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Edward de Bono’s

Six Thinking Hats

An aid to decision making and problem solving.

Illustrated by

Vince Borg Education Leeds

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Why use the Six Thinking Hats?

1. Takes in to consideration the “feelings”

2. Encourages cooperation.

3. Reduces “I am right, you are wrong” scenarios.

4. Stays groups focused. Achieves results quicker.

5. Ensures egos and rivalry in check.

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5 More Reasons

6. Develops a creative mindset.

7. Maximizes input and ideas to improve results.

8. Defuses emotional topics and balance thinking objectively.

9. Speeds up thinking, be more productive and save time.

10. Builds clear problem definitions from different perspectives.

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The Red Hat

• What do you feel about the suggestion?

• What are your gut reactions?

• What intuitions do you have?

• Don’t think too long or too hard.

Passion Feelings Emotions

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The White Hat

• The information seeking hat.

• What are the facts?• What information is

available? What is relevant?

• When wearing the white hat we are neutral in our thinking.

Proof Statistics Objectivity

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The Yellow Hat

• The sunshine hat.• It is positive and

constructive.• It is about

effectiveness and getting a job done.

• What are the benefits, the advantages?

Bright Optimistic Encouraging

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The Black Hat

• The caution hat.• In black hat the

thinker points out errors or pit-falls.

• What are the risks or dangers involved?

• Identifies difficulties and problems.

Caution Safety Troubleshooting

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• This is the creative mode of thinking.

• Green represents growth and movement.

• In green hat we look to new ideas and solutions.

• Lateral thinking wears a green hat.

The Green Hat

Innovation Unlimited Vision

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• The control hat, organizing thinking itself.

• Sets the focus, calls for the use of other hats.

• Monitors and reflects on the thinking processes used.

• Blue is for planning.

The Blue Hat

Action Implementation

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Six Thinking Hats

IntuitiveInformative

Constructive

Cautious

CreativeReflective