warmth. The Red Hat is to do with feelings, emotions, intuition. Under the Red Hat all participants are invited to put forward their feelings. In a normal discussion you can only put forward these things if they are disguised as logic. Here there is no need to justify or explain them. They exist and can therefore be put forward. The Red Hat period is very brief and simply allows these things to be put forward.
    Black Hat: Think of the black of a judge's robes. The Black Hat is for critical thinking. What is wrong with the idea? What are its weaknesses? The Black Hat looks at the down side, why something will not work, the risks and dangers. All the negative comments that might be made during a meeting are concentrated under the Black

Hat. The Black Hat is very useful, possibly the most useful of all the hats, but it has its defined place.
    Yellow Hat: Think of sunshine and optimism, dawn and a new day. This focuses on the positive. What are the benefits? Thevalues? How could it be done? Education is mostly about critical thinking. We never really develop 'value sensitivity'. This means the ability to find value in anything – even things we do not like and will not use. Nevertheless we should, honestly and objectively, find value in such things. Without value sensitivity, creativity can be a waste of time. I have sat in on meetings where good ideas have been generated but no one has been able to see the value of the ideas.
    Green Hat: Think of vegetation, growth and branches. This is directly concerned with creativity. When the Green Hat is in use, participants are expected to make a creative effort or keep quiet. They do not like keeping quiet so they make that effort. This means looking for new ideas. It means considering alternatives, both the obvious ones and new ones. It means generating possibilities. It means modifying and changing a suggested idea, possibly through the deliberate use of lateral thinking tools.
    That is all there is. Six Hats that allow us to think in parallel to explore a subject in a constructive and not adversarial way. This Six Hats method of parallel thinking

challenges all those at the meeting to use their minds fully and not just in the adversarial mode. Someone who is against the idea being discussed is expected honestly and objectively to be able to see the values in the idea.
    The framework of the Six Hats might seem at first to complicate discussions and make them much longer. In fact, use of the Hats reduces meeting time to a quarter or even a tenth. Proper training in the method is recommended, but years of experience across a wide range of cultures, levels and sectors have shown that it works very well.
    Showing off
    One of the attractions of argument is that you can show your superiority by proving someone else wrong. You cannot do that with the Six Hats. If you want to show off, you can only do it by performing better under each hat.
    Under the White Hat you think of more information or better questions than anyone else. Under the Black Hat you think of more dangers and risks. Under the Yellow Hat you show more values. Under the Green Hat you put forward more ideas and possibilities.
    This is the showing off of performance – not of attack.
EXCELLENT – BUT NOT ENOUGH
    As with so many other concepts in this book, I want to make it clear that argument is an excellent method when

used in the right place. But it is not