Book SummarySix Thinking Hats, by Edward de Bono

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of Six Thinking Hats

Six Thinking Hats is a handbook for training people to think more efficiently and productively, using the metaphor of wearing different hats for different types of thinking. Since the book’s original publication, many institutions have implemented it with great success, particularly in business and educational contexts. Author Edward de Bono is a Maltese doctor and psychologist. He’s credited with coining the term “lateral thinking,” and he’s also known for advocating more teaching of thinking skills in schools.

Six Thinking Hats was originally published in 1985. This guide refers to the revised and updated version published in 2017.

The Six Hats

De Bono’s six hats represent the following types of thinking:

• The blue hat is for metacognition, or the overall organization of the thinking process.
• The white hat is for gathering neutral information.
• The red hat is for emotions.
• The black hat is for criticism.
• The yellow hat is for positive feedback and developing solutions.
• The green hat is for new, creative ideas.

When you face an important decision, the hats can help you compartmentalize and organize your thinking. In group discussions, the hats help to keep things clear and orderly, as well as making sure that no important ideas are neglected.

The six thinking hats allow you to pull apart the tangle of normal thinking and sort it into six self-contained strands. Because you keep the strands separate right from the beginning, you can weave them together in a more deliberate and systematic way. This improves the efficiency of the thinking process.

Thinking as Exploration

Our traditional view of advanced thinking is debate: the refinement of ideas through argument and confrontation. The Six Hats method asks you to see thinking as mental exploration in a particular direction. In the physical world, you can always check a compass and then deliberately choose to walk to the north, south, east, or west. Think of the six hats as mental compass points. At any point, you can stop and consciously decide on the best course.

Trying to walk north and south at the same time would be pointless and exhausting for your physical body. Similarly, your brain works best when it can focus on one type of thinking at a time. If it’s looking for danger, let it look for danger uninterrupted. If it’s creatively breaking existing patterns to make new ones, let it do that.

Conducting a systematic mental exploration of the problem allows you to draw a detailed map of the context for any decision you need to make. With this detailed map in hand, your decisions will be so thoroughly considered that the best route will become obvious.

Why Hats?

• There’s a pre-existing association between thinking and hats via the phrase “put your thinking cap on.”
• A hat is easy to put on and take off. This mirrors the six different thinking styles, which you can call upon in a flexible and relatively effortless manner.
• Hats are visually obvious. This signposting function is important in the Six Hats method because you want your current thinking direction to be clear to everyone, including to yourself. By putting on your metaphorical hat, you’re signposting the direction that your thoughts will take.
• Wearing a hat is temporary. You put hats on and then take them off, and who you are doesn’t change fundamentally in the process. In the Six Hats system, there are no thinking specialists, no “yellow hat people” or “black hat people.” (The only exception is the blue hat role, which is usually executed by one person at a time—more on this in Chapter 2.)
• The focus on clothing rather than the individual builds cognitive flexibility. Consider an actor who always dresses up in the same costume and plays the same role. Now consider an actor who can don wildly different costumes and excel in a variety of roles. Who do you admire more?

The Blue Hat

The blue hat is the master hat. Blue hat thinking is metacognition, or thinking about thinking. The master hat is the same color as the sky, to symbolize the bird’s-eye view you’re taking of the process when you’re wearing this hat. The blue hat determines what exactly you’re trying to achieve and how you’ll go about doing it. It also monitors the discussion to make sure everything stays on track.

For simplicity, usually the chair of the meeting wears the blue hat for the whole meeting—however participants can also don their blue hats to offer procedural suggestions.

Blue hat data includes planning documents such as agendas, checklists, calendars, and Gantt (project tracking) charts. It also includes final outputs such as reports and overviews. Blue hat contributions include procedural suggestions, comments on the progress of the discussion, and suggestions for next steps.

In the blue hat role, asking questions is a powerful way to focus attention. Questions often result in more open-ended, independent thinking than directives. For best results, mix specific, targeted questions with more general, open questions.

How to Use the Blue Hat

• You can put on your blue hat at any point. If you feel that the procedure could be improved, or you’d like to suggest a change of hat, put on your blue hat and ask for this.
• Blue hat thinking fits most naturally at the start and end of a discussion, though you may need to cycle back to it if the discussion strays off track. The first blue hat period is concerned with framing the topic clearly, setting goals for the session, and planning the sequence of hats to be used. The final blue hat period is concerned with creating an overview of the discussion that just took place, finalizing any decisions that remain outstanding, and determining what further action needs to be taken and by whom.
• Blue hat thinking is a...

Six Thinking Hats Summary Introduction

Six Thinking Hats is a handbook for training people to think more efficiently and productively, using the metaphor of wearing different types of hats for different types of thinking. Since the book’s original publication, many institutions have implemented it with great success, particularly in business and educational contexts. Author Edward de Bono is a Maltese doctor and psychologist. He’s credited with coining the term “lateral thinking,” and he’s also known for advocating more teaching of thinking skills in schools.

Six Thinking Hats was originally published in 1985. This guide refers to the revised and updated version published in 2017.

Meet the Six Hats

De Bono’s six hats represent the following types of thinking:

• The blue hat is for metacognition, or the overall organization of the thinking process.
• The white hat is for gathering neutral information.
• The red hat is for emotions.
• The black hat is for criticism.
• The yellow hat is for positive feedback and developing solutions.
• The green hat is for new, creative ideas.

When you face an important decision, the hats can help you compartmentalize and organize your...

Six Thinking Hats Summary Chapter 1: The Blue Hat

The blue hat is the master hat. Blue hat thinking is metacognition, or thinking about thinking. The master hat is the same color as the sky, to symbolize the bird’s-eye view you’re taking of the process when you’re wearing this hat.

For simplicity, usually the chair of the meeting wears the blue hat for the whole meeting—however participants can also don their blue hats to offer procedural suggestions. The blue hat designs the process, determines the agenda, and monitors the success of the discussion. The blue hat wearer is like an air traffic controller, orchestrating the contributions of the group so that they’re offered and received as smoothly and safely as possible.

The blue hat serves different functions at different stages of the process. Before the discussion, the blue hat offers plans, agendas, and a clear focus. During the discussion, the blue hat prompts and monitors contributions to make sure that everyone is on track. After the discussion, the blue hat collects the outputs and compiles them into a report, executive summary, or other communication.

Blue Hat Questions

While wearing the blue hat, consider these questions:

• What...

Shortform Exercise: Try on the Blue Hat

Create a draft meeting agenda or thinking plan based on the six hats.

Write down either: (1) a problem you’re currently facing at work, or (2) a problem outside of work that you think might be amenable to the Six Hats method.

Six Thinking Hats Summary Chapter 2: The White Hat

The white hat is the neutral hat. White hat thinking is the gathering of relevant factual information.

When you wear the white hat, you think about objective data. Emotions, judgments, and interpretations are quiet. Think of a white sheet of paper ready to be filled with information. This is the white hat.

White Hat Questions

While you’re wearing the white hat, consider these questions:

• What do we know?
• How important is this information in practical terms?
• How reliable is this information?
• What don’t we know that we need to find out?
• How will we find the missing information?

White Hat Data

White Hat data usually takes the form of facts and figures: sales figures, financial information, objective facts. Be as specific as possible:

• Avoid vague words like “trend” and “pattern.”
• Make sure to attach dates to figures wherever you can. For example, if you’re involved in a political campaign and are contributing polling data, make sure it’s labeled with the month and year it was collected. This will help you to avoid basing important decisions on old data.

White Hat data also** includes the reported opinions and feelings of...

Shortform Exercise: Try on the White Hat

Work with the white hat on a problem of your choice.

Think of a decision you currently face, either at work or elsewhere in your life. What objective information will help you to make an informed choice? (Be as general or as specific as you like, but mark any general information that needs further investigation or confirmation.) Try to prevent any interpretations or emotions from sneaking in.

Six Thinking Hats Summary Chapter 3: The Red Hat

The red hat is the emotional hat. Red hat thinking is pure emotion. Red is the color of blood, symbolizing strong emotions like passion and anger.

The red hat is the opposite of the white hat. The white hat wants pure facts, stripped of emotion and agenda. The red hat wants your emotions, intuitions, and gut feelings about the issue, with no need for supporting evidence or explanations.

Red Hat Questions

While you’re wearing the red hat, consider these questions:

• Do I like this?
• How do I feel about this person?
• What’s my intuition telling me?
• Exactly what emotions am I experiencing around this issue?

Red Hat Data

Red hat contributions are simple statements of emotion. They don’t have to be justified or justifiable—in fact, while wearing the red hat you’re specifically discouraged from providing explanations.

Examples of red hat contributions are:

• “This seems like a terrific investment to me. I’m feeling really keen.”
• “I don’t know what it is exactly, but something about this deal smells fishy.”
• “I like this person. I feel good about doing business with her.”
• “We’re getting a lot out of this arrangement, but it...

Shortform Exercise: Try on the Red Hat

Work with the red hat on a problem of your choice.

Consider the project or initiative that you started thinking about in the last exercise. What emotions do you feel about this issue? Remember, no explanations or justifications are necessary.

Six Thinking Hats Summary Chapter 4: The Black Hat

The black hat is the critiquing hat. Black hat thinking looks for problems and logical flaws. The black hat is focused on survival—it’s the hat that looks out for danger and keeps us alive. Black hat thinking kept our ancestors from being eaten by predators or falling off cliffs. Being sensitized to danger is a crucial part of our neurochemistry and serves a valuable purpose.

Current education systems, especially at post-secondary level, teach and reward critical thinking, so it’s no surprise that many people are experts with the black hat. They excel in finding problems everywhere and pointing out logical flaws. This is useful and important, because black hat thinking keeps us from making irreparable mistakes. But too much of the black hat can stunt our thinking under other hats, especially yellow and green.

People can misuse the black hat in two ways:

1. Those who are black hat thinkers by default often have great difficulty switching off the criticism when it’s time to work with the other hats. This can mean that new ideas get squashed before they have time to grow, or that a proposal is thrown out entirely rather than examined for its potential...

Shortform Exercise: Try on the Black Hat

Work with the black hat on a problem of your choice.

Consider the project or initiative that you’ve been thinking about in previous exercises. What design flaws can you spot? What are the weaknesses in the current approach as it stands right now?

Six Thinking Hats Summary Chapter 5: The Yellow Hat

The yellow hat is the constructive hat. Yellow hat thinking is positive and concrete. You can remember this easily: Builders often wear yellow hardhats when working on new buildings, and yellow is the color of sunny optimism.

While some people are naturally disposed toward yellow hat thinking, for many of us it doesn’t come naturally—and it’s typically not taught well in schools and universities. Most people could use some consistent, focused practice to strengthen their yellow hat thinking abilities.

Yellow Hat Questions

While you’re wearing the yellow hat, consider these questions:

• What’s the silver lining here?
• How do we benefit from this?
• What happens if… (positive event)?
• How can we make this work?
• What proposal can I put forward to solve this?
• What’s the best possible outcome?

Yellow Hat Data

As with black hat data, yellow hat data is based on logic. Under both the black and the yellow hat, you’re considering ideas in light of your and other people’s past experiences. But this time, instead of thinking about everything that’s gone wrong in the past, you’re thinking about what’s worked.

Yellow hat contributions are about...

Shortform Exercise: Try on the Yellow Hat

Work with the yellow hat on a problem of your choice.

Consider the project or initiative that you’ve been thinking about in previous exercises. What design flaws and weaknesses did you identify with the black hat? List the main ones. For each flaw or weakness, put on your yellow hat and see if you can find ways to strengthen or overcome the weakness.

Six Thinking Hats Summary Chapter 6: The Green Hat

The green hat is the creative hat. Green is the color of new growth, and green hat thinking looks for new and original ideas. Though the attitudes that drive green hat and yellow hat thinking are quite similar (a sense of possibility; a desire to build rather than break down), the thinking styles involved are qualitatively different. For example, you might know someone who is very optimistic but quite conventional in their ideas. You might also know someone who is highly creative but not very optimistic. This is why we consider the green hat and the yellow hat separately in practice.

Green Hat Questions

While you’re wearing the green hat, consider these questions:

• How can I look at this problem differently?
• What new options can I generate?
• Where does this new idea take me? How far can I ride it?
• Do I recognize good ideas when I hear them?

Green Hat Data

Green hat data is anything completely new. When you put on the green hat, you’re coming up with combinations of ideas that, as far as you know, nobody has ever considered before.

Green hat ideas can range from novel but commonsense to completely outrageous, and all are welcome. Many...

Shortform Exercise: Try on the Green Hat

Work with the green hat on a problem of your choice.

Consider the project or initiative that you’ve been thinking about in previous exercises. What’s the main issue? Can you sum it up in a few words?