Does Your Brainstorming Sessions Resemble The Big Bang Theory's Changing the World Meeting?

Although the short clip of The Big Bang Theory is funny, there is a very important take away from the video that businesses should think about regarding their innovative or creative thought processes. Every company should ask the following questions and be able to answer them quickly and effectively.

1. How does your team stay focused in think tank groups or brainstorming sessions?
2. How does your team capture the ideas from these sessions?
3. Does that brainstorming process push your team beyond its borders?
4. How long does your process take? Is the process cost-effective?
5. Does your team use or have a process for brainstorming?
6. Most importantly, does your process work?

These are some of the questions, that teams need to ask themselves so that they do not waste their time and money. Six Hats and Lateral Thinking are excellent tools that will keep your team focused on its objectives and expand its creative and innovative solutions. Imagine the possibilities if your team spent more of its time executing your ideas rather than brainstorming for ideas.

de Bono Consulting challenges each team to change their world for the better and by changing their world, they will be changing everyone's world. Is your team changing the world?

By de Bono Consulting

Have Debates Stalled Your Projects, Try Using Your Hats

Everyone has been on a team project where the project stalled due to lack of possible solutions. This problem reminds me of a team project called Synapse that the Defensed Advanced Research Projects Agency and IBM faced. 

How did these scientist find new possible solutions? What brainstorming activity did they use when everything looked hopeless?

According to the New York Times article by Dharmendra S. Modha, the team of 25 participants crowd a room to go through a Six Hats brainstorming exercise. This exercise allowed the team to use a blueprint that removed the teams emotions and tap into the creative possibilities to finish the Synapse project. This blueprint became the standard for all challenges the team encountered in the future. 

Below are the most important takeaways the team took away per the Dharmendra S. Modha:

1. Identify problems and confront them proactively.

2. Under deadline pressure, use a flat management structure, allowing people to contribute ideas rapidly.

3. To sustain morale and keep team members engaged and productive, share credit for successes and learn from failures.

4. Remember that the creative potential of committed individuals, if harnessed properly, has great potential to bring constructive change. 

So the next time you encounter an unsolvable problem, look to the Six Hats for a blueprint to solve the problem.

By de Bono Consulting

Mind Puzzle Answer

Did you solve last Friday's mind puzzle?

The answer:

- Place the horses back to back.

- Have the riders piece positioned horizontally.

- Place the puzzle piece on top of the horses.

Now that you have the answer, give this puzzle to your co-workers and see how long it takes them to solve the puzzle. Do they have creative minds?

Mind Puzzle

Get your creative juices flowing with this mind puzzle! Cut out the three images below. Without cutting or tearing any of the pieces, put the jockeys on the horses. 

How long did it take you to figure out the puzzle? For fun, have your colleagues test this out too!

Can't figure out how the puzzle fits together? Contact us or wait until next Friday to find out!

Creativity creates progress

White Hat

Do you know what each of the Six Thinking Hats stand for? The white hat represents information.

Creative & Innovative Thinkers

Can you relate?

Is this fitting for you? Time to make a change!

Leading Innovation coming to San Diego

Are you looking to give your team the tools to become successful at creating innovative solutions and effective decision making?

de Bono Consulting is offering a Leading Innovation seminar in San Diego on February 17-19. The Leading Innovation seminar offers training in Six Thinking Hats and Lateral Thinking techniques, which can help you and your team apply a systematic method of thinking to make the best decisions faster, smarter, and more efficiently.

The master trainer will teach you the skills to apply the Six Thinking Hats technique of separating thoughts and ideas into six different categories. This technique helps streamline discussions so you and your team can easily redirect and focus on the issues and create the best decision.


You'll also learn the Lateral Thinking method. This method is based on research by Dr. Edward deBono, and trains a person to use creative thinking skills to develop solutions by thinking outside of the box.

Sign up today!

Happy New Year!

de Bono Consulting will be closed on Thursday, January 1st and will return on Friday, January 2nd.

We cannot wait to work with you and meet your needs in 2015. Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays!

The de Bono Consulting staff would like to wish you a Happy Holidays! 

Our office will be closing at 12:00 CT on Wednesday, December 24th and closed the 25th and 26th.We will be back on Monday, December 29th to fill any orders or answer any questions you have. Until then, we hope you have a great holiday season with your family and friends. We look forward to hearing from you!

Upcoming Six Hats Workshops

Public service announcement: we have a few seats left at our upcoming Six Thinking Hats and Lateral Thinking workshops in Chicago, July 15-16:

• Six Thinking Hats (July 15): $999
• Lateral Thinking (July 16): $999
• Six Hats + Lateral: $1599

Other upcoming programs include:

• Philadelphia, August 12-13
• Washington DC, October 7-8
• San Diego, November 4-5

These public programs are also a good opportunity to attend trainer certification in Six Thinking Hats or Lateral Thinking. See our trainer certification page for additional details, or give us a call at 515.278.1292.

LeftoverSwap

A creative new iPhone app is generating buzz: LeftoverSwap. The idea? To share leftover food between strangers.
 Love it or hate it, it's definitely a provocative idea. After one gets past the initial red hat ("Ugh, gross!"), there are definitely some strong yellow hat benefits, in terms of reducing food waste, feeding hungry people, helping other people to stretch their dollars, minimizing our carbon footprint, and creating social connections between people.

What other yellow and black hat can you think of?

Beta Test our new Innovation Assessment (v3.0)

We're soon launching the third beta test of our new innovation assessment - and we need your help!

The feedback from the first two rounds of testing has been overwhelming positive, and we're eager to see what improvements that R&D department has cooked up.

This is a team-based innovation assessment that focuses on the culture of innovation within a team or organization. We posit that innovation is a function of two variables:

1. Individual team members' personal attitudes towards innovation
2. The group culture and how it enhances (or impedes) innovation

There's no cost to participate - we simply want user feedback. Beta testers will receive detailed, highly personalized reports on their individual innovation styles, the overall team innovation style, and specific suggestions for fomenting a more innovative culture.

The time commitment is 15-20 minutes to complete the online assessment, 2-3 hours for a team workshop to discuss the results, and 5 minutes for an online survey about the experience. We also ask the team leader for a 30-minute phone interview.

Want to join? We'd love your input! Email beta "at" debonoconsulting.com to participate.

New Innovation Assessment: Project da Vinci

Want to beta test an exciting, new innovation assessment?
Project da Vinci, a new product initiative for 2013, has just gone into beta. This program explores the question of how organizations foster and maintain an innovative culture? We hypothesize that organizational innovation is a function of (1) individual behavioral styles and (2) group dynamics. Project da Vinci explores this question using individual and team self-assessments.

We're looking for existing, intact teams that consider themselves innovative, are working on an innovative project, or have an interest in innovation.

Our beta testers will receive a detailed, highly personalized report of their individual innovation styles, including suggestions for recognizing and adapting to colleagues' styles. You will also receive a team report, offering insights and guidance on how group dynamics affect (positively or negatively) the team's ability to innovate. Plus, you'll get a sneak preview of a very exciting new product, and your feedback will shape how it ultimately looks, feels, and works.

Interested? To participate, please let us know at davinci@debonoconsulting.com, or see our Project da Vinci webpage for additional details.

The State of Create

Adobe and consultancy StrategyOne have released an international creativity study, the State of Create Global Benchmark. Before we get to their conclusions, I have two quick caveats. One, yes, I'm late to party on this one. Mea culpa. Two, I have some concerns about their methodology. Specifically, the report offers little information about their methodology, and the some of the phrasing slants in one direction. Together, these two facts make me question the report's objectivity. Regardless, I always welcome new research on creativity and innovation, so I'm pleased to read this report.

Their summary of drivers of and barriers to creativity includes two statements that I agree are bang on:

1. "People need more time, training and an environment where they can think creatively."
2. "A majority of people prefer to create by themselves."

Yes, absolutely, on both counts. Creative thinking is hard work, and it requires a specific time and place where the thinker can concentrate. It's important to take time out from one's everyday routine in order to think creatively.

As the benchmark notes, innovation also requires training. It's insufficient to say, "Okay, team, today we're going to think out of the box! I want 50 new ideas!" That's all well and fine, but innovation requires snapping the brain out of its habitual thought patterns. There are many techniques for accomplishing this - we, of course, are particularly fond of Six Thinking Hats and Lateral Thinking - but the specific methodology is less important than getting participants' brains out of their comfort zones.

The second point also illustrates the importance of allowing time and space for individual thinking. Particularly in a group setting - such as stereotypical office brainstorming sessions - people nonetheless do their best thinking by themselves. The most effective ideation meetings include time for individual thinking as well as group feedback and analysis.

Innovation Fridays at Garage Games

Digital Journal sends us to video game company Garage Games, which has implemented Innovation Fridays to give employees time and space to work on creative projects of their own devising. We wholeheartedly applaud this decision; it's our experience that giving time and space for individual thinking is an essential element of the innovation process. Kudos to Garage Games.

More on Six Thinking Hats: The (Non)-Musical

Quick follow-up to my previous posts (here and here) on Asher Treleaven's Six Thinking Hats stand-up comedy routine.

First, the Guardian reviews Edinburgh fringe. Of Treleaven's show, they say, "Not many comics could get away with introducing their show as 'like a comedy TED talk', but Treleaven always walks a fine line between the intellectual and the physical – he sums up his show as 'Daddy issues, juggling and ball cancer'. It's a slick blend of physical comedy, beat poetry, circus skills and some nicely crafted lines – he describes a fellow performer as 'the sort of woman who would try to give you echinacea for Aids' – but you can't help feeling at the end that you wanted to know more, or at least to see beneath the carefully polished surface."

Second, the Independent gives Treleaven a column in which he muses about art vs. sport, or the decision to attend Edingburgh fringe vs. the Olympic Games. He also summarizes the different hats, although I fear he rather makes a hash of yellow and black. It's completely wrong to call the yellow hat "speculative creativity," whatever that means. Regular readers of this blog know that the yellow hat represents benefits and positive outcomes, not creativity (whether speculative or otherwise).

As for the black hat, Treleaven calls it "the Black Hat of critical thinking and decision-making," which is both imprecise and flat-out wrong. The statement is imprecise in that the black hat is "critical thinking" in the sense of "criticizing" or "identifying problems," not in the larger sense of "logic and analysis" (which in fact is a property of all six hats). Furthermore, the statement is wrong in that the decision-making hat is the Blue Hat, which controls the thinking process and determines next steps.

On balance, however, I'm still endlessly entertained by the idea of a Six Thinking Hats stand-up routine (or, for that matter, a Six Thinking Hats musical), and I do hope to catch a performance sometime. Has anybody seen the show? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

The Blind 'I' of DMAIC

Shameless plug: there's still time to register for our free, one-hour webinar, The Blind 'I' of DMAIC. This webinar explores the connection between innovation and process improvement. Our Master Trainer has decades of experience applying Edward de Bono's thinking tools, Six Thinking Hats and Lateral Thinking, to Lean Sigma programs at blue chip companies.

In his experience, most process improvement initiatives are extremely good at DMAC - in other words, at defining the situation, measuring variables, analyzing the data, and controlling the new solution. Where they fail is the "I" - the improvement. Most Lean Sigma programs spend very little time thinking about how to improve the status quo process - instead, they implement the first solution that springs to mind.

This webinar will teach process improvement professionals how to apply Six Thinking Hats and Lateral Thinking to DMAIC programs to radically improve the quality and efficacy of operational improvements.

The Blind 'I' of DMAIC is Thursday, August 16, at 11:00 Central. Register today for this free process improvement innovation webinar.

Six Thinking Hats: The Musical

No, not really. But Australian humorist Asher Treleaven is back in the news with his stand-up routine based on the Six Thinking Hats. Treleaven is performing at the Edinburgh Festival, and the Huffington Post brings us an interview. We first wrote about Treleaven's Six Hats routine back in April.

Disney's Top 10 Innovations

Staten Island Live has a feature on Disney's all-time greatest innovations. And no, I don't see the connection between Staten Island and Walt Disney, but let's just glide right past that question.

Anyway, it's an interesting article. Several of these innovations have become so commonplace that I had no idea that Disney had invented them. Nor, for that matter, did I even consider them particularly innovative. But then, what's that old chestnut? "Every great idea is obvious in hindsight."

How Edward de Bono Saved Olympic Swimming

Again, I hyperbolize.  But Scientific American has a lengthy article about innovation in swimsuit technology. Following the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, officials banned a performance-enhancing swimsuit that was either credited or blamed (depending on one's perspective) for breaking record after record.

In response, swimsuit maker Speedo had to rethink swimming technology. Amongst the techniques they employed? Six Thinking Hats

How Edward de Bono Saved the Olympic Games

Okay, okay, I confess: "saved the Olympics" is a bit melodramatic. But according to the Malta Independent, "Peter Ueberroth, who was in charge of the [1984 Los Angeles Olympic] Games, developed a new way of thinking about financing them and for the first time in history, the Games were profitable. Asked how he came up with these ideas, he attributed the results to Edward de Bono’s philosophy of lateral thinking."

Is there any truth to this story? I have no idea. But if true, it would be a fantastic success story. I'm very curious, so I asked the Times to share their source material.

The larger question is whether hosting an Olympic Games is in fact a profitable endeavor. In 2009, the New York Times asked several economists to answer his question. Their panelists largely agreed that, with few exceptions, the Olympic Games is a money-losing venture for the host city. It makes you wonder why more cities don't follow Los Angeles' lead and apply some Lateral Thinking.

H+

The Times of India has an article about Dr. de Bono's book H+, a meditation on happiness, help, health, hope, and humor. Nominally a quasi-religious treatise, it sounds like the sort of easily digestible pop psychology that Alain de Botton has popularized.

But who knows? Dr. de Bono is certainly one of the world's leading thinkers, and scholars have grappled for millenia with commingled questions of religion and philosophy. Perhaps someday the name "Edward of Bono" will be uttered in the same breath as Augustine of Hippo, William of Ockham, Maimonides, and Thomas Aquinas.

Obstacles to Innovation

This article about obstacles to innovation recently caught my attention. I know nothing about the author or publication, but this particular essay is largely consistent with my understanding the brain's approach to innovation.

For instance, Coker writes that "the first step in innovation is being able to make connections between unrelated things." Edward de Bono would wholeheartedly agree with this statement; in fact, one of his Lateral Thinking techniques, Random Word, is expressly designed to accomplish this. This technique forces a person to concentrate on two unrelated things and try to draw a connection between them.

A classic example is George Ballas' invention of the Weed Eater. One weekend, George needed to mow his lawn. He decided to wash his car first, so he drove to the carwash, but he was still thinking about mowing the lawn. As he was sitting in the carwash, watching the rotating nylon bristles scrub the dirt and grime from his car, his large lawnmowing project was still on his mind. And then, presto! His brain made a connection between spinning nylon bristles and lawnmowing, and the Weed Eater was born.

Coker also writes about the importance of perseverance to innovation. I agree, but not quite the way Coker means. He describes perseverance in execution: "It's important to try many ideas and endure many failures before finding the one that works" and blah blah blah. Yes, yes, that's fine, whatever.

More interesting, I think, is the role of perseverance in idea generation. The idea necessarily precedes its execution - so how many ideas do we need? Is one idea sufficient? Probably not. Maybe five? Ten? A hundred?

Brainstorming five or ten ideas is pretty easy. Coming up with 20 or 50 or 100 is significantly harder, but that's where the best ideas are probably hiding. After all, if the obvious idea were so good, you'd already be doing it, right?

Hence my assertion that perseverance is important. Don't stop when you have three or four ideas; keep going until you have 20 or 30 or 500. That is precisely why Edward de Bono invented Lateral Thinking - to help people think of large numbers of new ideas.

Upcoming Six Thinking Hats training

A quick public service announcement: the next public Six Thinking Hats training session is scheduled for the week of September 24th, 2012.

This is part of de Bono Consulting's "Innovation Week" program, with a variety of Edward de Bono's courses on offer:

• Six Thinking Hats - Tuesday, Sept. 25
• Lateral Thinking - Wednesday, Sept. 26
• Course in Creativity - Sept. 25-26 (a combined Six Hats + Lateral Thinking program)
• Focus on Facilitation - Sept. 25-28
• Trainer certification  - Sept. 25-28 (in Six Hats, Lateral, or any other Edward de Bono course)

To register for any of these programs, see the Six Hats registration page or call 515.278.1292.

Practical Ways to Become More Creative

In the latest issue of Pacific Standard, Paul Silvia reviews Roberta Ness' new book, Innovation Generation: How to Produce Creative and Useful Scientific Ideas.

Full disclosure: I haven't yet read the book, so my impressions are based entirely on Silvia's review. It sounds like a useful (albeit imperfect) contribution the literature, and I look forward to getting hold of a copy.

Many innovation books fall into what I affectionately think of as the Platitude Pitfall: exhorting the reader to be more creative, to think "outside the box," to challenge assumptions and preconceptions, etc., whilst simultaneously providing no guidance whatsoever on just how to go about this. I don't know whether Ness' book falls into the Platitude Pitfall, but I fear that it does.

For example, "Incubate" - one of the six innovation steps in Ness' gimmicky "PIG IN MUD" mnemonic - is not, in fact, a practical or actionable technique for developing new ideas. Instead, it amounts to saying, "Take a break and hope that something will come to you." And sure, this does sometimes happen; we have all had good strike us out of nowhere. But hoping for the best has no place in a formal innovation process.

The same holds true for steps 1 ("Phrase a Question"), 5 ("Meld your Best Idea"), and 6 ("Disseminate"). None of this has anything to do with developing new ideas; they are instead pre-work (i.e., picking a specific topic), or they involve analysis, communication, and consensus-building. I don't object to any of that, but let's be clear: analysis, communication, and consensus-building have nothing to do with innovation. Rather, they take place only after the radical new idea has been conceived.

I look forward to reading "Innovation Generation," and perhaps the book contains some useful nuggets. But I would predict that these methods are inferior to, for instance, Edward de Bono's group of Lateral Thinking innovation tools, which definitely do not fall into the Platitude Pitfall.

2012 Global Innovation Index

The 2012 Global Innovation Index is here! This report, developed jointly by the INSEAD business school and WIPO (a division of the United Nations), creates a league table of innovation and ranks every country in the world.

Before we look at the results, an obligatory word about the methodology. As with any ranking system, one can always take issue with the methodology and the relative weights of different variables. That doubtless holds true here, as well. In this case, the rankings are compiled based on "creative inputs" (which include institutions, human capital and research, infrastructure, market sophistication, and business sophistication) and "creative outputs" (e.g., knowledge/technology). Further explanation of the methodology is available here.

The value of such indices does not lie in the actual results. For example, it's largely irrelevant whether the UK's "correct" placement is third, fifth, or seventh. More importantly, league tables of this sort invite conversation and thinking around trends in innovation. How have the world's top innovators achieved such success? What factors contribute to their innovation efforts, and how can other countries emulate them? Also, what regional trends can we spot? Are there certain factors that hold back a particular region from being more innovative? If so, there may be scope for regional collaboration amongst policymakers, academics, and businesses to jointly overcome these hurdles.

But enough qualifying and footnoting. Who are the world's leading innovators? The top five:

1. Switzerland
2. Sweden
3. Singapore
4. Finland
5. United Kingdom

Particularly interesting is the chapter We Are All Content Creators Now: Measuring Creativity and Innovation in the Digital Economy, which describes various models of creativity. Which model best fits your organization? Do the peer organizations in the article offer any lesson for your business

Forbes has a nice interview with Tina Seelig, author of the new book inGenius: A Crash Course on Creativity. I haven't read the book (though it's on my list), but the interview is worth a read.

Particularly intriguing is the fact that Seelig is a neuroscientist, so she approaches creativity from a very different perspective than most writers and thinkers. In the interview, Seelig states that creativity is both a natural characteristic and a learned skill, rather like musical or athletic abilities. I look forward to reading the book and learning what neuroscience has to say about innovation.

Six Thinking Hats: the Stand-Up Routine?

Wild. An Aussie comedian has developed a routine based on the Six Thinking Hats. You can read about it here (and buy tickets, if you happen to be Down Under). The rest of us will have to content ourselves with Chortle's review.

Innovation @ Google

Is Google still as innovative as it once was? Lately, this question has occupied the attention of the press and blogosphere.

The CSM lauds Google as an innovative company. The main thrust of the article is the race for innovation at the international level - how innovation varies in China vs. Europe vs. America. But the author implicitly endorses Google as being at the forefront of innovation.

James Whittaker, a former Google employee, thinks otherwise. He explains his decision to leave Google, saying, "The Google I was passionate about was a technology company that empowered its employees to innovation. The Google I left was an advertising company with a single corporate-mandated focus." Whittaker goes on to describe how Google missed the social-media boat, leaving Facebook to dominate the hottest internet trend.

As companies grow and mature, growth and innovation invariably slow. Managing a large organization requires formal processes and procedures, and bureaucracy creeps in. Has Google reached that point? What do you think?

How to Be Creative

Jonah Lehrer's article, How to Be Creative, is spot-on. Whilst the media likes to lionize so-called "creative types," the fact remains that creativity does not reside our genes. Rather, as Lehrer correctly observes, it is a skill that can be learned and developed like any other.

Regular readers of this blog will know that Lateral Thinking, invented by Dr. Edward de Bono, provides a set of techniques for spurring innovation. Moreover, anybody can learn these techniques with great success.

In this sense, creativity is like tying your shoes. No child is born with an innate gift for tying shoes, nor is one child a naturally better shoe-tier than another. Rather, it is a learned skill that children acquire through teaching, practice, and perseverance.

Innovation Week is Just Around the Corner!

Join us at de Bono Consulting for our upcoming Innovation Week, March 20-23 in Des Moines, Iowa!

We're holding end-user courses and trainer certifications in Edward de Bono's powerful creativity systems, Six Thinking Hats and Lateral Thinking.

Can't make this session? Not a problem. We run Innovation Week periodically through the year - see our training calendar for full details.

• May 8-11 in New York
• June 12-15 in Des Moines
• September 25-28 in Des Moines
• November 13-16 in New York
• December 4-7 in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

How to Create a Culture of Innovation

Today, few people would describe AT&T as a particularly innovative (or for that matter, particularly admired) company. But once upon a time, Bell Labs was a bastion of innovation.

In fact, Jon Gertner describes Bell Labs in its heyday as "the most innovative scientific organization in the world." He points to a number of conscious decisions that fostered an innovative, collaborative environment:

1) Physical co-location - AT&T intentionally put various unrelated teams in the same place, which encouraged cross-disciplinary conversations. This interaction was further enhanced by the building architecture, which encouraged researchers to mingle.

2) Empowerment - Bell Labs gave its researchers the autonomy to pursue their ideas without senior managers breathing down their necks.

3) Time -AT&T realized that sometimes, it's important to let ideas percolate for a while. They gave time to their scientists, without worrying overmuch about instant results.


Gertner's article is quite good - you should read the whole thing. The one thing he fails to describe is Bell Labs decision-making processes. I'd like to know how they analyzed their projects and made decisions - did they employ a process akin to, for example, the Six Thinking Hats? How did Bell Labs evaluate their results? And ultimately, what led to their decline?

Innovation Week in New York City: Feb. 7-10

It's not too late to register for the upcoming Innovation Week in New York, Feb. 7-10!

We're offering a variety of innovation programs, including Six Thinking Hats on Feb. 7, Lateral Thinking on Feb. 8, and the full Course in Creativity on Feb. 7-8, which covers both Six Hats and Lateral Thinking. This programs will give you a solid grasp of in Dr. de Bono's tools, and you'll receive plenty of practice with their application. You'll leave ready to apply Six Hats and Lateral Thinking to your own organization and context.

We also offering trainer certification in Six Hats, Lateral Thinking, and the Course in Creativity. After this intensive, four-day program (Feb. 7-10), you'll be prepared to teach the de Bono methods in your own organization. 

Are you already a de Bono trainer? If so, This is also a convenient opportunity to re-certify, or save 15% when you certify in a new course.

Register online for Innovation Week in New York, or call us at 515.278.1292.

Stop Arguing With Yourself

Gabrielle Gawne-Kelnar is an Australian therapist who discovered Six Thinking Hats at a recent workshop. She has written a nice summary of the experience, with a good overview of the Six Hats and their usage. Worth a read.

Edward de Bono to Speak at Learning Technologies 2012

Dr. Edward de Bono will be a keynote speaker at Learning Technologies 2012 conference in London on 25-26 January. It promises to be a great event for professionals in the field learning and development. See the conference brochure for full details.

The Bias Against Creativity

Corporate creativity is a hot topic, and innovation determines whether a company lives or dies. So why do people reject creative ideas?

Jennifer Mueller, Shimul Melwani, and Jack Goncalo have a theory. In their new paper, The Bias Against Creativity: Why People Desire But Reject Creative Ideas, they explore the idea of covert biases, and they find that uncertainty produces a subconscious hostility towards creativity.

To quote the authors, "Because there is such a strong social norm to endorse creativity and people also feel authentic positive attitudes towards creativity, people may be reluctant to admit that they do not want creativity." The authors conclude that "we cannot assume that organizations, institutions or even scientific endeavors will desire and recognize creative ideas even when they explicitly state they want them. This is because [organizations] may [extol creativity] in ways that promote uncertainty by requiring gate-keepers to identify the single 'best' and most 'accurate' idea, thereby creating an unacknowledged aversion to creativity. In addition, our results suggest that... the field of creativity may need to shift its current focus from identifying how to generate more creative ideas to identifying how to help innovative institutions recognize and accept creativity."

Edward de Bono on BVO

Dr. de Bono was recently on BVO, the Business Voice. In this half-hour interview, he addresses the difference between innovation and creativity, why the business sector has been particularly quick to recognize the importance of thinking, what the internet age means for thinking, and more. Highly recommended.

Creativity Quote of the Day

"Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimension." - Oliver Wendell Holmes

Creativity Quote of the Day

"Anyone can be creative provided they learn and develop their skills." - Edward de Bono

Meetings Don't Have to Be a Waste of Time

I recently had dinner with a friend who wished the new company she works for would incorporate the de Bono thinking systems, specifically Six Thinking Hats, into all of their meetings. She has one weekly meeting in particular that lasts two hours or longer. The group inevitably gets derailed discussing details unrelated to the topic at hand. Arguments ensue and the group leaves frustrated, with no action steps laid out.

We hear this a lot.

Everyone has participated in meetings that are plagued by personal attacks, low energy and boredom, competition, power plays, groupthink, rushed decision making or indecisiveness, and lack of follow through.

You know your meeting is heading in the wrong direction when no one has defined a clear focus. Why are we having this meeting? How long will the meeting last? How much time will we spend on each part of the agenda? How will we ensure everyone participates? Who will take what action after the meeting? These are the types of "Blue Hat" questions we ask at the beginning of meetings that use the Six Thinking Hats process.

When used as a meeting management tool, Six Thinking Hats gives teams a process that directs everyone towards the same objective. In Six Hats meetings you "unbundle" your thinking so you can focus on one type of thinking at a time (idea generation, etc.).

Six Hats meetings are particularly effective in neutralizing employee rank. There are also frequent requests for every person to contribute, which ensures you get the best thinking from everyone, even individuals who tend to be more introverted. Oftentimes clients will report that their typical meeting times are reduced by 50-75% once their teams are trained in the Six Hats process.

Six Thinking Hats can be used with all levels, and helps teams get to the right solution quickly and with a shared vision.

We'd love to hear from you!
What frustrates you most about meetings? What strategies have you used that resulted in more productive and effective meetings?

Use Six Thinking Hats for Success in Facilitating Virtual Meetings

Does your organization use virtual meetings to save time and money?

Recent research by CWT Travel Management Institute reveals that while the use of virtual meetings is on the rise, many people feel that virtual meetings cannot match the quality of face-to-face meetings in terms of attention and interaction between participants.

Using Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats® to facilitate meetings offers improvement in both of these areas.

Click to read: Use Six Thinking Hats for Success in Facilitating Virtual Meetings

Quote of the Day

"If you wait for opportunities to occur, you will be one of the crowd."
- Edward de Bono

Innovation Week April 4-8, 2011

Make 2011 the year you invest in innovation training to help boost your organization's productivity and profits. Join us at the de Bono Consulting corporate headquarters in Des Moines for the following training seminars.

April 4: Lateral Thinking
Deliberate, systematic process that sparks creative thinking
7 Lateral Thinking tools lead to innovation in process, product, and problem solving.

April 5: Six Thinking Hats
Organize and maximize individual and team thinking
Learn how to enhance meeting effectiveness by methodically channeling group attention in six key directions. Six Thinking Hats is our most popular course and will quickly become an indispensable organizational tool!

April 4-5: Course in Creativity
Combines and integrates Lateral Thinking & Six Thinking Hats
Learn powerful methods that will enable you to lead effective meetings, rigorously evaluate ideas, manage risks, maximize opportunities, and drive innovation.

April 5-8: Focus on Facilitation
Learn Advanced Facilitator Tools & Become an Accredited de Bono Facilitator
Focus on Facilitation is the optimal application course for leading group innovation.

Visit our de Bono Events Calendar or call 866.621.3366.

Innovation: Tubeless Toilet Paper from Kimberly-Clark

Kimberly-Clark estimates that the 17 billion toilet paper tubes produced each year in the U.S. generate 160 million pounds of trash. According to a recent USA Today article, the company will launch tube-free Scott toilet paper. This innovation removes an unnecessary element of their product to help the environment and reduce material costs.

Quote of the Day

"Companies can't predict the future, but they can build organizations that will survive and flourish under just about any possible future." - Lowell Bryan

Lowell Bryan is an author and director at McKinsey & Company

Halloween 2010: Top Costumes, History, Myths, More

Did you know . . . There are some 36 million potential trick-or-treaters (children aged 5-13) in the U.S., according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

National Geographic News presents the facts on the history of Halloween, highlights this year's most popular costumes for adults and kids, and features fun stats on record-breaking pumpkins.
Click to get the white hat info you need to amaze your friends at this year's Halloween party!

Share your creative costume ideas by clicking the comments link below.

Edward de Bono's Idea to Replace Parking Meters

Edward de Bono argues that if you want to shorten the time people park in one spot you should simply legislate to require them to keep their car headlights on whenever they’re parked. No need for meters, easy to police, and you’re guaranteed they will keep their stay nice and short!

Contribute your thoughts about this idea by clicking the Comments link below.

The Need For Innovation Skill Development

Once a month MSEL (Master of Science in Executive Leadership) at the University of San Diego provides a forum to the community featuring exceptional guest speakers presenting information on a variety of relevant and stimulating topics. Barbara Stennes, de Bono Consulting's CEO, has more than 15 years of experience working with teams motivated to increase results through innovation. Barbara will present "The Need For Innovation Skill Development" at MSEL's event on November 9.

Barbara will provide tips on how to identify barriers to innovation and provide an interactive overview on thinking skills such as: Six Thinking Hats, Lateral Thinking, Power of Perception, and more.

MSEL PRESENTS Barbara Stennes:
Tuesday, November 9, 2010: 8:00 am –9:00 am
Check‐in and breakfast begin at 7:15 am
University of San Diego
Mother Rosalie Hall Room 102
www.sandiego.edu/msel

Event Details: The Need For Innovation Skill Development
Register Online by Friday, Nov 5: Register Online

de Bono Global: South Africa Events

de Bono Consulting CEO and President, Barbara Stennes, will meet with Edward de Bono at the Annual International de Bono Thinking Systems Distributor meeting, October 11-13 in Cape Town.

Dr. de Bono will also be speaking at the Progress Conference in Cape Town on October 14. The Progress Conference will feature ways to leverage the minds of your employees, colleagues, and customers to facilitate PROGRESS.

Innovation Week: Get Certified in Lateral Thinking & Six Thinking Hats

We've received a lot of requests recently from trainers who'd like to certify in more than one of the de Bono Thinking Systems without having to travel to multiple certification events. To meet this need, we've put together an intensive week-long event, November 1-5, which will provide the learning and credentials required to train your employees in our 2 most popular programs, Lateral Thinking and Six Thinking Hats.

This new certification event combines core content from de Bono tools, methods, and frameworks to foster a comprehensive understanding of how the thinking systems work together and separately.

Click to learn how you can certify in Lateral Thinking & Six Thinking Hats November 1-5 in Des Moines, or call 866.621.3366 for more information.

Bonus: Attendees will also learn the Focus on Facilitation tools at no additional charge!

New Case Study: Emerson Scroll Compressors LLC Plant Gets Measurable Results

The Challenge: Growth Creates Communications Roadblocks

The Solution: Teach and Apply de Bono Communication and Problem-Solving Skills to Rekindle Honest Interaction Between Managers and Employees

The Results: Emerson Scroll Compressors generated ideas that were good for the environment & their bottom-line within the first year:
- Reduced scrap by 20%, resulting in an annual savings of $48,000
- Saved the plant $130,000 in utility costs in one year

Total Savings: Read the new de Bono case study . . .
Plant Managers Use Innovative Communication Tools to Tap Strengths of Straight-Shooting Workforce

de Bono Events: September Virtual Training Series

Our September training calendar is packed with great opportunities for you to learn Edward de Bono's Thinking Systems - without having to leave your desk.

Simply spend 2 hours with us one day a week, for three consecutive weeks.

Visit the links below or call Natalie Jenkins at 866.621.3366 to learn how these powerful thinking systems can help drive business strategies and innovation at your organization.

Six Value Medals: September 1, 8, 15
Learn 6 tools for values-based decision making that will help you scan for values, prioritize, and ensure that top values are addressed every step of the way. The perfect tool for choosing which creative ideas will deliver the desired value.

Six Thinking Hats: September 7, 14, 21
Six Thinking Hats is a thinking management tool that opens the door to innovative thinking, thorough decisions, easier problem resolution, improved communication, and more efficient and productive meetings. Learn specific techniques that will keep your meetings focused, efficient, productive, and results-oriented.

Power of Perception: September 15, 22, 29
10 thinking tools will help you become a strong and confident decision maker. Learn to accurately weigh risks against rewards, and uncover hidden opportunities.

View all de Bono training events.

Defining Learning Transfer

In their recent newsletter, Fort Hill Company defined Learning Transfer as the "process of putting learning to work in a way that improves performance . . . it takes place over time, involves multiple steps, and is influenced by a number of factors; it is not a 'one and done' event."

Read the complete article.

New de Bono Case Study: Plant Managers Use Innovative Communication Tools to Tap Strengths of Straight-Shooting Workforce

Using the de Bono thinking tools leveled the playing field between supervisors, engineers, and frontline workers at the Emerson Scroll Compressors LLC plant in Ava, Missouri.

Communication improved and positive energy began to flow. The de Bono thinking systems are now used for idea generation whenever they encounter something they don’t know how to deal with. The tools are embedded in various lean manufacturing processes such as Six Sigma and Total Preventive Maintenance.

The Six Thinking Hats methodology is used routinely in performance reviews of hourly workers and in so many other applications that it's difficult to track all of the results that can be attributed to the use of this practical and innovative problem-solving system.

Read the complete de Bono Case Study.

The Creativity Crisis

The need for proven creativity tools and techniques is greater than ever . . .For the first time, research shows that American creativity is declining. Read the Newsweek article that discusses what went wrong and how we can fix it.

Read The Creativity Crisis

Thinking as One Key to Organization Health - An Interview with de Bono Master Trainer, Lynda Curtin

Recently de Bono Consulting, interviewed Lynda Curtin, one of only 37 de Bono Master Trainers worldwide and the product development manager on the highly acclaimed Focus on Facilitation workshop, regarding her upcoming involvement with the Health Work & Wellness Conference, Thinking Organization’s Succeed!

The Health Work & Wellness Conference was established in 1997 to bring together a community of like-minded individuals interested in creating positive, healthy change in their organizations.

Lynda, your keynote “Power-Up Your Organization’s Thinking” is opening the Health Work & Wellness Conference September 30th in Vancouver, Canada. One does not normally make the connection between Thinking and Health Work & Wellness, what can you tell us about the connection?

I was thrilled when Deb Connors, President of Health Work & Wellness contacted me to discuss keynoting this conference. She set the theme of the conference to be "Thinking Organizations SUCCEED!" As de Bono practitioners this is our main focus--equipping people to become excellent lifelong thinkers. Organizations are made of people. People think. What could be more rewarding than to work with a group of people emphasizing thinking quality as a working concept for organizational health?

I see that you are also conducting a breakout session titled “Strengthen Your Innovation Instinct with Six Thinking Hats®” on October 1st. Why do you feel it is important to learn new tools that promote effective thinking skill development like the Six Thinking Hats for organizational health?

Healthy organizations depend upon the ability of their employees to be effective thinkers. This means employees are able to think broadly, clearly, thoroughly, creatively, and critically about any challenge they are faced with. It means employees are able to suspend their biases and explore each challenge with an open-mind before deciding on a solution or course of action. It means they are not locked into one way of doing things. It means they are willing to listen to and include the thinking of others not just their own thinking.

de Bono's Six Thinking Hats is one thinking tool that encourages effective thinking. It's been around for 25 years. I suppose this classifies it as a new tool in the area of leadership and management development. As time moves forward we learn what we didn't know and this often leads to the development of new tools and the improvement of old tools. If we aren't learning new tools how do we expect to continue to be successful and satisfied?

What do you say to people that say they already know how to think?

It's interesting--no one has ever confessed that to me. But, if they did, I would likely ask them: "How do you know?" "Where did you learn to think?" "What thinking tools do you use?"

Two of your de Bono colleagues are presenting case studies at the conference. Michael Campbell is presenting Optimal Decision Making With Six Value Medals and Stuart Morgan Symmetrical Thinking: Achieving Innovative Collaboration Through Maps, Models and Stories. What do you find most exciting about these particular case studies?

I am particularly excited about Michael Campbell's case study application of the Six Value Medals tool. Searching for value is a huge challenge in most organizations today--and finding new value that no one else is leveraging is one of the key factors in the search for value--competitive edge. Everyone is asking, "What's the value?" It's such a big question and it's vague. It can be difficult to answer. de Bono's value screen with the Six Value Medals tool is enormously helpful in directing thinking attention to help find value from a variety of angles.

Stuart Morgan is doing great work in industrial design. I am very interested to learn more about how he has integrated Focus on Facilitation and Six Thinking Hats into his overall process. I think this is one of the strengths of de Bono Thinking System tools. They easily compliment and strengthen current processes and approaches. His team won an innovation 2009 award which I am sure was very satisfying for them.

Lynda, you have been involved in teaching and applying thinking skills to business since 1992, which makes you a real pioneer in the innovation skills arena. What are the biggest changes you have seen over the years regarding innovation in business, and where do you see it heading in the future?

When I started out in 1992 businesses, for the most part, weren't focusing on creativity and innovation as a key driver of business success. There was a huge emphasis on Quality. Well, as de Bono practitioners we knew that Quality was impossible without creativity and innovation. Most businesses have now caught up with this thinking. There is a tremendous focus on innovation today for a wide variety of reasons. The challenge in many companies continues to be the "how." How do we become more innovative? The intention is there. The tools are lacking. So, this is a big change. de Bono Thinking Systems methods certainly help move innovation along.

In the future I think we will see a shift to Robust Thinking which encompasses all aspects of thinking, not just critical and creative thinking. Deb Connors has recognized the need to explore, learn about, and discuss this shift with her conference focus on organization health requiring effective thinkers--Thinking Organizations SUCCEED!

New Video: Could de Bono's Six Thinking Hats Help Politicians Think?

Time to Think: WHO-TV 13 News Video

Time to Think

Check out the article WHOTV.com posted following last night's segment on the news:
TIME TO THINK: Metro company offers help for gridlock by teaching politicians to think

Teaching People How to Think

Watch the interview on WHO-TV 13 News tonight at 10 where I discuss how Edward de Bono's proven tools help teach people how to think. Click to view a short video teaser.

Barbara Stennes

Innovative Facilitation Tools Help Advance Strategic Community Initiatives for Long-term Economic Impact

We're excited to announce our new Six Thinking Hats Case Study that demonstrates the power of Edward de Bono's proven innovative facilitation tools . . .

In 2006, Mary Bula was hired to serve as the sole director for the Growth Partnership division of the Erie (Pennsylvania) Regional Chamber and Growth Partnership (ERCGP). With no additional staff to turn to, Mary knew that success would depend on effectively engaging and leading volunteers from the private sector. She also knew that it was imperative to form strong collaborations with elected officials from various government bodies in order to best address regional challenges and capitalize on opportunities . . .

In evaluating how she could best lead the Growth Partnership, Mary identified one skill area that would be critical to success: expert group facilitation. She was aware that people from the private sector think very differently from those working within government agencies, a fact that can cause difficulties, misunderstandings, and delays. But she had faith that these differences could be tapped to strengthen a coalition, rather than hampering its efforts.

Click to read the complete Edward de Bono case study to learn how just four days of intensive training in de Bono's Six Thinking Hats and Focus on Facilitation techniques led to amazing results for ERCGP.

Ignorance is Not Bliss

Edward de Bono is currently in Australia, where he's a keynote speaker at the Happiness & Its Causes conference. In an interview published in the Sydney Morning Herald, Dr. de Bono discusses his views on happiness, the old saying that "ignorance is bliss," and why humans should purr like cats.

Interview to Air Next Week on WHO-TV 13 News!

Yesterday I was interviewed for a story that will air next week on WHO-TV 13 News. The following is from Dave Price's May 4 Blog Post:

"I don't want to give away all of my story for next Monday night at 10. But today's interview was fascinating. I haven't been this intrigued by an interview for a while . . .Today, I talked with a CEO of a metro company that teaches people how to think. Yeah, I know, some people may think this is a bunch of bull puckey. But they get governments, non-profits, businesses, chambers of commerce, etc. to get together and re-invent the way they think their approach to problem-solving. Our conversation was tremendously interesting. My only complaint is that she had so much good stuff, it will never all fit into our story! But that's a good problem to have. Actually, it's a great problem to have."

More details to come!

Barbara Stennes

Edward de Bono's weekly message: Complacency

We are very concerned with 'problem solving.' Major foundations such as the Bill Gates foundation or Warren Buffet pour money into such areas as HIV. All this is very worthy. But it neglects the point that the major problem is our complacency with matters which do not seem problems at all. These are matters which could be greatly improved by more direct attention. Two obvious examples are education and thinking. Both are centuries out of date. We are so satisfied and complacent that we never make multi-million dollar efforts to change things for the better. Teaching thinking as a separate subject in school raised performance in every subject by between thirty and one hundred percent.

Edward de Bono
25th April 2010

BCG 2010 Innovation Survey

The Boston Consulting Group just released their annual innovation rankings. Before we get to the winners, it's worth highlighting some of their findings.

Very encouragingly for those of us in the innovation industry, they write, "Our survey revealed that, after a moderate retrenchment in 2009, companies have recommitteed to pursuing innovation in 2010. They have pushed it back to the top of their priority lists and plan to boost their innovation spending - despite the stagnant economy."

BCG also finds a small shift towards innovation in developing countries, particularly China, India, and Brazil. These countries are starting to embrace innovation as a means of moving up the value chain and fostering economic growth.

And who were BCG's winners this year? Their list of most innovative companies contains a few perennial contenders but also at least one newcomer:

1. Apple
2. Google
3. Microsoft
4. IBM
5. Toyota
6. Amazon
7. LG
8. BYD
9. General Electric
10. Sony

Edward de Bono's weekly message: Language and Usage

Language and usage may be to blame. We have come to believe that design is mainly a matter of aesthetics - of making something look beautiful. But a medical treatment, a car park, an evening meal, a political campaign can all benefit from a design effort. Like creativity, design is a skill that can be taught and learned. It can be practised at school. Many years ago, I used to run a design exercise in an education magazine. The results were snown in two books, "Children Solve Problems" and "The Dog Exercising Machine."

Edward de Bono
15 April 2010

Innovation in Cardboard

Who would have guessed that the cardboard box might be ripe for innovation? Standard shipping boxes are rectangular, which creates a lot of wasted space when you're packaging an unusual-shaped object. The Universal Packaging System lets you fold a cardboard box into precisely the right shape, eliminating this waste. It's a terrific idea.

Moreover, there's a broader lesson to be drawn here: innovation can flourish anywhere. Cardboard is staid. It's boring. It predates the Industrial Revolution. Cardboard is arguably the least sexy product on the planet.

You might expect that over the last 200 years, we would have perfected the cardboard box. After all, if there were any improvements left to be made in cardboard box technology, somebody would have discovered them long ago, right?

Wrong. The Universal Packaging System is a great reminder that ideas frequently coast along unchallenged, simply because people assume there's no better way to do it. But turning a critical eye towards even the most mundane object can yield surprising rewards.

Edward de Bono Presenting at Happiness Conference

With the help of the world's top psychologists, scientists, philosophers, and thinkers, the Happiness & Its Causes Conference explains practical strategies to enhance the happiness of yourself and others.

Over 50 speakers including creativity expert, Edward de Bono, will discuss the latest, ground-breaking research into happiness and present practical wisdom, real-life inspiration, and personal stories.

Learn more about the May 5-6 Happiness & Its Causes Conference in Sydney.

Edward de Bono in Australia

The Australian has just published an excellent feature about Dr. de Bono, which covers his upbringing, his life, his work, and his aspirations. Highly recommended.

In related news, Dr. de Bono will deliver a keynote address at next month's Happiness & Its Causes conference in Sydney.

Edward de Bono's weekly message: Design Thinking

So we developed a culture of education which was intended to 'find the truth.' This is excellent. But 'thinking to create value' is equally important - but totally neglected. It is neglected from kindergarten level up to and including universities. It is only if you are going to be an archtect or graphic designer that you pay any attention to design.

Edward de Bono
2 April 2010

What collaborative systems or software are you using within your project teams?

Values-Based Decision Making Results

A new case study surveys the experiences documented by GMAC employees who use Edward de Bono's Six Value Medals as a framework for values-based decision making.

Check out the case study and join the conversation:
How does your company assess values when making decisions?

Edward de Bono's Power of Perception Virtual Training Starts April 13

Edward de Bono's Power of Perception Will Teach You To:

• Look beyond the boundaries of self-limiting perspectives to uncover hidden opportunities
• Quickly and accurately weigh risks against rewards, helping you become a strong and confident decision maker
• Assess all angles before making a decision and use "what if" thinking to avoid costly mistakes

Our new virtual format allows you to learn the Power of Perception tools over the course of three days without the need to travel. Each training module is two hours, making it easy to fit into your workday.

The last day to register for the April 13-15 Power of Perception Workshop is Wednesday, April 7.

Minister of Thinking

During Edward de Bono's recent trip to India, he spoke with LiveMint about the ongoing use of the Six Hats and the need for governments worldwide to create a "minister of thinking" position. The full interview is available here.

Starbucks Sponsors Betacup Contest to Redesign Coffee Cup

As Fast Company reported online last Tuesday, 58 billion paper coffee cups are thrown away unrecycled, every year.

Starbucks would like to serve all of its coffee in re-useable or recyclable cups by 2015, so they're sponsoring a Betacup contest, which kicks off April 1.

They'll award $10,000 to the winner and $10,000 will be split among the next best five. Now is the time to use your lateral thinking skills!

Read more about the contest, view the Betacup video, and submit your idea between April 1 and June 15 to help reduce landfill waste.

Edward de Bono's weekly message: We Need to Add...

Complacent, adequate, sufficient all imply that something is not wrong or bad. Our normal language and thinking behaviour does not have a convenient way of saying: "That is excellent but not enough." Or we might need to say, "That is excellent, but that is only part of the picture." When I talk about the need for better thinking, I sometimes assume that I am attacking existing thinking as being wrong. It is not wrong. It is only wrong when it assumes that it is sufficient. We need to add perceptual thinking, creative thinking, design thinking and exploratory thinking.

Edward de Bono
25th November 2009