Chapter 5 - How to think for great ideas

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How to think for great ideas	211

are asked to choose a fairly outlandish statement, and in three columns write down all the points they can think of to be "plus" factors, then all the "minuses," and lastly all the reasons the proposition could be "interesting."
  CAF means Consider All Factors. And again write them down, searching for new factors that don't spring immediately to mind.
  C & S stands for Consequences and Sequel. Logically, both should be listed under CAF, but de Bono says that most people just do not consider all the consequences unless their attention is specifically drawn to them.
  APC stands for Alternatives, Possibilities and Choices. And again the reasons are obvious: a list that encourages you to speculate.
  As de Bono summarizes one of his other techniques: "The theme of my book Six Thinking Hats is simple. There is the white hat for neutral facts, figures and information. There is the red hat to allow a person to put forward feelings, hunches and intuitions - without any need to justify them. The black hat is for the logical negative, and the yellow hat for the logical positive. For creativity there is the green hat. The blue hat is the control hat, and looks at the thinking itself rather than at the subject - like an orchestra conductor controlling the orchestra. The purpose is to provide a means for rapidly switching thinkers from one mode to another - without causing offence." 22
  All are excellent classroom techniques. Especially the "six hats" - when you go to the trouble to obtain some bizarre models, in colors and odd shapes, and pass them around so each person can act the part.*
  But the simple ideas we have suggested earlier in this chapter are the ones we have found to work effectively in virtually any situation: in advertising, business, marketing, selling, exporting, market research and all aspects of learning and education. They work, we believe, because they show the logical links between sequential and creative thinking. Your critical "left-brain" logic sees the common-sense in the step-by-step link-up to the "right-brain's" creative ability.
  They start, of course, by tapping into the outstanding power of the brain. And the brain's potential, as we'll turn to next, is grounded in processing which goes back to the start of life - even before birth itself.

  * A restaurant in Sydney, Australia, has all its main walls covered with amusing hats. Each customer chooses one on arrival - and it sets the tone for an hilarious evening, as each diner fits into an acting role.

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