An effective thinking tool for solving business challenges in more optimal ways.

1. B A R B A R A R A D O M S K Y
D E B O N O ' S S I X
T H I N K I N G H A T S
An effective thinking tool for solving business challenges in more optimal ways.

2. B A R B A R A R A D O M S K Y
W H I T E H A T
When you are looking at the white hat you
are only looking at the facts and any
available data. The aim is to see what you
can learn from. For example, these may be
past trends or information that you can
learn from.

3. B A R B A R A R A D O M S K Y
Y E L L O W H A T
The yellow hat is the optimistic hat. Each
decision you make will have benefits and a
certain degree of added value – this hat
helps you to identify those factors in your
decision making process.

4. B A R B A R A R A D O M S K Y
B L A C K H A T
The black hat represents the risks and the
negative aspects. This hat will help identify
any weak points and negative outcomes in
a plan. This hat points out fatal flaws and
potential risks, which is essential as it
enables you to eliminate these risks or
prepare contingency plans.

5. B A R B A R A R A D O M S K Y
G R E E N H A T
The green hat represents creativity,
growth, new ideas and alternatives. This
hat encourages creative freedom and
assists in developing creative problem
solving.

6. B A R B A R A R A D O M S K Y
R E D H A T
The red hat represents intuition, gut
reaction and emotion. “Wearing” this hat
will help understanding the reaction of
individuals whom might not
understanding your reasoning.

7. B A R B A R A R A D O M S K Y
B L U E H A T
With the blue hat on, you manage the
thinking process and sum up all that was
discussed and set out plans for action. The
blue hat determines what thinking is
needed, organizes the thinking and
devises a plan of action.