Six Hats and Five Human Values

Edward De Bono has a conceptual tool called six thinking hats. De Bono says, “Thinking often proceeds as drift and waffle and reaction.” By adopting the strategy of looking at an issue from six different perspectives, De Bono says, one has a better chance of solving problems, and solving them more satisfactorily. It will lead to more creative thinking, better communication among the people involved, and better decision-making.

It can be used in conjunction with other models, such as SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats).

Glenn Martin’s framework consists of five dimensions of human functioning: Cognition, Emotion, Valuing, Energy (spirit), Psyche (soul, identity). There is a value associated with each one: truthfulness, peace, right action, love, appreciation.

What are the six thinking hats?

White: facts, figures, objective information.

Red: emotions and feelings.

Black: logical negative thoughts.

Yellow: positive constructive thoughts.

Green: creativity and new ideas.

Blue: control of the other hats and thinking steps.

Without the conceptual tool of the six hats, people generally just use White and Green. They seek to focus on the ‘facts’ and then try to “think outside the box”. All the other stuff still sits around and gets in the way, but it is not articulated. The problems with the chosen solution generally arise after the decision has been taken. They may arise during the implementation of the plan (eg creating a new product to sell), or perhaps, not even until after the completion of the plan (when the product fails in the market).

The six hats have been applied to the various stages and types of problem-solving, from considering initial ideas to choosing between alternatives, process improvement, and strategic planning.

One of the advantages of using the six hats is that people are focused on one perspective at the same time, rather than some people suggesting new ideas and someone else immediately knocking them down. New ideas need air. Using the method should result in people working more collaboratively.

Another approach to problem-solving has been to think of possible outcomes, in terms of scenarios. This considers how to respond to an unknown future, by examining the range of possible outcomes, the risks involved, and the capacities that might be needed to address the varying possibilities. It seems clear that the six-hats approach would be helpful here.

Another approach has been to analyse problems in terms of their effects on stakeholders. This approach arose because organisations tend to operate for the benefit of the stakeholders who are most important to them (people with power and influence such as major shareholders) and ignore their effects on others.

The stakeholder approach reveals the role that power plays in decision-making. It also reveals the place of ethics in human actions. Society might regard a detriment to a particular group of people as being important, even if the organisation causing this detriment would prefer not to think so.

De Bono’s rationale was that if the different types of brain functioning are not identified (eg concern with facts is one type, negative or positive orientation is another), they may be overlooked in practice. But using the same reasoning, it can be noted that De Bono’s model does not identify ethics as a perspective at all. The closest it gets is to identify the Red hat: emotions. However, the effect of this structure is that ethics and human values become reduced to just being feelings, which can be disregarded.

This is a major flaw in De Bono’s model. One could say it is a fundamental flaw. Glenn Martin’s Five Core Human Values model is based on an understanding of how humans function in the world.

Cognition corresponds to the White hat. It deals with the concrete: facts, figures, logic, reasoning.

Emotion corresponds to the Red hat: It deals with people’s feelings, emotions and attitudes.

Valuing. This dimension is missing in De Bono’s model. It deals with judgements about right and wrong (and how this is understood), and the effects of our actions on others’ well-being. It includes our sense of fairness, justice, dignity, and respect for others.

Energy/Spirit. This dimension is about the vital principle, the animating force of living beings. It is a deeper layer and with it we distinguish what is trivial from what is more important. Human actions always have a human effect in the end. Problems and solutions do not eventually remain simply “objective facts”. Energy arises when the Cognition, Emotion and Valuing dimensions are functioning well. Then people can work together competently, harmoniously and ethically; and a spirit arises where greater goals can be pursued, and creativity is possible.

The Energy dimension includes the Black, Yellow and Green hats. Has De Bono done us a service in dividing this into three hats? Not unless there is a recognition of how energy develops. Otherwise, the identification of negative and positive thoughts becomes merely an intellectual exercise and they are unexplained.

Nor is there any reason why creativity should occur, unless the scope of thinking embraces the functioning of the initial three dimensions – Cognition, Emotion and Valuing, and the role of Energy is embraced.

Psyche/Soul/Identity. This corresponds to De Bono’s Blue hat. It is the dimension that observes, coordinates and makes sense of the other dimensions. It is the dimension that observes itself as well. Hence it is given the value of Appreciation.

Every one of the five dimensions is given a value. The fifth dimension: Psyche, soul or identity, has the fundamental value of Appreciation, because its functioning is about awareness, and appreciation is the basis for all else.

The value associated with Energy is Love (in some contexts, this word could be substituted with an alternative, such as deep respect, or compassion).

Right Action stands for a constellation of values, such as fairness, justice, dignity, and respect for others.

The value associated with Emotion is Peace, because our drives can result in strong emotions (desires, ambitions, anger) and they need to be managed.

And the value associated with Cognition is Truthfulness; competence in this dimension is not possible without it.

The Core Human Values model reveals that human functioning, alone or in social contexts, is not possible without exercising some form of human values. Things are better when this fact is made explicit.

It also shows that ethics is not the province of petty rules that interfere with the big games of commerce and worldly affairs. Rather, it is the model that puts human decisions and actions into a holistic perspective, in terms of seeking to identify what is of lasting human value.

The De Bono model may be helpful in a limited context, where the moral landscape is a stable given. However, it likewise solidifies any moral blindness that exists.

Edward De Bono, Six Thinking Hats, 1985, Little, Brown & Co., Boston.

Glenn Martin, The Little Book of Ethics: A human values approach, 2011, G.P. Martin Publishing, Sydney

You can also read about the five core human values in my later book, A Foundation for Living Ethically. See the Ethics page.
January 2024