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Put your thinking hat on

By Chris Golis - posted Tuesday, 30 September 2008


If we then look at the Six Thinking Hats we immediately see areas of overlap.

The Mover and Yellow Hat overlap significantly. Movers are positive and optimistic and enthusiastically adopt new solutions. Yellow is the favourite colour of the mover and reflect their sunny disposition.

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There is some overlap between the Politician and the Blue Hat. Politicians like to make decisions and are attracted to positions of power. The Blue Hat is about making decisions.

The Normal and White Hat also overlap substantially. White Hat thinking is exactly what people dominated by the Normal component do.

On the other hand there are some significant differences.

Black Hat thinking matches up with the Doublechecker who almost immediately when presented with a new idea or proposal look at the risks and what can go wrong. Black is not the colour of the Doublechecker. They are risk-adverse and like to keep their feet on Mother Earth. Brown or beige is the colour of the double checker.

Similarly, Green Hat thinking matches up with the Artist. Artists are the people who come up with new ideas and concepts. This is the creative factor and these people beat to a different drum. These are the fashion and interior designers whose clothes can be very idiosyncratic. These people prefer unusual combinations and violet is one of their favourite colours.

By contrast green is the colour of the engineer. Think British racing green, or BRG and you have the Engineer’s colour. Engineers are very interested in building or completing projects and often do have a creative streak. However, they do not have the (particularly visual) imagination of the Artist preferring a more hands-on approach.

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It is Red Hat thinking which is the most interesting. De Bono describes red as the emotional colour and includes in the Red Hat chapters varying emotions. It is meant to encompass all the emotions but then in the Yellow and Black Hat chapters goes on to discuss the emotional basis of these two hats.

Red is the Hustler colour. Look at the colour of the ties worn by successful entrepreneurs and business people. However, it is interesting to note that in the first chapter on the Red Hat de Bono talks about intuition, self-interest, and con-men doing it in style. Hence when you put your Red Hat on it should not be a general appeal to emotion but almost a specific appeal to self interest. You will have the comfort of knowing it is the one horse in the race that is always trying.

Conclusion

Using intuition de Bono has rightly defined the colours for yellow, white and blue hat thinking. However:

  • the black hat should be brown;
  • the green hat should be violet; and
  • the red hat should not be a general appeal to emotion but to self-interest.
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About the Author

Chris Golis is Australia's expert on practical emotional intelligence. He is an author, professional speaker and workshop leader. His site is www.thehummhandbook.com.

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