How the Six Hats Method Helps You Make Better Decisions

Making the right decision often requires looking at a situation from different angles and making sure that no important aspect is overlooked. British writer and psychologist, author of the book “Six Thinking Hats” Edward de Bono came up with an interesting way for this.

What is the Six Hats Method?

Each of the six hats in this case represents one point of view or style of thinking. The point is to “put on” them one by one and look at the solution from a certain position:

1. Yellow hat symbolizes optimism. When you are in it, you look for the benefits of the solution and the opportunities it opens for you.
2. Green hat involves a creative approach. This means that you need to allow yourself to freely generate ideas without any censorship and come up with a variety of creative options, for example using the method first principle or fusion of ideas.
3. Red hat - these are emotions. In this position, you pay attention to the feelings that the decision causes you, listen to your intuition and inner voice. You also try to imagine what other people's emotional reactions would be. This is a great way to connect emotions to rational decision-making.
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4. White hat means analytical thinking and rationality. It forces you to focus on data and analyze all the information available to you.
5. Black hat includes a mode of strict criticism. You look solely at the downsides of the solution, simulate worst-case scenarios, imagine any potential negative consequences, and think about what might not work.
6. Blue hat responsible for strategic thinking and control. It is needed in order to manage the process, notice in time that you are marking time, and find an opportunity to move forward further by choosing, for example, a different hat and changing perspective.

If you are making a decision alone, you first decide which hats you will “put on” and in what order, and then move from one to the other. If you are discussing something in a group, you can distribute specific hats among the participants in the discussion, to balance it, or all together to consider the situation sequentially from the point of view of each "hats".

How to use it

Let's look at the method using an example. Let's say you're in a meeting with company management to decide whether to release a new product to boost sales. Then the discussion could go like this:

• First, from a yellow hat perspective, you look at the fact that the new product can satisfy the demand of a large part of the market. This is a great opportunity to attract more customers and make more profit.
• You then “put on” the black hat to consider the negative consequences. What if the new product cannibalizes the share of existing ones? Or will it not be attractive enough to be bought?
• Next, from a white hat perspective, you analyze market data. And you notice that they indicate the presence of unmet customer needs, and also that the decline in sales indicates that the market as a whole is moving in a different direction.
• Here again, you look at the situation from a yellow hat perspective and see that your product is actually needed by customers, and this is supported by data. This means that we need to think about how, taking into account possible shortcomings, to give the new product sufficient value in the eyes of consumers.
• Then it’s time for the green hat. You begin to generate ideas for what the new product prototype will be and how you will test it.
• By this point, the discussion has gone on for quite some time, so you assess the situation from the point of view of the blue hat and suggest postponing a final decision until testing with the target is completed audience.
• At the stage when an action plan has been outlined, you “put on” the red hat to find out how the meeting participants feel about it. As soon as everyone comes to a common opinion, the discussion can end.

Alexandr Al

47 minutes ago

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Every time I read something like this, I’m surprised at how stupid cats are, that milk causes them vomiting, diarrhea and stomach pain, but they keep drinking it, and drinking it, and begging and begging. Although maybe cats are not stupid...

Alexandr Al

53 minutes ago

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There is less caffeine in coffee beans than in tea, yes, but you don’t eat tea with spoons, but in the coffee drink there is much more caffeine than in the tea drink

Alexandr Al

1 hour ago

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It's not the quality, it's the caffeine. Arabica has little of it, Robusta has a lot. Robusta of disgusting quality in a terrible mixture will help, but the best Arabica, with any brew, most likely will not