Six Thinking Hats

Meetings are a crucial part of all our lives, but too often they go nowhere and waste valuable time. In Six Thinking Hats, Edward de Bono shows how meetings can be transformed to produce quick, decisive results every time. The Six Hats method is a devastatingly simple technique based on the brain's different modes of thinking. The intelligence, experience and information of everyone is harnessed to reach the right conclusions quickly. These principles fundamentally change the way you work and interact. They have been adopted by businesses and governments around the world to end conflict and confusion in favour of harmony and productivity.

The classic work about meetings and decision-making. Meetings are a crucial part of all our lives, but too often they go nowhere and waste valuable time. In Six Thinking Hats, Edward de Bono shows how meetings can be transformed to produce quick, decisive results every time. The Six Hats method is a devastatingly simple technique based on the brain's different modes of thinking. The intelligence, experience and information of everyone is harnessed to reach the right conclusions quickly. These principles have been adopted by businesses and governments around the world, ending conflict and confusion in favour of harmony and productivity. The Six Hats strategy will fundamentally change the way you work and interact. 'An inspiring man with brilliant ideas. De Bono never ceases to amaze with his clarity of thought.' Sir Richard Branson

Organizations, like people, are creatures of habit. They tend to approach problems in predictable ways. This revolutionary book argues that such ingrained habits, which often masquerade as efficient procedures, actually obstruct growth. The 2,000 Percent Solution introduces "stall busting," a process that shows you how to recognize typical stalls (like poor communications, disbelief, misconceptions, procrastination, tradition and bureaucracy) and how to overcome them. Through unorthodox examples ranging from the sinking of the Titanic to sketches attributed to Leonardo da Vinci for a bicycle, The 2,000 Percent Solution redirects knee-jerk reactions onto more productive paths. In addition, you'll learn about a new set of thought processes for designing and implementing solutions that will reap benefits 20 times greater or faster than the same tired "normal" solutions. Packed with specific examples, advice and questions to help you improve your organization's process weaknesses, you'll learn how to go beyond today's best practices into the uncharted realm of what needs to be imagined and accomplished. Since the first printing of this book in 1999, organizations all over the world have made The 2,000 Percent Solution a daily resource for overcoming the dual challenges of tough competitors and a difficult business environment. We are particularly pleased that the book has become popular in the rapidly growing and changing markets of China. Readers say the advice and examples are as timely today as when the book was first published. We look forward to hearing your comments and questions at [email protected]

Georges Philips' newest offering in the personal development and self-help field is, above all else, a very practical book on the process of changing direction. Its straightforward language and methodical, step-by-step approach makes the process easy to comprehend. From analyzing different situations involving change to going through the specific thinking and action steps needed in order to change direction, every detail and each step is clear and powerful. His message is clear: it is your thinking fuelled by your determination that brings about a change of direction. Profound and actionable, this is the most compelling treatise on affecting personal growth and fulfillment to be published in recent memory. Full of practical, easy to understand steps capable of transforming both your personal and professional lives, Change Directions: Perceive it, Believe it, Achieve it is as engaging as it is encouraging and enlightening.

Edward de Bono invented the concept of lateral thinking. A world-renowned writer and philosopher, he is the leading authority in the field of creative thinking and the direct teaching of thinking as a skill. Dr de Bono has written more than 60 books, in 40 languages, with people now teaching his methods worldwide. He has chaired a special summit of Nobel Prize laureates, and been hailed as one of the 250 people who have contributed most to mankind.

THE classic work about decision-making from the world-renowned writer and philosopher Edward de Bono Meetings are a crucial part of all our lives, but too often they go nowhere and waste valuable time. In Six Thinking Hats, Edward de Bono shows how meetings can be transformed to produce quick, decisive results every time. The Six Hats method is a devastatingly simple technique based on the brain's different modes of thinking. The intelligence, experience and information of everyone is harnessed to reach the right conclusions quickly. These principles fundamentally change the way you work and interact. They have been adopted by businesses and governments around the world to end conflict and confusion in favour of harmony and productivity.

Kristen Ciccarelli’s debut fantasy explores an intricately woven world of deception, inner darkness, and dragons that fantasy fans won’t be able to resist. In the beginning, there was the Namsara: the child of sky and spirit, who carried love and laughter wherever he went. But where there is light, there must be darkness—and so there was also the Iskari. The child of blood and moonlight. The destroyer. The death-bringer. These are the legends that Asha, daughter of the king of Firgaard, has grown up learning in hushed whispers, drawn to the forbidden figures of the past. But it isn’t until she becomes the fiercest, most feared dragon slayer in the land that she takes on the role of the next Iskari—a lonely destiny that leaves her feeling more like a weapon than a girl. Asha conquers each dragon and brings its head to the king, but no kill can free her from the shackles that await at home: her betrothal to the cruel commandant, a man who holds the truth about her nature in his palm. When she’s offered the chance to gain her freedom in exchange for the life of the most powerful dragon in Firgaard, she finds that there may be more truth to the ancient stories than she ever could have expected. With the help of a secret friend—a slave boy from her betrothed’s household—Asha must shed the layers of her Iskari bondage and open her heart to love, light, and a truth that has been kept from her.

The premise of this book is that in today's rapidly changing world the thinking of the traditional thinkers, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, based on analysis, judgement and argument, is no longer enough. De Bono argues that we need to move towards a more constructive, creative and design-based system of thought. The book outlines the techniques and applications of parallel thinking in both personal and professional life.

First published in 1967, this remarkable title from one of history’s greatest minds remains a must-read in the world of creative thinking. Based on the tenet that an error can lead to the right decision, de Bono guides the reader through a series of non-mathematical problems and puzzles, all designed to help us analyse our personal style of thinking, work out its strengths and weaknesses, and to consider the potential methods that we never use. There are three courses, each five days long and each created to focus on a different style of thinking, featuring: The Bottles Problem The Blocks Problem The L-Game The End Game A true life-changer, this book will have you thinking in ways that you never thought were possible.

The Mechanism of Mind presents Edward de Bono’s original theories on how the brain functions, processes information and organises it. It explains why the brain, the ’mechanism’, can only work in certain ways and introduces the four basic types of thinking that have gone on to inform his life’s work, namely ‘natural thinking’, ‘logical thinking’,’ mathematical thinking’ and ‘lateral thinking’. De Bono also outlines his argument for introducing the word ‘PO’ as an alternative to the word ‘NO’ when putting lateral thinking into practice. Drawing on colourful visual imagery to help explain his theories and thought-processes, from light bulbs and sugar cubes to photography and water erosion, The Mechanism of Mind remains as fascinating and as insightful as it was when it was first published in 1969. This is a must-read for anyone who wants to gain a greater understanding of how the mind works and organises information – and how Edward de Bono came to develop his creative thinking tools.

User experience doesn’t happen on a screen; it happens in the mind, and the experience is multidimensional and multisensory. This practical book will help you uncover critical insights about how your customers think so you can create products or services with an exceptional experience. Corporate leaders, marketers, product owners, and designers will learn how cognitive processes from different brain regions form what we perceive as a singular experience. Author John Whalen shows you how anyone on your team can conduct "contextual interviews" to unlock insights. You’ll then learn how to apply that knowledge to design brilliant experiences for your customers. Learn about the "six minds" of user experience and how each contributes to the perception of a singular experience Find out how your team—without any specialized training in psychology—can uncover critical insights about your customers’ conscious and unconscious processes Learn how to immediately apply what you’ve learned to improve your products and services Explore practical examples of how the Fortune 100 used this system to build highly successful experiences

Our love affair with the digital interface is out of control. We’ve embraced it in the boardroom, the bedroom, and the bathroom. Screens have taken over our lives. Most people spend over eight hours a day staring at a screen, and some “technological innovators” are hoping to grab even more of your eyeball time. You have screens in your pocket, in your car, on your appliances, and maybe even on your face. Average smartphone users check their phones 150 times a day, responding to the addictive buzz of Facebook or emails or Twitter. Are you sick? There’s an app for that! Need to pray? There’s an app for that! Dead? Well, there’s an app for that, too! And most apps are intentionally addictive distractions that end up taking our attention away from things like family, friends, sleep, and oncoming traffic. There’s a better way. In this book, innovator Golden Krishna challenges our world of nagging, screen-based bondage, and shows how we can build a technologically advanced world without digital interfaces. In his insightful, raw, and often hilarious criticism, Golden reveals fascinating ways to think beyond screens using three principles that lead to more meaningful innovation. Whether you’re working in technology, or just wary of a gadget-filled future, you’ll be enlighted and entertained while discovering that the best interface is no interface.

People spend a fortune on their bodies, their faces, their hair, their clothes. Cosmetics, plastic surgery, diets, gym membership - everyone's trying to be more attractive. But there's an easier way to become a beautiful person. It doesn't have to be physical. No matter how you look, if you have a mind that's fascinating, creative, exciting - if you're a good thinker - you can be beautiful. And being attractive doesn't necessarily come from being intelligent or highly-educated. It isn't about having a great personality. It's about using your imagination and expanding your creativity. And it's when talking with people that we make the greatest impact. A person may be physically beautiful, but when speaking to others a dull or ugly or uncreative mind will definitely turn them off. In clear, practical language, de Bono shows how by applying lateral and parallel thinking skills to your conversation you can improve your mind. By learning how to listen, make a point, and manoeuvre a discussion, you can become creative and more appealing - more beautiful.

PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • A “vivid and devastating” (The New York Times) portrait of an indomitable girl—from acclaimed journalist Andrea Elliott “From its first indelible pages to its rich and startling conclusion, Invisible Child had me, by turns, stricken, inspired, outraged, illuminated, in tears, and hungering for reimmersion in its Dickensian depths.”—Ayad Akhtar, author of Homeland Elegies ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New York Times • ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Atlantic, The New York Times Book Review, Time, NPR, Library Journal In Invisible Child, Pulitzer Prize winner Andrea Elliott follows eight dramatic years in the life of Dasani, a girl whose imagination is as soaring as the skyscrapers near her Brooklyn shelter. In this sweeping narrative, Elliott weaves the story of Dasani’s childhood with the history of her ancestors, tracing their passage from slavery to the Great Migration north. As Dasani comes of age, New York City’s homeless crisis has exploded, deepening the chasm between rich and poor. She must guide her siblings through a world riddled by hunger, violence, racism, drug addiction, and the threat of foster care. Out on the street, Dasani becomes a fierce fighter “to protect those who I love.” When she finally escapes city life to enroll in a boarding school, she faces an impossible question: What if leaving poverty means abandoning your family, and yourself? A work of luminous and riveting prose, Elliott’s Invisible Child reads like a page-turning novel. It is an astonishing story about the power of resilience, the importance of family and the cost of inequality—told through the crucible of one remarkable girl. Winner of the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize • Finalist for the Bernstein Award and the PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award

"More than a hundred people killed on a bright spring day. The citys most beautiful and iconic landmark in ruins. The man accused of setting the fire is dead, buried in the rubble along with answers to the question, "Why?" As Juni Bruder of the Orlando Herald talks to rescuers and survivors, she cant shake the feeling that something isnt right. The official story doesnt ring true. Her interviews become front-page news. So does her suicide, a year after the blaze. Her brother Peter, a Jesuit priest, finds a clean apartment and a stack of papers sealed in plastic bags. Sifting through his sisters effects, he reads the stories of the dead, from the architect who designed the famous building to the janitor blamed for destroying it. A file on Junis laptop will reveal the hidden threads that bound the victims together, the seemingly random acts that brought them to a single place and moment in time. In the end, the answers Juni seeks wont be the ones she finds. Told through an inspired mix of puzzle pieces-news stories, phone transcripts, press releases-and filled with gallows humor, this is a novel about life, loss and the slippery nature of truth--Provided by the publisher.