Six Thinking Hats : Helpline During Brainstorming

There are 100 billion neurons present in the brain each capable of performing innumerable tasks and generating tremendous information. Brain's information travels up to 268 miles per hour. This is faster than Formula 1 race cars which top out at 240 mph. Hence, the fact that brain is potentially capable of generating diverse outputs regarding any topic is also a reason that we fail to come up with one final solution during a discussion as all the viewpoints get tangled and muddle up.

To solve this problem of not being able to produce a lucid solution, Edward de Bono, a Maltese psychologist and philosopher came up with a concept called "Six Thinking Hats".

Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats:

• Managing Blue – what is the subject? what are we thinking about? what is the goal? Can look at the big picture.

• Information White – considering purely what information is available, what are the facts?

• Emotions Red – intuitive or instinctive gut reactions or statements of emotional feeling (but not any justification).

• Discernment Black – logic applied to identifying reasons to be cautious and conservative. Practical, realistic.

• Optimistic response Yellow – logic applied to identifying benefits, seeking harmony. Sees the brighter, sunny side of situations.

• Creativity Green – statements of provocation and investigation, seeing where a thought goes. Thinks creatively, outside the box

His basic idea behind "Six Thinking Hats" was to divide the tactics for achieving different tasks in the process of decision making.