Six Thinking Hats

De Bono

Six Thinking Hats offers a practical and uniquely positive approach to making decisions and exploring new ideas – and managing group thought and decisions. de Bono, long known as the foremost international authority on conceptual thinking, and on the teaching of thinking as a skill, recognizes the confusion created by thinking about things in too many ways at once. He unscrambles the thinking process with his “Six Thinking Hats”

  • WHITE HAT: neutral and objective, concerned with facts and figures
  • RED HAT: the emotional view
  • BLACK HAT: careful and cautious, the “devil’s advocate” hat
  • YELLOW HAT: sunny and positive
  • GREEN HAT: associated with fertile growth, creativity, and new ideas
  • BLUE HAT: cool, the color of the sky, above everything else-the organizing hat

Running your discipleship group gets easier, more powerful, and super-efficient when you can recognize and make space for the different moments of thought and verbal processing. For the disciple, the power of Six Thinking Hats is found in how they can excel as they communicate, lead businesses, and work in groups.

This book's Disciple Making Purpose

This book helps disciples follow, lead, and healthily interact with their brothers and sisters in the body of Christ as they work, learn, push each other to grow, and play. We consider it a mandatory read before getting into residency (Step 10) or leading (Step 11) as it gives a solid framework to work in and lead teams and volunteers. It helps disciple makers control their group because in disciple-making groups they should be the only one wearing the blue hat.

Key Topics or Truths

Team Dynamics
How We Think and Talk
Teaching Thinking as a Skill
Being Self Aware
Business
Leadership

This Book is Good For...

This book is great for everyone. Simply put, you will be a better thinker, be better at communicating your thoughts and feelings, and be a better team player.

How We Use this Book to Make Disciples

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We reference this book during our first meeting in Year One using a graphic handout of the Six Hats to set the group free to share and to establish that the leader always owns the Blue Hat (control). We give out a handout describing each hat and do a quick intro of De Bono’s method and purpose. Giving a few examples in each hat category we walk disciples through a thought process like Sally’s (see the real-life story below) showing them how they can recognize “how” they are talking to me or God and how they can walk through each of the hats to think well about what they are learning. You will be amazed at how much better disciples communicate with you and how improved their ability to assimilate and apply God’s simple truths become. But we do not read the book in Year One.

In Year Three we read the book, gaining depth and broadening the truths about God’s design of our brains, personalities, and thinking styles. It supercharges leaders’ ability to guide the thinking process. Because we use this as an intro in Discipleship One, disciples are familiar with the hats. They have heard us lightheartedly say, again and again, “I get to wear the blue hat. You don’t get to take that away” or when someone in the group gets ready to take control, “Hey, Bob. You’re stealing my blue hat. Give it back.”

Reading the Book in Year Three allows disciples to leverage the hats as leaders, not as followers, of creative and problem solving groups. We read the book in two weeks reviewing the reading each week. Here is a sample reading plan,

Week 1 – Introduction thru Black Hat

  • Six Hats, Six Colors
  • Using the Hats
  • White Hat
  • Red Hat
  • Black Hat

Week 2 – Yellow Hat thru Conclusion

  • Yellow Hat
  • Green Hat
  • Blue Hat
  • Benefits of Six Hats Method
  • Conclusion

We simply ask the group, “What did you think about chapter X (or the X hat)?” going around the group in an orderly fashion. We listen and if the disciple “gets it” we move on quickly. Six Thinking Hats is a fun book to review.

 

Real Life Story

You could see the angst and anxiety building in her face as the Holy Spirit prompted her about tithing. It was her third highlight on money and finances. She had not planned it and in her mind, it just seemed unfair and impossible to give away 10% of her gross earnings. Sally wanted to push back but you could tell that she was already feeling shame for challenging God. “Hey, Sally. Just take a beat. Take a deep breath. Do you remember the Six Thinking Hats? Just for one minute, I want you to put on the red hat, the emotion hat, and feel free to just tell me how you feel. No black hat, no judgement.” Sally poured out her fears, hesitation, and shame because she knew that she could just be her feelings in that moment. “Okay, now let’s put on the white hat. What is the data? How can you get there?” As we worked through most of the hats, Sally began to organize her thoughts, be free in her feelings, and reach out to God. God was working as she worked the way He designed her to process. Sally found freedom. Sally found an answer.

Know Issues or Controversies

No known issues

Our lead storyteller, Doug, loves this book when he is getting teams to solve problems and get better answers. It helps people frame their thoughts, ideas, and responses. They simply think better. As disciple makers, we love this book because it gives disciples and disciple makers a framework to talk. We can say, “Give me your red hat thoughts,” and they know it is safe to just talk about how they feel. We can say, “Think green,” to get them to listen to the Holy Spirit for a new approach. This book is great!

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De Bono
Book Details
Pathway Steps: 1 – 14
  • Phase: Year 3
  • Book Type: Non-Fiction
  • Flair: Eye Opening, Instructive, Storytelling
  • Tags: Business, Easy Read, Leadership
Reading Time
Two Weeks
Start Reading After Week 5
13 Pages per Day
15 Minutes per Day
Related Reads

This book is about how we think. It is what we call an umbrella book. It will help disciples at every step of the process.