Six Thinking Hats and the Public Speaker (Flashback Friday #24)

On Fridays, we dip into the Six Minutes article archive in search of one of the most memorable articles. We’ll dust it off, shine a light on it, and consider it from a new perspective.

Today’s Flashback Article

This week, we’re reaching back to January 2011 to learn about the Six Thinking Hats methodology and then apply it to solve your personal public speaking challenges.

Six Thinking Hats is a thinking framework for use by groups or by individuals. It was popularized in the 1985 book Six Thinking Hats by Edward de Bono. Dr. de Bono is a world-renowned author of dozens of books on lateral thinking. I discovered the book over a decade ago, and it is easily one of the most influential books I’ve read in my professional career.

I love the simplicity of the concept, and the fact that it can be applied to any problem or dilemma you are facing, whether related to public speaking or not. Because of this versatility, I recommend this parallel thinking concept to many of my professional colleagues.

In response to the article, Boring to Bravo author Kristin Arnold wrote:

Excellent post! Although I have used de Bono’s six hats as a meeting facilitator, I never made the connection to public speaking. Thanks for sharing this connection, Andrew!

Read the full article, and share your insights about how you can use the Six Thinking Hats methodology in your life:

• Six Thinking Hats and the Public Speaker