Seeing With Different Eyes

Are you stuck on a particular problem and need a creative solution?

Edward de Bono is a physician, psychologist, author, inventor, and philosopher who became known for the concept of lateral thinking. His book "The Six Thinking Hats" offers a practical approach to making decisions and exploring new ideas. De Bono suggests organizing the thinking process into "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

By role-playing as a group or working through this alone, you can look at a problem from several different "hats" to get the best thinking and ultimately the best solution.

Since I am not a hat person, I choose to use the concept of looking through the eyes of different people. I often ask my clients, what lens do you want to see the problem through? Do you want to approach the problem as the business person, the artist, the scientist, the parent, or the child? Each of these individuals has a unique perspective on the world, and they will challenge you to think in a completely different way. Ideally, it helps to try each of them to uncover multiple options and then choose which one you feel suits your situation best.