Six Thinking Hats® and Lateral Thinking are two of Dr Edward de Bono’s best-known tools, and people often treat them as alternatives. Combined, they cover both halves of a good decision: generating ideas worth considering and deciding which ones to … Continue reading
Stop arguing. Start Parallel Thinking®.
A good argument feels like progress. Voices get raised, points get scored, someone “wins”. It looks like a team that cares. But, Parallel Thinking®, where everyone looks in the same direction at once, usually leads teams to better decisions. Yet … Continue reading
What is Six Thinking Hats®? A plain-English guide
Six Thinking Hats® isn’t about putting people into boxes. It’s about stopping everyone from thinking in different directions at once. Some assume it’s an icebreaker. Others assume it’s a way of assigning personality types to a team. Neither is right. Six … Continue reading
The loudest person in the room isn’t always right
We’ve all been in a meeting where someone states their view with total confidence. Nobody pushes back, not because they agree, but because pushing back feels like more effort than it’s worth. The conversation moves on and a decision is … Continue reading
AI can give you lots of ideas. Challenge, develop and pick the right one with Lateral Thinking
Ask most AI tools for a plan, a campaign idea or a solution to a problem, and you’ll get something usable within seconds. It reads well, sounds confident and it may even look finished. And for a lot of teams, … Continue reading
One hire won’t make your team more creative
The instinct is understandable. A team’s creative output is disappointing, so the plan becomes: hire someone more creative. It rarely solves the underlying problem, and even when it works, it doesn’t scale. One new hire doesn’t fix a team; it … Continue reading
Stop waiting for creative people, build the skill.
Most businesses can tell you exactly who on the team is “creative”. It’s usually the same two or three people with everyone else being quietly opted out. That’s a problem, because demand for creative thinking isn’t holding steady while businesses wait … Continue reading
Question. Challenge. Evaluate. Decide. AI can’t do that.
Ask a business leader whether AI matters right now and you’ll get an answer before you finish the question. Ask them whether their people are equipped to judge what AI actually produces, and the answer comes much more slowly. That … Continue reading
Creative thinking skills training: Why every business needs a creative thinking strategy – not just a skills wishlist
Creative thinking is becoming one of the most important workplace skills for businesses to develop, but many organisations still treat it as an innate ability rather than something employees can learn. The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report identifies … Continue reading
Why your meetings keep going in circles (and how to fix it)
Too many meetings. Too much conflict. Nothing moves forward. If that sentence made you think of a specific meeting, you’re not alone. Ask most leaders what gets in the way of good decision-making and the answers come quickly: conversations that … Continue reading
When seniority derails a meeting – how to get thinking back on track
A senior colleague raises an objection. The room changes. The idea being explored suddenly feels too risky to discuss. The person who suggested it goes quiet. Others who were about to contribute decide it is safer not to. The meeting … Continue reading
How many bad decisions are hiding in your meetings?
Not every bad decision looks bad when it’s made. Some are nodded through because the meeting is running out of time. Some happen because the most confident person in the room sounds more certain than everyone else. Others are agreed … Continue reading
Ineffective meetings are expensive, so is explaining decisions badly.
The problem: this is costing you real money, right now For a 100-employee organisation, unproductive meetings cost an estimated $2.9 million a year. At 5,000 employees, that climbs to roughly $145 million (Business Insider, via Flowtrace’s 2026 meeting data). Zoom … Continue reading
Use Six Thinking Hats® to transform meetings from a drag to a driving force
The meeting that never ends Picture the scene: a project is behind schedule, the room is tense, and everyone has an opinion. One person is worried about the budget. Another is convinced there’s a better way to do it. A … Continue reading
