Six Thinking Hats Technique by Edward de Bono

Article by: Patty Mulder

Last update: January 9, 2026

You often see it happen in meetings. One person wants a quick decision. Another points out the risks. Someone else gets emotional. And before you know it, everyone is talking past each other. Bono’s Thinking Hats, also known as Six Thinking Hats, help to organize thinking. You consciously choose one mode of thinking at a time, such as facts, feelings, opportunities, risks, creativity, and process. This creates calm, focus, and better decision-making, both individually and in teams.

In this article, you will discover what the Bono Six Thinking Hats technique is, how it ties in with parallel thinking, and what the six hats mean exactly. You will also read how to choose the right order, which examples you can use, and how to apply the Bono Thinking Hats technique in leadership, teams, and (digital or hybrid) sessions. In addition, you will find a self-scan and practical tips to avoid pitfalls, such as switching too quickly or giving people a “fixed hat.” Enjoy reading!

What are the Six Thinking Hats?

Six Thinking Hats technique or dr Edward de Bono’s Six Hats is a good decision making technique and method for group discussions and individual thinking.

Combined with the parallel thinking process, this technique helps groups think more effectively. It is a means to organize thinking processes in a detailed and cohesive manner.

Origin

Edward de Bono is the founding father of this six thinking hats technique and wrote a book about this called the Six Thinking Hats in 1985.

Six Thinking Hats technique: meaning of thinking hat

A thinking hat is a metaphor for a certain way of thinking. By mentally wearing different thinking hats people are forced to look at a problem from different perspectives. Thus a one-sided way of thinking is excluded and new insights are created.

He distinguishes six different frames of mind in which the brain can become sensitive. Each of these frames of mind can be found in the brain and create conscious thoughts for certain aspects of the issues that are being discussed, (e.g. gut feeling, pessimistic views, neutral facts).

Brainstorming

Brainstorming is one of the most effective and widely used methods to kick-start innovation. Brainstorming sessions can be organised anywhere, from the office workspace to the laboratory.

However, the sessions are not always equally effective. This is usually due to a lack of leadership or because of conflicts. Edward de Bono, a pioneer in creative thinking, has developed six thinking hats to eliminate most of these disadvantages.

The technique enables the user to think in six different directions. By only wearing one hat at a time, a synergy can be created between the people participating in the brainstorming session. And on top of that, brainstorming and lateral thinking also stimulate creativity and expand the scope of solution-based thinking.

Types of six thinking hats technique

The six different frames of mind (six thinking hats) are identified in the shape of a hat and each of the hats is a different colour:

Information (white)

Considering only what information is available, what are the facts?

With the white hat on, all available data and information is put forward for consideration. This includes information that falls both within and outside the scope of the discussion or brainstorming session. This postpones the assessment of this data.

It is important to be clear and specific about data in order to avoid ambiguity as much as possible. The overall goal is to gain a better understanding of the concept or topic under discussion, which is easy to do by treating the data in a neutral manner.

Emotions (red)

Instinctive reactions or explanations of emotional feelings (but no justification).

The red hat is the hat of emotions. When this hat is put on, the process involves emotional thinking. Emotions can be positive or negative. Examples of positive emotions are happiness, joy, wonder, enthusiasm, and expectation.

Negative emotions include disappointment, jealousy, cynicism, or anger. Neutral emotions include curiosity and intuition. The purpose of wearing the red hat is to lend credibility to the feelings that arise at a particular point under discussion.

Negative points assessment (black)

Logic applied to identifying errors or barriers, looking for mismatches.

The black hat is the hat of caution. Critical evaluations are also part of this. All limitations of the central concept are noted. The scope of the problem is maximized, looking for the worst-case scenario. When this hat is put on, participants must play devil’s advocate.

Good points assessment (yellow)

Logic applied to identifying the advantages, looking for harmony. The yellow hat is the positive hat. The aim is to bring out as many positive aspects as possible in relation to the subject.

A positive view of the subject must be maintained at all times under this hat. The focus is on how something works, not on how something does not work. All positive factors that are thought of must be written down. The purpose of this hat is to understand all the advantages and plus points of different ideas.

Creativity (green)

Explanations of provocation and research, showing what a thought is about. The green hat is the hat of ideas. Feasibility and judgment are set aside under this hat, allowing participating members to freely generate as many diverse ideas as possible.

New ideas inspire other ideas. Everything in this situation is adapted to encourage out-of-the-box thinking as much as possible. The purpose of this hat is to generate as many ideas as possible.

Thinking (blue)

Thinking about thinking. The blue hat is about the course of the brainstorming session or discussion. Thinking about thinking is also called metacognition. This also includes the agenda and timelines of the discussion. How long will the sessions last? When should which hat be put on, and for how long? The group controller should wear the blue hat for the duration of the brainstorming session.

Blue

Thinking: thinking about thinking. The blue hat is about the flow of the brainstorming session or discussion itself.

Thinking about thinking is also referred to as metacognition. The agenda and timeline are also part of this. How long do the sessions take? When do you need to wear a particular hat, and for how long? The group’s controller should wear the blue hat for as long as the session takes.

Thinking hats and your personal thinking style

De Bono’s six thinking hats are not just about meetings and decision-making. They also reveal something about personal thinking preferences. Most people use one or two hats as a matter of course. Some tend to be critical and quick to spot risks. Others focus mainly on opportunities and possibilities. Still others prefer to gather as many facts as possible first.

If one thinking hat becomes too dominant, this has consequences. With a lot of black hat thinking, the emphasis is on what can go wrong. This protects against mistakes, but can also cause plans to stall and energy to leak away. With a lot of yellow hat thinking, advantages and optimism quickly come to the fore, but there is a risk that risks will be underestimated.

Too little attention to the white hat means that opinions and assumptions are easily confused with facts. Too little red hat means that feelings and intuition disappear under the table, even though they often signal early on that something is wrong. Without the green hat, creativity lags behind and few alternatives arise when something gets stuck. And without the blue hat, there is a lack of structure and closure, causing conversations to continue without a clear decision.

The six thinking hats help to reveal this pattern. It works like a mirror. Which hat do you almost always wear? Which hats do you rarely use, or only when someone else asks you to? How does your preferred hat help you in your work? And how does it sometimes hinder you in collaborating, making decisions, or allowing new ideas?

By consciously practicing with the hats you use less often, you increase your thinking flexibility. This is valuable for both personal and professional development. You not only learn to argue better, but also to switch more consciously between facts, feelings, opportunities, risks, creativity, and structure. This makes the model a practical tool for broadening your own thinking and actions step by step.

Coordination and sequence of the thinking hats

Many people are familiar with Bono’s six thinking hats, but not everyone knows how best to use them in the right order. The strength of the method lies precisely in its structure: each hat has its moment, so that a group does not get stuck in emotion or criticism, but arrives at new insights step by step.

An effective session usually starts with the blue hat—this determines the goal, the rules, and the order. This is followed by the white hat (facts and information) to form a neutral picture, followed by the red hat (feelings and intuition) to share emotions.

Next comes the green hat for creativity and new ideas, followed by the yellow hat (positive arguments) and the black hat (critical view) to ensure realism and feasibility. Finally, you conclude again with the blue hat, in which decisions and next steps are recorded.

💡 Tip: Adjust the order to suit the nature of the problem or the phase of the project. For example, when innovating, you can stay in the green hat longer, while in risk assessment, the black hat gets more attention. A clear structure prevents chaos and ensures that all perspectives are given equal space.

Bono’s thinking hats as metaphors

Bono’s colored thinking hats are used as metaphors for each state of mind. Switching to a particular state is symbolized by putting on a colored hat, literally or figuratively.

These metaphors provide a more complete and comprehensive segregation of states than the prejudices inherent in people’s immediate thoughts. All these thinking hats help in the process of thinking more deeply about a particular subject.

Parallel thinking

In ordinary and unstructured thinking, this method seems unfocused. The thinker moves from critical thinking to neutrality, to optimism, etcetera, without structure or strategy. The process of the six thinking hats introduces the process of parallel thinking.

Many people are used to ordinary thinking and they unconsciously navigate on their own habits. Sometimes these are effective and sometimes they are not. What is certain is that when people think in a group using their individual thoughts, they often fail to come to an agreement. As a consequence, there are no discussions.

The power of the ego and the identified preference for black hat thinking can lead to disastrous meetings. Even with courtesy and good manners and clear common objectives in cooperative thinking activities, people have a natural tendency for the so-called “spaghetti-thinking” in which one person is thinking about the advantages whereas another is considering the facts and so on.

Edward de Bono’s six thinking hats prevent this, so that everybody shares each other’s opinions about the problems, advantages, facts, reducing distraction and supporting thought cross pollination.

This will be accomplished because everyone will put on a hat together, for instance the white hat. After the attendants have expressed their thoughts in a round of discussion, they will put on the next hat.

In this way all the attendants will think in the same way at the same time. The only exception is the facilitator, who will tend to keep the blue hat to ensure that the discussion will progress effectively.

Six Thinking Hats technique: the strategies and programmes

After the six types of thinking have been identified, different programmes can be created. These are sequences of hats that structure the thinking process towards a clear goal.

A number of these goals have been included in the materials that support the franchise training of the six thinking hats method, however, it is often necessary to adapt these for individual purposes.

Sequences always begin and end with a blue hat, the group agrees on how they will think together, then they do the thinking and finally they evaluate the outcomes of the thinking process and what to do next. Sequences (and indeed hats) may also be used by individuals who work alone or in groups.

The following division can be made:

Initial Ideas – Blue, White, Green
Choosing between alternatives – Blue, White, Green, Yellow, Black, Red
Identification of solutions – Blue, White, Black, Green
Fast Feedback – Blue, Black, Green, White
Strategic planning – Blue, Yellow, Black, White
Process improvement – Blue, White, Yellow, Black, Green, Red
Problem-solving – Blue, White, Green, Red, Yellow, Black
Performance assessment – Blue, Red, White, Yellow, Black, Green

Examples of the Six Thinking Hats technique

The human, natural way of speaking and interacting is often a combination of different thinking hats, as is established by Edward De Bono.

For example, someone might say: this idea ties in with our strategy and could strengthen our market position but I don’t know if the cost is acceptable or if our customers will love the idea. This sentence flows from a white hat (in line with the strategy), to a yellow hat (improving the market position), to a red hat (customers may not like it).

The Six Thinking Hats method helps managers and others to analyse different statements and judge them separately.

Below are some examples of phrases that fall under each of the thinking hats.

Blue hat

‘We will talk about this problem for one hour’
‘Besides the other, what are the benefits of this plan?’
‘Let’s put our emotions to the side for a moment: we will take action when it’s time for the red hat’

White hat

‘What will the costs be to produce one unit of the product?’
‘Over the past year, the turnover has increased by 10%’
‘It is estimated there are 80 million people in the United States between the age of eighteen and thirty-five’

Green hat

‘Instead of opening the factory in China, we could also upgrade the one in New York’
‘This is a difficult matter. Let’s get together with the team and organise a brainstorming session’
‘Are there any other options we have not yet considered?’

Yellow hat

‘Can we save on products and energy in order to cut costs?’
‘Our sales team has many years of experience in selling programs’
‘Tapping into a new market offers room to expand’

Red hat

‘Finishing this project next week makes me happy’
‘The results from this research make me angry!’
‘Research shows our customers are afraid of a change in recipe’

Black hat

‘With the current capacity we can never expand that quickly’
‘I am almost certain that would be illegal’
‘This idea has many advantages. What problems does it involve?’

Real-life example

In a medium-sized organization, a project team is faced with the choice of a new software package. The pressure is high. The current solution is not working well, employees are complaining, and management expects a decision soon. In the first meeting, the discussion gets stuck. Part of the team is enthusiastic about a modern cloud solution. Others point out risks related to data and connections. Irritation arises, people talk over each other, and in the end, no one is satisfied.

The project leader decides to use Bono’s six thinking hats in the next meeting. He starts with the blue hat and explains the goal. Not to make an immediate choice, but first to take a structured look at the information, feelings, options, and risks. This is followed by a clear sequence. First, the white hat. The team gathers facts about the packages. What functionalities are available? What are the costs? What are the technical requirements and experiences at other organizations? Opinions are put on hold for the moment.

Next, the project leader asks everyone to put on the yellow hat. The advantages and opportunities of each option are consciously identified. What does this package offer in terms of users, service, and efficiency? Only then does the green hat come into play. The team explores creative combinations, such as a phased introduction, a trial period, or additional support for a high-risk department. New variants emerge that were not previously on the table.

Then it is time for the black hat. Now the explicit intention is to identify risks, objections, and weaknesses. Because everyone knows that this is part of this step, criticism feels less personal. People also dare to share concerns that they previously kept to themselves. Finally, the project leader picks up the blue hat again. He summarizes which options remain, which conditions are important, and which next step is needed to reach a final decision.

The result is that the team reaches a consensus within two sessions. The six thinking hats provide calm, structure, and a clear separation between phases in the discussion. Employees feel that their concerns and ideas are being taken seriously. Afterward, the project leader indicates that the method helped to make the discussion less emotional and less personal. The choice of software package is better substantiated, and there is noticeably greater support for it within the organization.

Bono’s thinking hats in leadership and teams

For managers and teams, the Bono’s six thinking hats technique are a practical way to structure conversations and get everyone more involved in decisions. Instead of a meeting where everything gets mixed up, you give one clear thinking position at a time. This removes a lot of tension, noise, and personal bias from the discussion.

The blue hat helps you as a manager to steer the process. For example, you open a meeting by asking what the purpose of this discussion is, what the central question is, and what order you choose. First facts, then ideas, then risks, and only then the decision. By saying this out loud, team members know where they stand and when what type of input is desired.

With the white hat, you first gather facts and information. What data is on the table, what do we know for sure and what don’t we know? This prevents opinions and assumptions from setting the tone early on. You can then consciously put team members in the yellow and green hats. First, identify opportunities and advantages, then explore creative alternatives. This encourages an open attitude and ensures that ideas are given space before the critical view comes into play.

Only then does the black hat come into play. In this phase, you ask the team to identify risks, objections, and weaknesses. Because everyone knows that this is the purpose of this step, criticism feels less personal. Finally, you use the blue hat again to make joint decisions, reach concrete agreements, and record follow-up actions.

The thinking hats are also a tool to give quiet or cautious team members a greater voice. Instead of asking what someone “thinks,” you can ask what someone sees from the perspective of, for example, the white hat or the yellow hat. This makes it safer to contribute. People then speak from a role, not just from themselves.

For leadership, working with thinking hats means switching more consciously between content and process. You don’t have to have all the answers, but you help the team put on the right glasses at the right time. This leads to better-informed decisions, more support, and a culture of consultation in which different ways of thinking reinforce each other rather than working against each other.

De Bono’s Thinking Hats Self-Scan

Would you like to not only read about the thinking hats, but also apply them to yourself? With De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats Self-Scan, you can gain insight into your preferred thinking style in just a few minutes: which hats do you naturally use a lot and which ones do you still leave untouched? The self-scan helps you to switch more consciously between facts, feelings, opportunities, risks, creativity, and structure, so that you are in a stronger position in consultations and decision-making. Download the tool, fill in the statements, and use the reflection questions to choose one specific development step that you can start with tomorrow.

Download the Self-assessment Six Thinking Hats

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Digital and hybrid application of Bono’s thinking hats

The Bono thinking hats technique not only works well in physical meetings, but also excels in digital or hybrid sessions. Especially now that teams are increasingly working together remotely, structure in online meetings is more important than ever. The hats provide calm, focus, and clarity in the way of thinking.

Use visual tools such as Miro, Mural, or Microsoft Whiteboard to give each hat its own color box or space. The facilitator (blue hat) guides the group through the different thinking phases and keeps track of time. Have participants type their input in the correct color box so that everyone can contribute at the same time. This prevents dominant voices from taking over the session and makes the process transparent and inclusive.

💡 Tip: Use breakout rooms in Teams or Zoom for each thinking hat—for example, one group focusing on opportunities (yellow hat) and another on risks (black hat). Then switch rooms or combine the results in the shared space. This keeps the creative thinking process lively and structured, even when working remotely.

Bono’s thinking hats in small daily exercises

Bono’s six thinking hats are often used in meetings and sessions. But it is precisely in small daily moments that they can mean a lot for personal development. These are not large work forms, but short reflections of a few minutes.

A first exercise is to look back on one situation per day. At the end of the working day, choose a meeting, email exchange, or decision that has stayed with you. Then pick one hat. For example, look at the facts with the white hat. What exactly was known? What was still unclear? Another day, choose the yellow hat. What went well? What did this situation yield? In this way, it becomes a habit to look at things from a single perspective.

A second exercise is a quick hat check before an important conversation. Ask yourself which hat you naturally tend to put on. Are you inclined to be critical? Or do you immediately look for solutions? Then consciously choose to give another hat extra attention. For example, the red hat at the start of a difficult conversation. How does this feel for the other person? How does this situation affect you? This increases your awareness during the conversation.

A third exercise is a weekly review. Take ten minutes to consider which hats you have used frequently in the past week and which you have hardly used at all. Briefly note down in which situations you would have liked to use the green hat more for alternatives, for example, or the blue hat more for structure. Then choose one specific moment in the coming week when you will do this differently.

By using Bono’s six thinking hats in this micro way, you will gradually become more flexible in your thinking. You train yourself not to get stuck in one fixed perspective, but to switch consciously. This helps with personal effectiveness, collaboration, and making better decisions.

Advantages and disadvantages of Bono’s thinking hats technique

The use and application of Bono’s thinking hats method has various advantages and disadvantages. These are briefly summarized below.

Advantages of the six thinking hats method

Bono’s six thinking hats are a well-defined method.
Bono’s six thinking hats stimulate parallel thinking.
The Bono six thinking hats technique provides structure to a brainstorming session or other team meeting.
The Bono six thinking hats technique encourages clear thinking.
Bono’s six thinking hats inspires creative and effective thinking.
Bono’s six thinking hats provides a variety of possible solutions to a problem.
Bono’s six thinking hats stimulates team involvement and performance.

Disadvantages of the the six thinking hats technique

Applying the Bono six thinking hats technique in a team setting, for example, is time-consuming.
Using the Bono six thinking hats technique can still lead to people disagreeing strongly and there may even be conflicts over different perspectives.

Pitfalls and misunderstandings with thinking hats

When working with six thinking hats, a number of recurring pitfalls arise in practice. It helps to be aware of these in advance, so that the method can be used in a mature and effective way.

A common misunderstanding is that the hats are used as labels for people. Someone is then referred to as the black hat or the green hat. This turns a temporary role into a fixed personality trait. This can be stigmatizing and makes people less flexible. The thinking hats are intended as temporary lenses, not as a fixed identity.

A second pitfall is switching hats too quickly. In a meeting, the discussion then goes from facts to feelings, back to risks, and immediately on to solutions. The strength of the method lies precisely in the conscious, separate use of the hats. Each phase focuses on one way of looking at things. This brings calm and prevents people from talking over each other.

A third pitfall is the dominance of the black hat. Critical thinking and risk awareness are important, but if the black hat is used too early and too often, ideas come to a standstill. The yellow and green hats first need space to explore opportunities and alternatives. Only then does the black hat help to make plans more realistic.

A fourth pitfall is forgetting the blue hat. There is then a lot of content, but little process. There is no clear starting question, no order to the hats, and no conclusion with decisions and actions. The blue hat is needed to frame the other hats. Without the blue hat, it quickly becomes a loose collection of contributions.

Finally, Bono’s Six Thinking Hats method can be seen as a trick or gimmick. The hats are mentioned, but the conversation does not really change. The added value only arises when managers and team members seriously use the thinking hats as a structure. With clear explanations, clear goals for each phase, and room for everyone to have their say.

By recognizing these pitfalls and consciously avoiding them, Bono’s Thinking Hats method remains practical and powerful. The thinking hats then support thinking and collaboration, rather than complicating it.