The Reading Room - Edward De Bono

Profile and Personal Reflections
Comments by Chris Rodgers

Edward de Bono is internationally known for his work on creativity and as the originator of the concept of lateral thinking. His academic background is in psychology and medicine, and he has had faculty appointments at the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, London and Harvard. He is a prolofic author and has taught thinking in both business and academic forums.

De Bono's work has had a significant effect on my thinking since the late 1960's. A key contribution has been his articulation of the brain as a self-organising system; and, in my view, many of the emerging theories on organisational dynamics are consistent with the ideas he has been advancing for many years. The more that I have developed my thinking on organisations as networks of ongoing, self-organising conversations, the more parallels that seem to exist with de Bono's many writings on the brain and lateral thinking. See the page: De Bono and Self-Organisation on this site for more thoughts on this.

In the main I prefer de Bono's earlier books, such as Lateral Thinking, Lateral Thinking for Management, The Mechanism of Mind, Po: Beyond Yes and No, and De Bono's Thinking Course. These describe, build upon or respond to the self-organising, pattern-making nature of the brain. Of his later books, Serious Creativity and Six Thinking Hats also provide useful reading.

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