Edward de Bono
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.
Methodologies
- Six Thinking Hats Parallel Thinking Method - Six colored hats represent six thinking modes, allowing teams to explore in parallel rather than debate adversarially, systematically covering information, emotion, critical, optimistic, creative, and process dimensions.
- Lateral Thinking Toolkit (Random Input + Challenge Assumptions + Concept Fan) - Three core lateral thinking techniques: random input breaks habitual associations, challenging assumptions questions taken-for-granted premises, and concept fan expands creative space from abstract to concrete.
Key decisions and timeline
- Born in Malta - The diversity of one's formative environment is often a hidden source of intellectual breakthroughs.
- Earned Medical Degree from the University of Malta - An interdisciplinary background is often fertile ground for innovative ideas.
- Completed Doctoral Research at Oxford and Cambridge - Choosing the right research question matters more than choosing the right research method.
Beliefs and mental models
- Belief 1 - 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.
- Belief 2 - 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).
- Belief 3 - 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.
- Model 1
- Model 2
- Model 3