De Bono's Six Thinking Hats

Edward de Bono invented the concept of lateral thinking. A world-renowned writer and philosopher, he is the leading authority in the field of creative thinking and the direct teaching of thinking as a skill.

This is often used in a brainstorming session to generate and analyse ideas and options.

The White hat is about data and information. It is used to record information that is currently available and to identify further information that may be needed.

The Red hat is associated with feelings, intuition, and emotion. The red hat allows people to put forward feelings without justification or prejudice.

The Yellow hat is for a positive view of things. It looks for benefits in a situation. This hat encourages a positive view even in people who are always critical.

The Black hat relates to caution. It is used for critical judgement.

The Green hat is for creative thinking and generating new ideas. This is your creative thinking cap.

The Blue hat is about process control. it is used for thinking about thinking. The blue hat asks for summaries, conclusions and decisions.

It is not really surprising that with the Six Hats method the decision seems to make itself. After all, when we make decisions on our own, we go through more or less the same process( pros,cons,feelings,facts). The Six Hats method does all that very thoroughly.