must read

1. Lateral Thinking
Thinking that is
Outside the Box!

2. Can You Solve this Puzzle?

3. Can You Solve this Puzzle?

4. Can You Solve this Puzzle?

5. Can You Solve this Puzzle?

6. Lateral Thinking
 Lateral
thinking is a term coined by
Edward de Bono, a Maltese
psychologist, physician, and writer
 deBono defines Lateral Thinking as
methods of thinking concerned with
changing concepts and perception.

7. Lateral Thinking
Example
It took two hours for two men to
dig a hole five feet deep. How
deep would it have been if ten
men had dug the hole for two
hours?
The answer appears to be 25 feet
deep

8. But did you consider…?
A hole may need to be of a certain size
or shape so digging might stop early at a
required depth.
 The deeper a hole is, the more effort is
required to dig it, since waste soil needs
to be lifted higher to the ground level.
There is a limit to how deep a hole can
be dug by manpower without use of
ladders or hoists for soil removal, and 25
feet is beyond this limit.

9. But did you consider…?
 Deeper soil layers may be harder to dig
out, or we may hit bedrock or the water
table.
 Arewe digging in soil? Clay? Sand?
Each presents its own special
considerations.
 Diggingin a forest becomes much easier
once we have cut through the first
several feet of roots.
 Each man digging needs space to use a

10. But did you consider…?
 Itis possible that with more people
working on a project, each person may
become less efficient due to increased
opportunity for distraction, the
assumption he can slack off, more
people to talk to, etc.
 More men could work in shifts to dig
faster for longer.
 There are more men but are there more
shovels?

11. But did you consider…?
 The two hours dug by ten men may be
under different weather conditions than
the two hours dug by two men.
 Raincould flood the hole to prevent
digging.
 Temperature conditions may freeze the
men before they finish.
 Would we rather have 5 holes each 5
feet deep?

12. But did you consider…?
 Thetwo men may be an engineering
crew with digging machinery.
 What
if one man in each group is a
manager who will not actually dig?
 The extra eight men might not be strong
enough to dig, or much stronger than the
first two.

13. What is Lateral Thinking?
 Lateralthinking is about reasoning that
is not immediately obvious
 Ideas may not be obtainable by using
only traditional step-by-step logic.
 Techniques that apply lateral thinking to
problems are characterized by the
shifting of thinking patterns away from
entrenched or predictable thinking to new
or unexpected ideas.

14. What is Lateral Thinking?
A new idea that is the result of
lateral thinking is not always a
helpful one
 When a good idea is discovered in
this way it is usually obvious in
hindsight

15. The Six Thinking
Hats
A Lateral Thinking Strategy
by Edward De Bono

16. The Six Thinking Hats
 SixThinking Hats' is an important
and powerful technique.
 Itis used to look at decisions from
a number of important perspectives.

17. The Six Thinking Hats
 This forces you to move outside your
habitual thinking style, and helps you
to get a more rounded view of a
situation.
 Ithas the benefit of blocking the
confrontations that happen when
people with different thinking styles
discuss the same problem.
 Each 'Thinking Hat' is a different style
of thinking.

18. The Six Thinking Hats
 Many successful people think from a very
rational, positive viewpoint. This is part of
the reason that they are successful.
 Often,though, they may fail to look at a
problem from an emotional, intuitive,
creative or negative viewpoint.
 Thiscan mean that they underestimate
resistance to plans, fail to make creative
leaps and do not make essential
contingency plans.

19. The Six Thinking Hats
 Similarly, pessimists may be excessively
defensive, and more emotional people may
fail to look at decisions calmly and
rationally.
 If you look at a problem with the 'Six
Thinking Hats' technique, then you will solve
it using all approaches.
 Your decisions and plans will mix ambition,
skill in execution, public sensitivity,
creativity and good contingency planning.

20. The Six Thinking Hats
White Hat
 With this thinking hat you focus on the data
available. Look at the information you have, and
see what you can learn from it.
 Look for gaps in your knowledge, and either try to
fill them or take account of them.
 This is where you analyze past trends, and try to
extrapolate from historical data.

21. The Six Thinking Hats
Red Hat
 'Wearing' the red hat, you look at problems using
intuition, gut reaction, and emotion.
 Also try to think how other people will react
emotionally.
 Try to understand the responses of people who do
not fully know your reasoning.

22. The Six Thinking Hats
Black Hat
 Using black hat thinking, look at all the bad points
of the decision.
 Look at it cautiously and defensively.
 Try to see why it might not work. This is important
because it highlights the weak points in a plan.

 It allows you to eliminate them, alter them, or
prepare contingency plans to counter them.

23. The Six Thinking Hats
Black Hat
 Black Hat thinking helps to make your plans
'tougher' and more resilient.
 It can also help you to spot fatal flaws and risks
before you embark on a course of action.
 Black Hat thinking is one of the real benefits of this
technique.

24. The Six Thinking Hats
Black Hat
 Many successful people get so used to thinking
positively that often they cannot see problems in
advance.
 This leaves them under-prepared for difficulties.

25. The Six Thinking Hats
Yellow Hat
 The yellow hat helps you to think positively.
 It is the optimistic viewpoint that helps you to see
all the benefits of the decision and the value in it.
 Yellow Hat thinking helps you to keep going when
everything looks gloomy and difficult.

26. The Six Thinking Hats
Green Hat
 The Green Hat stands for creativity.
 This is where you can develop creative solutions to
a problem.
 It is a freewheeling way of thinking, in which there
is little criticism of ideas.

27. The Six Thinking Hats
Blue Hat
 The Blue Hat stands for process control.
 This is the hat worn by people chairing meetings.
 When running into difficulties because ideas are
running dry, they may direct activity into Green Hat
thinking.
 When contingency plans are needed, they will ask
for Black Hat thinking, etc.