CoRT 1 Breadth Thinking Tools Workbook

Learn to Become an
Excellent Lifelong Thinker
Think of a person setting out to learn to be a carpenter. Each carpenter’s tool is designed to
carry out a speciﬁc function. The carpenter learns when and how to use each of the tools
one by one. A lot of practice is required to become a skilled carpenter. Learning to become a
skilled thinker is the same approach: to make the basic operations of thinking second nature
so that they are carried out automatically, smoothly, and without fuss or eﬀort.
You are going to learn a new vocabulary to help direct your thinking attention. Each thinking
tool has a name—one word or short acronym that’s easy to remember. For example— is
pronounced“caf”and stands for consider all factors, PMI is pronounced“p,”“m,”“i”and stands
for Plus, Minus, Interesting.
You should know more about and have a broader view of each thinking situation after
applying any of these tools than you had before you started. You should be more complete
in your thinking.
Edward de Bono

CoRT 1 Breadth Tools
© 2009. The McQuaig Group Inc.
www.deBonoForSchools.com
PMI:
The Treatment of Ideas
1. By law all cars should be painted bright yellow.
2. People should wear badges showing whether they are in a good mood or bad mood that day.
3. A group of citizens has asked city government to remove all the traffic lights in the city.
4. Every adult should spend one week a year working on the police force.
5. Everyone takes the month of August off for vacation.
6. Assigned practice topic.
PMI might be useful.
PMI
A. The is important because without it you may reject a valuable idea that seems bad at
first sight.
B. Without a you are very unlikely to see the disadvantages of an idea that you like very much.
C. The can show that ideas are not just good or bad but can also be interesting if they lead
on to other ideas.
D. Without a most judgments are based not on the value of the idea itself but on your
emotions at that time.
E. With a you decide whether or not you like the idea after you have explored it instead
of before.
1. All cars should be banned from city centers so that people can walk about freely.
2. Every young person should adopt an old person to care for.
3. Students should be allowed to go to school whatever hours they want as long as they earn a
B average or better.
4. Assigned project topic.

CAF:
The Prime Information Input Tool
3. Do a full on the factors involved in choosing a babysitter.
4. You have received a grant of $100,000 to design a new theme park ride for Disneyland. Do a
on the factors you would need to consider.
5. There is a plan to turn a public golf course at the edge of a growing town into a new
shopping center. This is backed by store owners and shoppers but opposed by
PMI and
A. Doing a is useful before deciding or planning.
B. It’s better to consider all the factors ﬁrst and then pick out the ones that matter most.
C. You may have to ask someone else to tell you whether you have left out some important
factors.
D. If you have left out an important factor, your answer may seem right but will later turn out
to be weak or wrong.
E. If you do a on someone else’s thinking, you may be able to tell the person what
information has been left out.
1. Do a on designing a website.
2. Do a on deciding how to spend your vacation time.
3. Do a on selecting a career to pursue.

Rules
Make Life Easier and Better
1. Your class needs to create some new rules for parents to obey while attending student events at
your school. Think of four new rules.
2. Do a PMI on the new rules you just created in number 1 above.
3. Many students use their cell phones or PDA’s during class time. New rules are being created for
cell phone and PDA use in class. Do a on this situation. Think of three new rules that should
be considered.
4. A group of people sail away to an island to start a new life. They abolish money, property, and all
the old rules. They soon ﬁnd that no one wants to do the hard work needed to grow food and
build houses. Do a on this situation and then invent some rules.
5. A new rule is suggested for marriages. Married couples have to renew or cancel their marriages
every ten years. Do a PMI on this new rule.
A. A rule should be widely known, easy to understand, and possible to obey.
B. A rule isn’t a bad rule just because some people don’t like it.
C. A rule should be beneﬁcial for most of the people who have to obey it.
D. People who have to obey a rule should understand the purpose of the rule.
E. From time to time rules should be examined to see if they still make sense.
2. If you were organizing a competition to award $50,000.00 for the best new hobby for kids, what

C&S:
A Prediction and Evaluation Tool
1. A new electronic robot is invented to replace all human labor in factories. The invention is
announced. Do a on the use of this new tool.
2. A new device makes it possible to tell whenever someone is telling a lie. Do an immediate,
. Define the timeframes.
3. A decision is suggested that would allow school children to leave school and start earning a
living as soon as they want to after the age of 12. Do a on this from the point of view of
a student who leaves early, from the point of view of the school, and from the point of view of
society in general.
4. The price of houses and condominiums rises to the point where young adults cannot afford to
on this.
5. A new law is introduced which allows Canadians, Americans, and Mexicans to travel, live or work
.
A. Other people may be able to see the consequences of your actions more easily than you can yourself.
B. It’s important to know whether the consequences are reversible or not.
C.
D. You should look at the consequences not only as they affect you but as they affect other people
as well.
E. You should do a full before deciding and figure out if any negative consequences can be
avoided by modifying your idea.
1. The world runs out of oil and gas. Do a on this.
2. All school examinations are abolished. Do a on this.
3. Do a on joining a protest march to save the polar bears.

AGO:
What is the Purpose?
1. A daughter has made her parents very angry. They decide to double her allowance. Do an
on the parents’goals.
2. Do an on your objectives if you won $25,000.00 on a game show.
3. We have to eat food to live. Different people have different objectives for food. Do an
for the following people: parents, chef, grocery store owner, frozen food manufacturer, dairy
farmer, and vegetarian.
4. Do an for having the police ride bicycles instead of motorcycles or squad cars.
5. You are the commander of a spacecraft approaching Earth from another planet. Do an
to show the objectives you might have.
A. If you know exactly what your objectives are, it is easier to achieve them.
B. In the same situation different people may have different objectives.
C. On the way to a final objective, there may be a chain of smaller objectives, each one following
from the previous one.
D. Objectives should be near enough, real enough, and possible enough for a person to really
try to reach them.
E. There may be many objectives, but some are more important than others.
1. Mr. Fisher owns a house in the country. Mrs. Chavez wants to buy the farm next door and
build 50 houses on the land. Do an for each person. See if they share any .
2.

Planning
Thinking Ahead to Get Things Done
1. The mayor wants to do something about the graffiti that keeps getting sprayed on city buildings.
and a
2. Lay out a plan that the mayor could use to reach his . Divide the plan into three stages.
on the plan you created above.
4. Your goal is to make money using your choice of any three of the following items: three skateboards, a
umbrella. Make a plan showing how you would use your choice of three items to make money.
least two plans and do a PMI on each.
A. The first step of planning is to decide exactly what you want to achieve .
B. Always have an alternative plan ready in case something goes wrong with the first plan.
C. The value of a plan depends upon its consequences .
D. Keep the plan as simple and direct as possible.
E. Consider all factors very carefully and get as much information as possible before making your plan.
1. You get permission to use the school as a recording studio on weekends. Do a on this idea and
make your plan.
2. Rome and Paris are popular destinations for school trips. Some students want to go to Beijing instead.
Do an , a , a PMI, and a to plan the school trip.

FIP:
What Must Be Done First? What’s Most Important?
1. Do a on selecting a house to buy. If you had to pick the top three priorities from these factors
3. Do an on planning a graduation party and then do a on the objectives.
and
list four priorities.
A. First, it’s important to get as many ideas as possible. Then start to pick out the priorities.
B. Diﬀerent people may have diﬀerent priorities in the same situation.
C. You should know exactly why you have chosen something as a priority.
D. If you have trouble choosing the most important things, try looking at it another way: drop out the
least important and see what you are left with.
E. The ideas not chosen as priorities must not be ignored. They too are considered–but after the
priorities.
and then a .
3. You lead a committee that must decide how to spend the budget money to renovate an aging sports

APC:
The Tool for Creativity
1. A man goes into a bar and asks for a drink of water. The bartender gives him a drink of water
2. The Post Office is losing a lot of money. What alternatives can you think of to help the Post
3.
4. Fewer students want to study to become scientists. What are some possible actions that can
5. Do an on all the possible ways you could listen to music.
A. If you can’t think of any alternatives, ask someone else.
B. You keep looking for possibilities until you find one that is really good.
C. There is almost always another alternative, even if at first there doesn’t appear to be one.
D. You won’t know if the obvious explanation is best until you’ve looked at some others.
E. To look for alternatives when you aren’t satisfied is easy. To look for more possibilities when
you’re satisfied requires a deliberate effort.
1. Do an on new designs for jeans.
2. You are going to a career fair to learn about career choices. Do an on other ways to learn
about career choices.

Decisions
Think Clearly and Thoroughly
1. A police officer notices a strange light in a warehouse at night and has to make a quick decision on
what to do. Do an for the police officer.
2. The school jazz band is the best in the country and receives many invitations to perform in other cities.
The band has just received two fantastic invitations for the same dates–the Montreal Jazz Festival and
3. Your parents are planning a family camping trip. You are allowed to invite three of your cousins. It’s
4. You have to decide whether to accept $100 now or $200 in a year’s time. Do a on both choices.
and a
Decide on three rules. Explain your reasons.
A. You should always know the reasons behind any decision you make.
B. It’s important to know whether or not a decision can be reversed after you make it.
C. Not making a decision is making a decision to do nothing.
D. Decisions are more difficult to make if you aren’t prepared to give up something in order to gain
something.
E. Using the CoRT tools can help you make easier and better decisions.
1. You have been saving to buy a cell phone. Your friend offers to sell you a great new phone that he says
he found on the street. The price is much lower than stores are asking for this kind of phone. How do
2. A majority of students at your school are against a new dress code that the principal has announced.
3. Decide how to divide up student project work for a team assignment.

OPV:
An Exploration Tool to Broaden Perception
1. Parents forbid their underage teenagers to go to restricted movies at the local movie theatre. What is
2. The local factory that produces household cleaning products wants to close and move to a country
with cheaper labor and lax environmental laws. Do an for the factory owner, the workers, local
government, and environmentalists.
3. There is a city bus strike. Do an for bus drivers, passengers, parking lot owners, employers, and
bus mechanics.
4. Your next door neighbor cuts down the shade trees on his property line between your homes. Do
an .
.
A. You should to be able to see other points of view whether or not you agree with them.
B. The point of view may be right for the person holding it but not right enough to be imposed on
other people.
C. We all have different experience, knowledge, interests, values, wants, and beliefs; so it isn’t surprising
that in the same situation our viewpoints may differ greatly.
D. Try to see if the other person can see your viewpoint.
E. Be able to articulate the differences and similarities between viewpoints.
1. A developer applies for a zoning change in order to convert a pineapple plantation into a solar farm.
2. The city is considering converting 300 rental apartments to luxury condos.
3. Season ticket holders want the salaries of pro baseball players’frozen for the next five years.

It used to be felt that a person with a high IQ would naturally be an effective thinker. This
doesn’t seem to be the case. Some people with high IQs turn out to be relatively ineffective
thinkers. Some people with much more humble IQs turn out to be more effective thinkers.
Here is my definition of thinking:
Thinking: “The operational skill with which intelligence acts upon experience.”
For example, if IQ is equivalent to the horsepower of a car then thinking skill is equivalent to
driving skill. Just because a car has huge horsepower doesn’t mean the car will be driven well.
It takes a skilled driver.
The purpose of developing thinking as a deliberate skill is to enable a person to apply this skill
to new and unfamiliar situations that have to be faced.
Edward de Bono
©2009. The McQuaig Group Inc. All rights reserved.
This material may not be reproduced in any form or by any electronic
or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval
systems, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Author: Dr. Edward de Bono
Product Development Manager: Lynda Curtin
Book and Cover Design: Mike Wheary, Calypso Concepts
Publisher:
Printed in the United States of America

CoRT 1 Breadth Thinking Tools Workbook

CoRT 1 Breadth Thinking Tools Workbook

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