Six Thinking Hats is a self-help book which describes a tool for group discussion and individual thinking involving six colored hats. "Six Thinking Hats" and the associated idea parallel thinking provide a means for groups to plan thinking processes in a detailed and cohesive way, and in doing so to think together more effectively. Coloured hats are used as metaphors for each direction. Switching to a direction is symbolized by the act of putting on a coloured hat, either literally or metaphorically. These metaphors allow for a more complete and elaborate segregation of the thinking directions. The six thinking hats indicate problems and solutions about an idea the thinker may come up with.

1. SIX THINKING HATS
Utilizing de Bono’s
SIX THINKING HATS
for
Effective Brainstorming
and
Problem Solving Meetings

2. OUTLINE
I. Edward De Bono (Father of Lateral Thinking)
II. Six Thinking Hats
III. Summary & Conclusion

3. EDWARD DE BONO
(FATHER OF LATERAL THINKING)

4. • Considered the father of lateral thinking
• M.D., Ph.D., (philosophy, medicine & psychology), Rhodes scholar
World-renowned consultant to business, governments, schools
and industry
• Author of 62 books in 40 languages
• Originator of Six Thinking Hats, Lateral Thinking and Direct
Attention Thinking Tools
Continued….
ABOUT EDWARD DE BONO

5. • Concluded that the only people satisfied with their thinking skills
were POOR THINKERS who believed that the purpose of thinking
was to prove yourself right
• Believed that people needed to embrace the concept of thinking
ONE THING at a time
• This allows thinkers to separate emotion and other baggage from
logic
• Thinking to resolve problems with an indirect and creative
approach, using reasoning that is not immediately obvious.
ABOUT EDWARD DE BONO

6. SIX THINKING HATS
• IS Thinking Matters?
• The Basics
• Why Six Thinking Hats?
• Benefits of Six Thinking Hats
• Guidelines about Six Thinking Hats
• Details about Six Thinking Hats

7. IS THINKING MATTERS
• All of us assume that the way we think is the “right” way
• Thinking often proceeds as waffle and reaction to what turns up from
moment to moment
• How we think dictates our approach and therefore our behaviors
• When we fail at something, we ascribe it to be bad luck, we seldom
take the view that the way we thought about it was part of the problem
• We involve too much in the thinking process
• We inappropriately get our emotions, ethics, values, ruts, friendships,
intelligences, gender issues, experiences, creativity, flexibility, learning
styles, opinions, and thinking styles involved in decision making and
problem solving situations
SIX THINKING HATS

8. • There are six different imaginary hats that you can put on or take
off.
• Think of the “hats” as thinking icons.
• Each hat is a different color and represents a different type or
mode of thinking.
• We all wear the same hat (do the same type of thinking) at the
same time.
• When we change hats - we change our thinking.
• A tool for individual and team thinking development.
• A tool that supports a healthy learning organization.
• Our ability to switch one’s view / vision and attitude.
SIX THINKING HATS
The Basics
Continued….

9. BLUE HAT
Managing The Thinking
Setting The Focus
Making Summaries
Overviews  Conclusions
Action Plans
GREEN HAT
Creative Thinking
Possibilities  Alternatives
New Ideas  New Concepts
Overcome Black Hat
Problems & Reinforce Yellow
Hat Values
BLACK HAT
Why It May Not Work
Cautions  Dangers
Problems  Faults
Logical Reasons
Must Be Given
YELLOW HAT
Why It May Work
Values & Benefits
(Both Known & Potential)
The Good In It
Logical Reasons
Must Be Given
RED HAT
Feelings & Intuition
Emotions Or Hunches
“At This Point”
No Reasons or Justification
Keep It Short
WHITE HAT
Information & Data
Neutral & Objective
Checked & Believed Facts
Missing Information &
Where To Source It
FOCUS

10. SIX THINKING HATS
Why Six Thinking Hats?
TWO MAIN OBJECTIVE
1. Simplifies thinking by having to deal with one thing at a time.
2. Allows a switch in thinking without threatening ego.
WHY SIX THINKING HATS?
1. Helps us to communicate more effectively
2. Promotes creative problem solving
3. Supports dealing with new situations
4. Allows us to deal with limited information
5. Takes away emotions and baggage
6. A way to avoid arguments
7. Can be fun
8. Allows brain to do one thing at a time – less confusing, more focus

11. Parallel
KEY BENEFITS
Improve Exploration
Saving of Time
Improve Creativity & Innovation
Foster Collaborative Thinking
Removing ego from decisions
Doing one thing at a time
Adversarial
SIX THINKING HATS
Benefits of The Six Thinking Hat Framework

12. SIX THINKING HATS
Guiding Principles
1. Use hats to focus the thinking … one at a time
2. Don’t have to use all the hats
3. Can use some hats more than once
4. No debates or arguments … brainstorm
5. Begin with blue
6. End with blue
7. Keep red brief
8. Keep time brisk (3-4 minutes per hat) – prevents rambling
9. If you need to stimulate ideas consider a ‘Random Word’

13. 1st HAT – BLUE

14. BLUE HAT MEANS:
• Manages the process
• Keeps people focus
• Makes the agenda
• Provides summary
• Helps communicate the conclusion
• Helps finalize the next step
• Manages the time limits
BLUE HAT
SIX THINKING HATS

15. KEY POINTS
• Plays the role of the discussion leader
• Could be any participant, but usually the scribe
• Used for directing when switching hats
• Takes practice to use this hat skillfully and with tact
BLUE HAT
BLUE HAT PROMPTS
1. Why are we here?
2. What are we dealing with?
3. What do we want to achieve?
4. Where do we want to end up?
SIX THINKING HATS

16. 2nd HAT – WHITE

17. WHITE HAT MEANS:
1. What information is available?
2. What information would we like to have?
3. What information do we need?
4. What information is missing?
5. How can we obtain the missing information?
SIX THINKING HATS
WHITE HAT

18. KEY POINTS
• Reports AND listens
• Assesses the accuracy
• Assesses the relevance
• Deals with conflicting information
• Does not do the thinking for others
• Helps to separate the facts from speculation
SIX THINKING HATS
WHITE HAT PROMPTS
1. What do we know?
2. Do we really know what we think we know?
3. What do we need to find out?
WHITE HAT

19. 3rd HAT – RED

20. RED HAT MEANS:
1. Intuition
2. Feelings
3. Hunches
4. Justification not needed
5. No Whining
SIX THINKING HATS
RED HAT

21. KEY POINTS
1. Full permission to express feelings and intuition
2. Ok to express ‘right now’ feelings
3. Ok to express ‘how I felt’ feelings
4. Ok to express ‘how I think” I might feel
5. Ok to express fears
6. Ok to change feelings
7. Not supposed to be correct or logical
8. Not supposed to be reliable
SIX THINKING HATS
RED HAT PROMPTS
1. How do you feel about this?
2. How did you feel about this?
RED HAT

22. 4th HAT – GREEN

23. GREEN HAT MEANS:
1. Cannot expect people to be creative but can expect people
to make a creative effort
2. A willingness to:
1. Look for alternatives
2. Challenge current thinking
3. Consider new possibilities
SIX THINKING HATS
GREEN HAT

24. KEY POINTS
1. A deliberate search for alternatives
2. Ok to be illogical
3. Ok to suggest something that has failed before
4. Ok to suggest something that will cost $$
5. Ok to be outrageous
6. OK to modify an idea
7. A deliberate search for alternatives
8. Don’t be satisfied with the obvious
9. Pregnant pauses are OK
SIX THINKING HATS
GREEN HAT PROMPTS
1. What are some alternatives?
2. Think outside of the box?
3. If we had $1 million dollars what could we do?
4. If we had unlimited time what could we do?
GREEN HAT

25. 5th HAT – YELLOW

26. YELLOW HAT MEANS:
1. What is good about the situation?
2. Who might benefit & how?
3. How is this valuable?
4. Why is this logical?
SIX THINKING HATS
YELLOW HAT

27. KEY POINTS
1. Value sensitive
2. Concept sensitive
3. Why is this of interest to people / organization?
4. How does this showcase organizational ROI?
5. How does this give our organization a competitive edge?
YELLOW HAT PROMPTS
1. How can we make this work?
2. What value is there in this idea?
3. What opportunities were there in the past?
4. What opportunities are there in the future if we stay the course?
5. Under what circumstances would this work?
SIX THINKING HATS
YELLOW HAT

28. 6th HAT – BLACK

29. BLACK HAT MEANS:
1. What are the possible problems?
2. Where might there be difficulties?
3. What are the risks?
4. Where do we need to proceed with caution?
5. Where are we weak?
SIX THINKING HATS
BLACK HAT

30. KEY POINTS
1. It is OK if some of the same information also comes up
under white hat
2. This is NOT the time to solve the problems raised by the
black hat
3. This is a valuable and necessary step – be thorough and
ruthless
4. However, do not overuse this step
BLACK HAT PROMPTS
1. How could this backfire?
2. What’s the risk?
3. Why would someone object?
4. Will this expose us to liability?
5. Do we have the resources?
6. Will it cost too much?
7. Has it failed before?
SIX THINKING HATS
BLACK HAT

31. SIX THINKING HATS
(Summary & Conclusion)

32. SIX THINKING HATS
SUMMARY

33. SIX THINKING HATS
WHATS UR HAT

34. SIX THINKING HATS
STORY

35. SIX THINKING HATS
ACTION

36. SIX THINKING HATS
TEMPLATE FOR EVERY MEETING

37. SIX THINKING HATS
CONCLUSION