Six Thinking Hats

Six Thinking Hats (1985) by Dr. Edward de Bono is a practical guide to improving decision-making and fostering creative collaboration by using six metaphorical “hats,” each representing a different mode, or idiom, of thinking. De Bono’s framework encourages individuals and organizational teams to explore ideas, problems, and solutions systematically by focusing on one aspect of thinking at a time, such as logic, creativity, or emotions.

This study guide uses the revised 1999 Little, Brown and Company paperback edition.

Summary

In a reference to the ancient Greek philosophy that long dominated Western thought, de Bono says the Six Thinking Hats method may be the “most important change in human thinking for the past twenty-three hundred years” (ix). Thinking can lead to confusion if one tries to do too much at once, and de Bono claims that some people think in only one way. For these reasons, the convenience of the Six Thinking Hats is its main value. 

De Bono believes that Western thought, as put forth by Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, focuses on determining truth through various methods of reasoning. In contrast, de Bono’s method is focused on “what can be” (2), or finding a way forward. The brain is presensitized to react in certain ways based on past experiences. This system only works in a stable world. In a changing world, standard situations may not apply. This is why it is more important to design the way forward rather than judging it forward.

Parallel thinking, the root of the Six Hats approach, looks at a situation from different views and accepts all of them until it is time to either choose or find a design that covers the best possibilities. With this method, all participants in a discussion use the same thinking mode at one time. De Bono uses the metaphor of six hats, each with a different color, to describe these modes. The Six Thinking Hats method follows what de Bono considers a Confucian approach in which all participants respect each other and do not try to change the thinking habits of others.

De Bono chose the six colors for their associations. Under the white hat, a color that stands for neutrality, users look for facts and data. Under the red hat, the color suggesting anger, users consider their emotions. Yellow suggests sunshine; under the yellow hat, users do hopeful, positive thinking. Green suggests nature; the green hat deals with creativity. The blue hat, a color that suggests coolness and the sky, deals with control and organization.

The hats can be used singly, to request a type of thinking, or in a sequence, to explore an issue or solve a problem. With a sequential session, only a group’s leader can suggest a change of hat for all the thinkers.

Thinking sessions often start with white hat thinking, which deals with facts and figures. It is a method for overriding argument-style thinking, in which participants arrive with ideas about the conclusion they wish to reach and then argue through each viewpoint to see which one is most popular. A person can put on the white hat to answer a question or ask someone else to put it on.

The red hat stands for emotions and feelings. Emotion can affect thinking when a strong emotion, such as fear, is attached to a person or situation or when emotion is triggered by a first impression. While normal business meetings don’t usually encourage emotions, they are present anyway. Red hat thinking allows emotions to be acknowledged without any attempt to justify them.

In red hat mode, every individual present is asked their feelings in turn. People can express ordinary emotions, such as suspicion, along with more complex judgments, such as intuition, taste, and opinion. Red hat thinking is used after the “map” of a situation has been created, as the final decision should include emotions. It can also be used to discuss the conduct of the meeting itself, such as the sense that the meeting is not being well-led. Saying one is putting on the red hat minimizes the expression of emotion.

The black hat, standing for caution, is the most frequently used hat and possibly the most important one. De Bono considers it the basis of Western civilization because it is rooted in critical thinking. It considers how something may be inconsistent with resources, policy, strategy, ethics, and values.

The black hat works by way of the brain’s “mismatch” mechanism, which compares a new experience to patterns of expectation formed by past experience. It asks questions, such as what will happen if an action is taken, whether a group has sufficient resources to take the action, how competitors and others might react, what might go wrong, and whether or not the action will be profitable. When discomfort ensues, the mechanism helps to ensure that people don’t make mistakes.

Black hat thinking is logical but not balanced, because it sensitizes the brain to seek out possible obstacles. The possibilities are laid out alongside each other, consistent with parallel thinking. This mode can be used both to assess and to design ideas. A final decision combines white, yellow, black, and red hat thinking.

Yellow hat thinking looks for the benefits in a situation. People need to develop “value sensitivity” as they look for positives, being as sensitive to value as they are to danger. It is forward-looking and speculative in nature. Positivity exists on a spectrum, with extreme optimism at one end and the “logical-practical” at the other. Factors used in making positive assessments include experience, information, trends, and guesses. The ideas should have as much support as possible but need not be fully justifiable. Nor need they come from experts.

Yellow hat thinking has three aspects: Generating proposals, assessing them positively, and developing or building up a proposal. This process is a further construction, which may involve correcting the faults generated by black hat thinking.

Green hat thinking deals with finding new ideas and new ways to look at things. Under this hat, suggested courses of action are put forward and difficulties raised in black hat thinking are overcome.

Movement replaces judgment in green hat thinking: People consider to what end an idea will lead. This may involve starting with one idea and ending up with another, or taking a vague idea and shaping it into something practical. Participants ask questions, such as what is interesting or different about an idea and what it may lead to.

Under the green hat, de Bono introduces the idea of provocations, or accidents that arise from asymmetrical patterns of thought. To create a provocation, users can reverse an established concept, as with the idea of a store that pays customers. They can also free-associate based on a random word.

As many alternatives as possible should be generated before choosing the answer that best suits the needs and resources for the question at hand. This idea can then be subjected to yellow hat thinking, to search for benefits; black hat thinking, for detriments; white hat thinking, for data; and red hat thinking to assess emotional reactions to the plan.

The blue hat, its color chosen for its association with the sky, is for “thinking about thinking” (145). At the beginning of a thinking session, it defines the situation, lays out its purpose, and specifies the agenda or sequence of use of the other hats. The hat is typically worn by the leader of the session.

Blue hat thinking provides focus and structure to a discussion. The leader sets specific thinking tasks, such as finding an objective or gaining exploratory ideas. Leaders can either interject suggestions for a specific thinking mode into a discussion, or lay out a sequence of steps. A final blue hat session sets out the strategy for implementing the chosen plan.

In conclusion, de Bono stresses the simplicity of the Six Thinking Hats and the fact that it doesn’t offend participants since it emulates a role-playing game.