Edward de Bono’s green hat: what does it teach us?

“Schools waste two-thirds of children’s innate talent and universities wipe out the rest.” This phrase was often said by one of the most audacious thinkers of the 20th century. We are talking about the psychologist and philosopher Edward de Bono, who always reminded his students at the university that when they felt stuck and stressed they should wear their green hats.

Now, what did he mean by putting on the “green hat”? If Edward de Bono was known for anything, it was for contributing and developing theories to improve the skills and attitudes of exploration, creativity and personal transformation. His famous book The six hats to think published in 1985 was a revolution in the field of thought and innovation.

The method was the best advance for human thought in the last 2,300 years, according to him. That’s what he wrote in the preface and that’s what he expected. He was not exactly a humble man, but the truth is that his intention was noble, he aspired, neither more nor less than to give greater potential and freedom to people through creativity and the ability to solve problems.

Let’s find out what the most important hat in his theory was for Edward de Bono.

Features of Edward de Bono’s green hat

Edward de Bono, doctor, psychologist, philosopher and even inventor, even said that the way schools educated children only encouraged them to drop out at some point. Rigid and standardized education, he pointed out, makes the student believe that he is stupid.. When in reality, little ones come into the world with unsurpassed innovative potential.

He himself evidenced this in the 70s in a study that he collected in a book titled Children Solve Problems (1972). In this work he echoed the answers that boys and girls gave to a series of questions that he himself posed to them: designing a machine to sleep, another to weigh elephants, creating a system to build a house and another to design a rocket. .

Creativity is something innate in human beings, but traditional education weakens it. We stop thinking innovatively and this is a serious problem. Therefore, he designed the method of Six Thinking Hats. And it was a success. So much so that large companies such as Motorola, IBM and Boeing reported that they had reduced their meeting time by half by applying it.

Thus, among all those strategies to think in an original way, the green hat is the one that best symbolizes this objective. Next, we delve into those tactics that Edward de Bono left us.

And you, do you already use lateral thinking?

Many of us have heard about lateral thinking, but not everyone remembers that the person who coined this term was Edward de Bono. As he explained, this mode of reasoning moves away from that “vertical” and more orthodox logic when it comes to solving problems.

That is to say, In this cognitive strategy we choose to look for innovative options, ask ourselves questions, think in a challenging wayuse analogies, riddles, etc.

Think provocatively

When we put on Edward de Bono’s green hat, conventions are prohibited. It is not enough to give ideas or solutions that are pleasing to others. Nor with generating options that, although original, do not change our reality too much.

We must dare to challenge established thinking to achieve excellence through innovation. Something like this can only be achieved by being critical and challenging with the prevailing ideas.

Look for alternatives, the more the better

If you are facing a personal or professional problem or crossroads, Don’t think of a solution. Propose fifty solutions. When looking for a resolution to the challenge that lies ahead, it is best to have multiple strategies and not just one.

Promote a sense of humor

A sense of humor dissolves stress, calms the mind and reveals new innovative perspectives before our eyes.. This emotional state is very conducive to creativity and it is always good to promote it.

Thus, Edward de Bono created a word that we could introduce into our proposals to induce humor and innovative thinking. The magic term was “po”.

The Po company executives are our competition and we have to create a new Po marketing strategy.The Po strategy will be the most successful because (…)

It is important to use the rest of the hats

As we well know, the green hat is the one we should wear to have innovative and creative ideas when faced with any problem. However, we cannot forget that Innovation will only be possible when we have mastered these other approaches to thinking.those proposed by the model of the six thinking hats.

Controlling emotions, assessing risks or taking into account all the available information is decisive when it comes to being original and creative. Therefore, it never hurts to remember the function of the other five remaining hats that Edward de Bono proposed to us:

Blue hat: helps us direct the thought process and evaluate each progress. White hat: allows us to focus on the information we have. Red hat: one of the most important, it helps us put emotions in our favor and not against us. Yellow hat: it makes it easier for us to think positively. Black hat: it is key to assessing risks, dangers or obstacles.

To conclude, it does not matter how much time has passed since Edward de Bono exposed this model to us. It continues to be very useful to us and should be present in every school, in every company, in every private library…

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