Meetings are usually a disaster. You know the vibe—one person is shooting down every single idea, another is rambling about their feelings, and the "data guy" is buried in a spreadsheet while the boss just wants a decision five minutes ago. It’s chaotic. It’s inefficient. And honestly, it’s why most projects stall before they even start. This is exactly what Edward de Bono was trying to fix when he wrote the Six Thinking Hats book.
De Bono wasn't just some random business consultant; he was a psychologist and philosopher who realized that the human brain isn't naturally wired for multi-tasking when it comes to thought. We try to do everything at once. We try to be logical, emotional, creative, and cautious in the same breath. It doesn't work. The Six Thinking Hats book introduces a concept called parallel thinking. Instead of arguing against each other, everyone in the room wears the same "hat" at the same time. It sounds a bit goofy, sure, but the results are actually kind of staggering.
What Most People Get Wrong About Lateral Thinking
People often confuse "lateral thinking" with just being "creative." That’s a mistake. Lateral thinking is about changing patterns. Most of our thinking is vertical—you start with a premise and you dig deeper. Lateral thinking is moving sideways to find a different hole to dig.
De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats book is the practical application of this. It’s a tool. It’s not about being "smart." It’s about being deliberate. Usually, in a meeting, we engage in what De Bono calls "adversarial thinking." This is the Western tradition of "I’m right, you’re wrong, let’s argue until one of us gives up." It’s incredibly wasteful. You spend 80% of your energy defending your ego and 20% actually solving the problem. The hats flip that script.
The White Hat: Just the Facts
The White Hat is neutral. Think of a computer. It doesn't have an opinion; it just spits out data. When you’re "wearing" this hat, you aren't allowed to say, "I think this is a bad idea because our customers are cheap." You have to say, "Our customer acquisition cost is $45 and our churn rate is 12%."
It’s harder than it sounds. We love to bake our opinions into our facts. The Six Thinking Hats book emphasizes that the White Hat is for identifying what information we have and, more importantly, what information is missing. If you don't know the numbers, you admit it. No guessing allowed.
The Red Hat: Permission to Be Grumpy (or Excited)
This is the most misunderstood part of the whole system. In most professional settings, we’re told to keep emotions out of it. "Be professional," they say. De Bono argues that’s impossible. We’re emotional creatures. If someone hates a project, they’ll find "logical" reasons to kill it later.
The Red Hat gives you 30 seconds to be purely emotional. No justification needed. "I just have a bad gut feeling about this." Or, "I’m incredibly excited about this launch." By getting the emotions out in the open early, they stop polluting the "logical" parts of the discussion. It’s a pressure valve. Use it.
Why the Black Hat Isn't Actually the "Bad" Hat
In many circles, the Black Hat gets a bad rap. People think it’s for "negative" people. Actually, in the Six Thinking Hats book, De Bono identifies the Black Hat as perhaps the most valuable hat. It’s the hat of caution. It’s survival.
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If you’re building a bridge, you want the Black Hat. You want to know why it might fall down. The Black Hat is about logical negative assessment. It’s not "I don't like this." It’s "This violates the safety regulations in Section 4." It points out risks, obstacles, and potential failures. The trick is not letting the Black Hat dominate the entire meeting. If you wear it too long, you’ll never do anything. But if you don't wear it at all, you’ll eventually blow up your business.
Yellow Hat: The Optimist’s Hard Work
Yellow is sunshine. It’s the opposite of Black. But here’s the kicker: Yellow Hat thinking is actually harder than Black Hat thinking. Our brains are evolved to spot danger (Black Hat) to keep us from being eaten by tigers. We aren't naturally evolved to look for "logical benefits" in a weird new idea.
The Yellow Hat asks: "What’s the best-case scenario? Why is this worth doing?" Even if you hate an idea, when the group is in Yellow Hat mode, you must find a benefit. This forces the brain to find value in places it would normally ignore.
Green Hat: The Chaos of Creativity
The Green Hat is where the "lateral" stuff happens. This is for ideas, provocations, and "what if" scenarios. In this mode, no idea is too stupid. You use techniques like "Random Word" or "Reversal" to jolt the brain out of its standard ruts.
Most people try to do Green Hat and Black Hat at the same time. That’s a recipe for zero innovation. You can’t drive with one foot on the gas and one foot on the brake. The Six Thinking Hats book demands that you take your foot off the brake entirely for the duration of the Green Hat session.
The Blue Hat: The Conductor of the Symphony
The Blue Hat doesn't think about the subject. It thinks about the thinking. Usually, the chairperson or the facilitator wears this hat. They decide which hat the group should wear next.
- "Okay, we’ve done enough Black Hatting. We’re getting depressed. Let’s move to Green Hat for five minutes."
- "We need more data. Everyone, White Hat on."
Without the Blue Hat, the system falls apart. It sets the agenda and summarizes the results. It’s the metadata of the meeting.
Real-World Impact: Does This Actually Work?
You might think this sounds a bit like a corporate team-building exercise that people forget two weeks later. But the data says otherwise. Major organizations like IBM, Prudential, and Boeing have used these techniques for decades.
One of the most famous examples comes from J.P. Morgan. They reportedly reduced their meeting times by 80% using the methods found in the Six Thinking Hats book. Think about that. If you spend 10 hours a week in meetings, that’s 8 hours given back to you. That’s an entire workday.
ABB (Asea Brown Boveri) used the hats to take a multi-national project discussion—which usually took 20 days—and finished it in two days. Why? Because they stopped arguing. When you move from "debate" to "parallel exploration," the ego disappears. You aren't attacking my idea; we are both looking at the risks (Black Hat) together. We are on the same side of the table.
The Problem With "Smart" People
De Bono has a great observation about "smart" people. He says many highly intelligent people are actually poor thinkers. They use their intelligence to defend a position they took emotionally, and they’re so good at arguing that they can make any position look logical. They get trapped by their own cleverness.
The Six Thinking Hats book is a ego-stripping tool. It forces the "smart" person to look in directions they don't want to look. It forces the critic to be creative and the dreamer to be realistic.
How to Start Using the Hats Tomorrow
You don't need a fancy certification to start doing this. Honestly, you don't even need to tell your team you're doing "Six Thinking Hats" if you think they’ll roll their eyes. You can just lead them through the process.
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1. Define the focus.
Before you start, the Blue Hat (the leader) needs to say exactly what you're trying to solve. If the focus is too broad, the hats won't help. "How to increase sales" is too vague. "How to reduce friction in our checkout process" is better.
2. Pick a sequence.
A standard sequence might look like this:
- Blue: Set the goal.
- White: What do the current checkout stats look like?
- Red: How do we feel about the current design? (Usually: "It's ugly" or "I'm frustrated").
- Yellow: What’s working well right now?
- Black: Why will changing it be a nightmare? (Technical debt, cost).
- Green: New ideas to fix it.
- Blue: Summarize and assign tasks.
3. Set a timer.
This is crucial. Red Hat should be very fast. Green Hat can be longer. Don't let people linger. The power of the Six Thinking Hats book is in the discipline of the transition.
The Limitations
Is it perfect? No. It can feel forced. Some people find the structure stifling. If you have a very small, highly cohesive team that already communicates perfectly, this might feel like overkill. It’s also hard to do if the "Big Boss" in the room refuses to play along and keeps jumping between hats.
But for most of us—trapped in circular arguments and unproductive "brainstorming" sessions—it’s a lifesaver.
Actionable Next Steps
If you want to actually get value out of this, don't just read about it. Do it.
- Buy a physical copy of the Six Thinking Hats book. It’s a short read. You can finish it in an afternoon.
- Try a solo session. Next time you have a big personal decision—like moving house or changing jobs—take a piece of paper. Write down the 6 colors. Force yourself to write 3 bullets for each hat. You’ll be surprised how much your "Red Hat" feelings were masking "White Hat" facts.
- Run a 15-minute experiment. In your next meeting, when things get stuck, say: "Hey, can we just do three minutes of purely logical negative thinking (Black Hat) so we can get all the worries out of the way?"
- Focus on the Blue Hat. If you're the leader, spend more time defining the process of the meeting than the content.
Most people think they are thinking when they are actually just rearranging their prejudices. The Six Thinking Hats book gives you a way to actually think. It's not about being nice; it's about being effective. Whether you're a CEO or a freelancer, the ability to switch "modes" is the difference between spinning your wheels and actually moving the car.