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Father of Lateral Thinking — Redefining Creative Human Thinking with Six Hats
Edward de Bono (1933-2021) was one of the most influential thinking theorists of the 20th century and the creator of the term lateral thinking. Educated at Cambridge and Oxford, he later disseminated his thinking training theories in Malta, the UK, Australia, and elsewhere. De Bono's core contribution was transforming creative thinking from a mystical talent reserved for geniuses into a systematic skill that anyone can learn and practice. His Six Thinking Hats framework was widely adopted by global corporations including Boeing, IBM, and Intel, helping teams think in parallel, reduce meeting conflicts, and improve decision quality. His PMI tool (Plus/Minus/Interesting) and PO provocation technique became standard elements of creative training programs worldwide. Over his lifetime, de Bono authored more than 85 books translated into 37 languages, promoting thinking skills education in more than 50 countries, influencing fields from education and business to healthcare.
De Bono believed the traditional education system placed excessive emphasis on knowledge accumulation while neglecting training in thinking skills themselves. Like swimming or cycling, creative and critical thinking are skills that can be improved through systematic training; anyone can learn lateral thinking.
Source: Lateral Thinking: Creativity Step by Step by Edward de Bono, Harper & Row, 1970
Most thinking problems are not logical but perceptual. People looking at the same thing from different perspectives reach different conclusions. Changing the perceptual frame (lateral movement) produces more breakthrough innovation than digging deeper within an existing frame (vertical thinking).
Source: I Am Right You Are Wrong by Edward de Bono, Viking, 1990
The Western tradition of adversarial debate (one side proposes, the other refutes) is confrontational and tends to generate self-defense rather than genuine exploration. The parallel thinking represented by the Six Thinking Hats has everyone thinking in the same direction at the same time, substantially improving the quality of collective intelligence.
Source: Six Thinking Hats by Edward de Bono, Little, Brown and Company, 1985
The brain's pattern-recognition system locks us into existing mental tracks. The PO (Provocative Operation) technique deliberately proposes seemingly absurd hypotheses to break the brain's automated patterns, thereby generating unexpected creative pathways. This is not nonsense but a conscious creative operation.
Source: Po: Beyond Yes and No by Edward de Bono, Simon & Schuster, 1972
Six colored hats represent six distinct thinking modes, allowing teams to adopt the same perspective simultaneously in parallel, avoiding adversarial debate.
Boeing introduced the Six Thinking Hats into aircraft design review meetings, transforming previously adversarial debates into parallel exploration sessions. Reports indicate meeting time was reduced by approximately 30% while solution quality improved.
Vertical thinking digs deeper within existing frameworks; lateral thinking moves sideways to find new ones — complementary, but innovation requires the courage to move laterally.
De Bono illustrated: hotel guests complained about slow elevators. The vertical thinking solution was to install faster elevators (extremely expensive); the lateral thinking solution was to install mirrors in the elevator lobby (making waiting enjoyable), at minimal cost yet completely eliminating complaints.
When evaluating any idea, first enumerate all positives (Plus), negatives (Minus), and interesting aspects (Interesting) before letting first impressions dominate judgment.
When de Bono implemented the CoRT thinking programme in Venezuelan schools, he had students conduct PMI analysis on the proposition that all students should be paid wages. Students initially broadly supported it because they would get money, but after completing the PMI discovered numerous negatives and interesting aspects, changing their initial simple judgment.
Mark a deliberately absurd hypothesis with PO, use it as a springboard rather than a conclusion, and extract genuinely workable creative directions from the absurdity.
De Bono's example: PO Car wheels should be square. This absurd hypothesis triggered reconsideration of how wheels contact the ground, ultimately inspiring exploration of tire deformation designs for different road conditions. PO is not an answer but a springboard for generating answers.
De Bono spent his career criticizing Western over-reliance on Aristotelian logic and arguing that perception precedes logic. Yet the Six Thinking Hats, PMI, CoRT, and other tools he invented are themselves extremely structured and systematic frameworks. This paradox of using structure to break structure is an inherent tension in his methodology.
De Bono's thinking theories were long unrecognized by mainstream academic psychology; critics argued they lacked rigorous empirical support. Yet his tools were widely adopted by the world's top corporations including Boeing, IBM, Intel, and Novartis, and incorporated into national education curricula in multiple countries. The contrast between academic neglect and commercial enthusiasm reflects the eternal tension between practical utility and academic rigor.
De Bono claimed lateral thinking and the Six Thinking Hats were universally applicable, but critics noted that the design logic of these tools such as criticism of debate and promotion of parallel thinking was itself a reaction to Western debate culture. In East Asian and other cultures that already emphasize collective harmony, the relationship between his value propositions and local traditions is more complex.
1933-1967
Research on brain information processing mechanisms within a medical education background
De Bono was born in Malta, earned his medical degree from the University of Malta, then studied psychology and physiology at Oxford and completed his doctoral research at Cambridge. He studied from a medical perspective how the brain forms and reinforces patterns, laying a neuroscientific foundation for his later thinking training theory. In 1967 he published his first major work, The Mechanism of Mind, proposing that the brain is a self-organizing information system.
1967-1985
Creating the concept of lateral thinking and establishing systematic training methods for creative thinking
The term lateral thinking first appeared in 1967 in New Think, followed by the publication of Lateral Thinking in 1970, formally establishing this conceptual system. De Bono established a thinking training center at Cambridge, developed the CoRT Thinking Programme (Cognitive Research Trust), and implemented national-level thinking education projects in Venezuela and other countries. During this period his ideas moved from academia to the public, with influence rapidly expanding into education and business.
1985-2000
Inventing the Six Thinking Hats and promoting thinking tools to global top corporations
Six Thinking Hats was published in 1985, becoming de Bono's most commercially influential work. Multinational corporations including Boeing, IBM, Intel, Novartis, and Siemens successively adopted the Six Thinking Hats as a management tool. De Bono built a global network of licensed trainers, commercializing his thinking tools into corporate training products. During this phase he became one of the world's most sought-after business speakers, with reported annual income exceeding one million pounds.
2000-2021
Continued writing and global speaking, advocating for integrating thinking education into national education systems
In his later years de Bono continued publishing new books and lecturing globally, advocating for thinking skills to be incorporated as a core subject in national education systems worldwide. He established the Edward de Bono Foundation in Malta to promote the international dissemination of thinking education. He died in Athens in 2021 at age 88, leaving behind more than 85 books and millions of trained thinking practitioners worldwide.
Context: Edward de Bono was born in Valletta, Malta. His father was a physician, and his family background led him toward medicine and science.
Decision: Received early education in Malta, then pursued advanced studies in the UK.
Reasoning: Malta's multilingual cultural environment cultivated his sensitivity to different modes of thinking.
Outcome: Developed a cross-cultural perspective that deeply influenced his later critique of the singular Western logical tradition.
Lesson: The diversity of one's formative environment is often a hidden source of intellectual breakthroughs.
Context: De Bono completed his medical degree at the Royal University of Malta (now University of Malta), establishing his foundation for studying thinking from biological and neuroscientific perspectives.
Decision: Chose to continue advanced studies in the UK rather than practicing medicine directly.
Reasoning: Curiosity about the mechanisms of brain function exceeded his interest in clinical medicine.
Outcome: His medical background allowed him to explain the formation of thinking patterns from a neuroscientific perspective, enhancing the scientific credibility of his theories.
Lesson: An interdisciplinary background is often fertile ground for innovative ideas.
Context: De Bono studied psychology and physiology at Christ Church, Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, then completed his PhD at Cambridge, researching the brain's self-organizing information processing systems.
Decision: Chose to focus research on the self-organizing properties of the brain rather than traditional psychology experiments.
Reasoning: Believed understanding how the brain forms patterns was the key to understanding creativity and thinking.
Outcome: Laid the academic foundation for The Mechanism of Mind published in 1967, proposing the theoretical framework of the brain as a self-organizing information system.
Lesson: Choosing the right research question matters more than choosing the right research method.
Context: De Bono first systematically expounded the brain's pattern recognition system in New Think and The Mechanism of Mind, coining the term lateral thinking as a concept opposed to vertical thinking.
Decision: Chose to coin the new term lateral thinking rather than using existing creative thinking, emphasizing its distinction from traditional creativity concepts.
Reasoning: The word creative was too vague and mystical; lateral clearly described the direction of thinking movement, sideways rather than deeper.
Outcome: Lateral thinking was included in the Oxford English Dictionary, becoming one of the most important new words in the English language of the 20th century.
Lesson: Naming a new concept is one of the most powerful tools for spreading ideas.
Context: Lateral Thinking: Creativity Step by Step, published by Harper and Row, first transformed lateral thinking from a concept into actionable training methods, including specific techniques such as challenging assumptions, random input, and concept fan.
Decision: Transformed abstract lateral thinking theory into specific, actionable tools and exercises.
Reasoning: Theory can only truly change people's thinking habits when it becomes actionable tools.
Outcome: Became a classic textbook in the field of creative thinking, adopted by hundreds of universities and corporate training institutions worldwide.
Lesson: A good thinking framework must be accompanied by specific operational steps to be usable by the general public.
Context: The CoRT (Cognitive Research Trust) Thinking Programme was a systematic thinking skills curriculum designed by de Bono for schools, containing 60 independent thinking tools and exercises. The Venezuelan government was first to incorporate CoRT into its national curriculum, becoming the first country in the world to treat thinking skills as an independent subject.
Decision: Specifically designed thinking training curricula for children and adolescents rather than only for adults and corporations.
Reasoning: Believed cultivating thinking habits during the education phase is more effective than changing them in adulthood.
Outcome: The CoRT programme was adopted by schools in more than 30 countries worldwide, influencing the thinking habits of millions of students.
Lesson: The most far-reaching pathway for spreading ideas is the education system, not commercial training.
Context: Six Thinking Hats, published by Little, Brown and Company, systematized six thinking modes (White Hat: information; Red Hat: emotion; Black Hat: critical; Yellow Hat: optimistic; Green Hat: creative; Blue Hat: process) into actionable meeting and decision tools.
Decision: Used the metaphor of colors and hats instead of abstract thinking type names, making the tool more intuitive and actionable.
Reasoning: Metaphors reduce cognitive load, making it easier for people to switch thinking modes in actual practice.
Outcome: Became de Bono's best-selling work, widely adopted by top corporations including Boeing, IBM, Intel, and Novartis, with sales exceeding 3 million copies.
Lesson: The right metaphor can make complex thinking tools accessible to everyone.
Context: After appointing the world's first Minister of Thinking, the Venezuelan government incorporated de Bono's CoRT programme and lateral thinking tools into the national compulsory education curriculum, becoming the world's largest thinking education experiment.
Decision: Accepted the Venezuelan government's invitation to elevate thinking education from academic promotion to national policy.
Reasoning: National-level promotion can produce the largest scale of social impact and validate the feasibility of thinking education.
Outcome: Provided an important policy precedent for the global thinking education movement, influencing education reform discussions in multiple countries.
Lesson: Changing education policy can produce more far-reaching social impact than changing individual habits.
Context: Lateral thinking, coined by de Bono, was officially included in the Oxford English Dictionary, becoming one of the most important new words in the English language of the 20th century, marking the concept's entry into mainstream cultural vocabulary.
Decision: Continued promoting this concept for over 40 years until it became part of common language.
Reasoning: A concept can only truly change society's way of thinking when it enters everyday language.
Outcome: De Bono became one of the few thinkers to see a word they created enter a standard dictionary during their own lifetime.
Lesson: Creating new words is one of a thinker's most enduring legacies.
Context: Edward de Bono passed away in Athens, Greece on June 9, 2021, at age 88. He continued writing and speaking until late in life, leaving behind more than 85 books translated into 37 languages.
Decision: In his later years chose to live and work in multiple European locations, continuing global speaking and writing.
Reasoning: Believed promoting thinking education was a lifelong mission with no concept of retirement.
Outcome: Left behind a complete thinking tool system and global trainer network; his methodology continues to spread among millions of people worldwide.
Lesson: Building a self-propagating tool system is the best way for thinkers to achieve influence beyond their lifetime.
De Bono's best-selling work, inventing the Six Thinking Hats parallel thinking framework. Widely adopted by top corporations including Boeing, IBM, and Intel, with sales exceeding 3 million copies translated into multiple languages.
The foundational work in which de Bono systematized lateral thinking training methods, transforming lateral thinking from a concept into actionable tools and exercises; a classic textbook for creative thinking education worldwide.
The companion book to de Bono's thinking skills television course produced for the BBC, systematically introducing core tools including lateral thinking, PMI, and CoRT; one of the best entry points to de Bono's thinking system.
De Bono's foundational academic work, explaining from a neuroscientific perspective how the brain forms and reinforces thinking patterns, providing a scientific theoretical basis for lateral thinking. This is the core document for understanding the origins of de Bono's thinking.
James's pragmatist philosophy that the value of an idea lies in its practical effects deeply influenced de Bono's direction of making thinking tools practical, emphasizing operability over pure theory.
Wiener's cybernetics and self-organizing systems theory influenced de Bono's theoretical framework of the brain as a self-organizing information processing system, serving as an important theoretical source for The Mechanism of Mind.
Piaget's research on cognitive schemas and stages of cognitive development influenced de Bono's understanding of how thinking patterns form, providing a developmental psychology foundation for the educational design of the CoRT Thinking Programme.
Buzan's Mind Map and de Bono's lateral thinking tools formed a complementary ecosystem in thinking skills education; Buzan's commercialization pathway was directly inspired by de Bono.
Von Oech's A Whack on the Side of the Head was deeply influenced by de Bono's lateral thinking, further simplifying and popularizing creative thinking tools and expanding the audience for this field.
De Bono and Buzan were the two leading figures of the 20th-century thinking skills education movement, jointly promoting the global spread of the idea that thinking can be taught, though their tool systems each had different emphases.
Csikszentmihalyi's research on flow and the creative process complemented de Bono's lateral thinking theory; both explored the psychological mechanisms of human creativity from different angles, but through completely different research pathways of academic empiricism versus practical tools.
Edward de Bono is one of the very few people in history who has had a significant effect on the way we think.
The Six Thinking Hats technique has become one of the most widely used management tools in the world.
