Background

de Bono was born in Malta in 1933 and graduated from Oxford having studied psychology and medicine.  

Thinking

de Bono is best known for his invention of the concept of lateral thinking which is defined as 'seeking to solve problems by unorthodox or apparently illogical methods'.  Based on his medical training, he say that humans are good at using mathematics and logical processes in their thinking but less accomplished in perception and creativity.  In his book 'Lateral Thinking for Management' (1971), he explained that its purpose 'is the generation of new ideas and the escape from old ones'.   The traditional way of thinking, variously called vertical or logical thinking, follows a linear path in approach and development were progression is made 'directly from one state of information to another state . . . One of the characteristic features of vertical thinking is continuity.  One of the characteristic features of lateral thinking is discontinuity'.

de Bono did not advocate the sole use of lateral thinking.  He saw both modes as existing side by side and having different contributions to make to the thought process. 

Where vertical thinking operates on a 'Yes / No' progression of alternatives, always searching for the right answer, lateral thinking progresses by going off on tangents in unlinked directions.  The goal is to find alternatives that may provide a better overall solution.  The solution generated by the use of lateral thinking may ultimately be the same as would be derived from vertical thinking but it may be better and it certainly increases the options that are included in the thought process.  de Bono did suggest the use of lateral thinking for only 5% of the time on the basis that 'lateral thinking turns up an idea, vertical thinking develops it.' 

Readers can acquaint themselves with the tools and techniques of lateral thinking by browsing the many books published by de Bono.  One such skill is PO, a technique which operates like a railway signal to divert he thought process onto a new line.  This desire to provoke new thinking and inhibit logical thought led to the introduction of other techniques to general discontinuous thinking,  The use of analogy and 'random word' association are two such tools.  

de Bono summarised the lateral thinking process in five steps:

• Escape from cliches and fixed ways of thinking,
• Challenge assumptions,
• Generate alternatives,
• Leap to new ideas and see where they lead, and
• Find new points from which to move forward.

In applying its uses to management, de Bono also looks to a future when the 'concept manager' will have an established role in a corporation, managing the 'concept capital' of the organization - creativity, new ideas, adapting to change, defining objectives. Until that time arrives, he suggests, the organization of lateral thinking as a management tool may fall to the training officer, the OR department, the planning department or R&D. It should not, he stresses, be the special preserve of any one department.

De Bono himself considers his most significant book to be I Am Right, You Are Wrong (Viking/Penguin 1990), which he claims challenges the whole basis of the West's thinking culture. It explains the difference between 'rock' and 'water' logic, why rock logic has restricted the full potential of thinking, and how water logic arises from a fuller understanding of how the brain works.

The oddly titled Six Thinking Hats (1985) provides a system for escaping from traditional argument and confrontational thinking to better exploration of a subject and a more creative outcome. It has been adopted by major corporations such as IBM, Prudential and Du Pont. De Bono is extending this system (in which imaginary 'hats' in different colours are donned to encourage specific mental functions: e.g. white for information, red for feeling and intuition, black for caution, yellow for benefits, green for creative thinking, blue for the organization of thinking) with a sequel called Six Action Shoes, which separates routine from emergency action.

De Bono believes that the usual approach to fostering creativity - relying on inspiration and release from inhibi-- tions - is far too weak, and that the brain, not being naturally creative, requires the exercise of deliberate techniques to stimulate it. Although inevitably overlapping to some extent, his books and courses on thinking represent a genre he has made his own. A basic de Bono library is listed here.

He gave the analogy of developing a cross-reference technique for a filing system set up to store data in a particular way.  He defined creativity by saying it 'involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way'.  de Bono says lateral thinking is application to all areas of business activity. 

He also devised the concept that patterns of behaviour define how systems organise themselves.

Further research

De Bono, E (1967) The Use of Lateral Thinking, Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill; London: Penguin.
De Bono, E (1968) The Five-Day Course in Thinking, Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill; London: Penguin.
De Bono, E (1969) The Mechanism of Mind, Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill; London: Penguin.
De Bono, E (1971) Lateral Thinking for Management, Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill; London: Penguin.
De Bono, E (1982) De Bono's Course in Thinking, Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill; London: Penguin.
De Bono, E (1985) Conflicts: A Better Way to Resolve Them, Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill; London: Penguin.
De Bono, E (1985) Tactics: The Art and Science of Success, Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill; London: Penguin.
De Bono, E (1985) Six Thinking Hats, London: Penguin.
De Bono, E (1990) I Am Right, You Are Wrong, London: Viking