Name: Kwok Chun Tung, Tony
Student Number: 50333331
E-mail address: 50333331@student.cityu.edu.hk
Tutorial Group: EN2702 - T04
EN2702 - Understanding & Producing Written English I
Book Review II
Title: Six Thinking Hats
Author: Edward de Bono
Publisher: Penguin Group, MICA Management Resources
We need to have meetings throughout our life: at school, in the office and even in our family. However, not every meeting is considered to be an effective one. We always see people arguing in meetings, and wasting the time of all the participants. Worst of all, no progress can be made after hours of meeting. If you want to have effective meetings in your office, or even throughout your life, I suggest you read De Bono's Six Thinking Hats.
This book introduces the Six Thinking Hats method. The Six Hats method follows the Confucian approach to guide you to think in a right way. The Six Hats, which are white (neutrality), red (emotions and feelings), black (negative assessment), yellow (positive assessment), green (creative thinking) and blue (control of thinking), provide the directions in a meeting. Instead of arguments, the Six Thinking Hats let participants contribute something meaningful at a particular time in the meeting. This method has been used by various companies like Siemens, Shell and Federal Express, and this method can even be taught to pre-school children. The method has helped a major corporation reduce the time taken for multinational project discussions from thirty days to just two days.
De Bono tries to use metaphors in his book to make concepts easier for readers to understand (Actually the title "Six Thinking Hats" is a metaphor, too). The word choice in this book is not difficult either. De Bono also tries to use real-life examples and case studies to show how each of us can become a better thinker.
Enjoy the book now! It is worth reading. I recommend this book to everyone. This certainly helps you, and your group, to think in a new and effective way.