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If there's one thing that can instantly suck the life out of you at work, it's an invitation to yet another meeting. It's hard to think of anything better at ruining the flow of your day than a last-minute "Do you mind just jumping on this call?" Even the ones that are 'pencilled in' often feel impromptu and scattered. Silicon Valley CEOs are renowned for thinking of intuitive ways to combat this entropy, including standing meetings, walking meetings, or my favourite prescription—just saying no to meetings.
Unfortunately, though, most people don't have the luxury of being an arsehole and getting away with it.
The meetings that flow well are often structured, concise, and timely. If something can be done in 10 minutes, it shouldn't matter that you've given the meeting an hour—people will always have better things to do. What 'good meetings' have in common (that's a thing, right?) is structure.
Today's 99th edition of The School of Knowledge features a conversation with Leo Rule of The Remote Workers Playbook. We discuss a structured framework for dealing with one of the worst things about professional life: meetings.
But, Edward De Bono's Six Thinking Hats isn't just a strategic tool to be used in meetings; it's a practical decision-making and problem-solving framework that encourages parallel thinking. To be used in isolation or group settings, participants adopt specific roles or "hats," each representing a different thinking style or perspective:
White Hat: Neutral, factual thinking (data and information).
Red Hat: Emotional, intuitive thinking (gut feelings and emotions).
Black Hat: Critical thinking (risks and caution).
Yellow Hat: Optimistic thinking (benefits and positive outcomes).
Green Hat: Creative thinking (ideas and alternatives).
Blue Hat: Organisational thinking (managing the thinking process itself).
* For clarity, Leo’s text is in italics.
Join the chat where we discuss in more detail how to apply this framework, an AI prompt for going solo, along with other mental models, frameworks, concepts and systems.
This multifaceted approach helps ensure that assumptions are challenged, ideas are given room to breathe, and facts are separated from biases when making critical decisions.
Why do you think this framework continues to resonate decades after it was introduced?
I think it resonates because it encourages all participants to think in the same direction at the same time. It does a good job of utilising the brain's different processes available to us when thinking about a problem. What this framework does is enable a more rounded discussion by separating facts from emotions, creativity from logic, and optimism from caution. Individually, we all tend to prefer certain types of thinking—say logic, for example—but by going through the decision-making process this way, it ensures that teams or individuals don't miss critical aspects. It widens tunnel vision.
How does De Bono's approach to thinking differ from typical decision-making strategies?
It's great to just riff back and forth with a friend about an idea, but at work, when time is currency, an unstructured session is a waste of everyone's time. Often, meetings can feel like trying to eat soup with a fork, as they lack form, with people offering their default perspective or argument. Many frameworks force you down one road or another and offer only detached rationality, risk management, or benefit-focused thinking. De Bono's Six Thinking Hats offers an escape from chaos—it is non-adversarial, relies on explicit guidance, fosters creativity, encourages critical thinking, and is fact-driven.
Understanding Each Hat
What makes it important to separate facts (white hat) from emotions (red hat) when making decisions?
I could write a whole book, let alone an essay, on the importance of this. In every aspect of life, we would all benefit from separating fact from fiction. There's a difference between what we wish were true and what is truthful, and the White Hat allows time for fact-finding. It focuses on objectivity and evidence and helps remove the emotional bias and assumptions we all have. In a market analysis meeting, wearing the White Hat involves objectively looking at market share data, sales figures, and competitor benchmarks to get an accurate picture of where your business or product currently is and not where you want it to be.
We should know the driving force behind each decision we make. Sometimes we need to tap into our emotions to make decisions, but it's important to identify when that is happening. By separating when we put on the red hat (emotional thinking), we can determine if this is the best time to be using emotions or if it is time to put on the white hat.
What role does the black hat play in building stronger, more resilient ideas, without leading to cynicism?
You have to be realistic as well as optimistic. Frameworks such as inversion and second-order consequences allow you to focus on the potential pitfalls of a good idea and identify blind spots. It's always better to try and find problems before they arise, and simple thinking exercises can do just that. The Black Hat highlights potential problems, risks, downsides, and weak logical reasoning. Often confused with pessimism, avoidance of the Black Hat is a one-way ticket to La-La Land. When great investors look at companies to buy, they go through them with a fine-tooth comb. They look at what the business does, its market share, expansion possibilities, its income, balance, and cash flow statements, but also where the risks are. Who are the competitors, and do they have a better business today or potentially in the next 5-10 years? To invest, they have to be pretty certain that that business will be around for another 20-30 years, and that involves a lot of Black Hat thinking.
How can the green hat unlock creativity in a team that feels stuck or constrained by existing ideas?
Deliberately setting time aside to think creatively, free from judgement, can be liberating and innovative. When people feel comfortable, they can express themselves more freely, and the 'Green Hat' not only encourages brainstorming but also idea generation and lateral thinking. It's the equivalent of a skier going off-piste and having the ski of their lives. In any work environment, there'll be a hierarchy—implicitly or explicitly stated—and in typical meetings where you have somebody leading it, the creative stage can be glossed over if it's not on the person who is leading the meeting's agenda. The 'Green Hat' can be used as an unconventional way to generate new business opportunities, update dysfunctional systems of work, or plan your Christmas party.
Practical Applications
What strategies do you recommend for keeping people from jumping ahead or blending hats prematurely?
Methods such as time-boxing could be useful to control the six phases of thinking. Sending out an agenda pre-meeting can also be a good way for people to know when the different stages of the process will come around.
Are there certain types of problems or decisions where the Six Hats method works best—or doesn't work well at all?
The framework can seem quite convoluted and is time-consuming for what most people would deal with day-to-day at work, but it could offer a nice break in rhythm from the typical fast-paced work environment. It's also good for bringing in more people and perspectives who might not ordinarily get an opportunity to share their knowledge.
Integration & Growth
Can the Six Hats be integrated into everyday meetings or workflows without feeling forced?
Personally, I'm not sure. I think some of them lend themselves to this being an effective concept, but others could be tricky or feel forced.
I see this framework as a helpful tool for debriefing decisions.
What advice would you give someone who wants to introduce this to their team or organisation?
You have to be careful that people aren't just going through the motions and are actively participating in all of the steps instead of the ones they are interested in. Having a facilitator to guide the team will be useful for keeping people on track and making people aware of when they need to keep on track.
A great way to learn to use this framework is to apply it retroactively to a decision that has already been made. Go back in time to the conversations, emails, ideas, and facts that were being shared during the decision-making process and identify when different coloured hats were used. This will shine light on the best time to use each hat.
Hindsight is 20/20, so you have the benefit of seeing if it was a good decision or where there is room for improvement. By analysing a previous decision that failed, you could see where black hat thinking may have fallen through the cracks or how red hat thinking took over in a moment that needed white hat thinking. It gives language and tools to analyse decisions so they can be enhanced next time.
Reflection & Next Steps
Which hat do you personally find yourself using the most—and which one do you need to use more?
Being in construction, organising and delivering projects offers the opportunity to try on different hats, but the 'Black Hat' is the one I find myself using more professionally. One of the things I'm trying to incorporate is Bayesian thinking and attaching probabilities to decisions I make, which then get evaluated retrospectively. When probabilities aren't favourable, it's a good opportunity to try on the 'Green Hat' and think of creative ways to improve the odds.
The yellow hat has the power to motivate and stir people to action, which is why I find myself using it all the time. By identifying the benefits or opportunities of a decision, you can build excitement and energy.
In remote work, opportunities to build team camaraderie and morale are limited, so putting on the yellow hat to stir motivation is pivotal, but this needs to be balanced with black hat thinking. Otherwise, our future selves are blindsided by something that could have been avoided. Lean too much one way or the other, and you will find yourself off track, but just like each hat, the right balance leads to clarity in decision-making.
If someone wants to start using this framework today, what's the simplest way to begin?
Be selective about how you use it. For lower-stakes tasks, it's probably overkill, but might be useful for building up to important, complex, or creative problems. It's also important to make sure people have a voice and the more dominant voices don't take over.
Why is this framework especially helpful for remote workers?
Without the benefit of collaborating in person, remote workers often have limited time for brainstorming or fully vetting an idea. This framework ensures that there is time dedicated to these important parts of the decision-making process.
Instead of just glossing over important steps, the framework allows remote workers to dig into the emotions, creativity, risks, and facts that are all necessary for the best decision.
Final Thoughts
A good meeting is one where the right decision is made in as short a time as possible. Imagine if all our meetings ended 30 minutes early with the right decision made every time?
That's not what this framework promises, but the six hats are a powerful tool to take your decision-making to the next level. If you feel like your meetings keep dragging on only for your team to be blindsided by something that was never brought up, then this framework may be the tool that you need.
By taking the extra time to analyse the type of thinking you are using, you can arrive at a decision quicker and be confident the idea is worth its weight.
Until next time, Karl (The School of Knowledge).
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Love the tips and it was great collaborating with you on this!