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Profile and Personal Reflections

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; since 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.
 
Some of these titles are available below.
  

Continued …

Serious Creativity
Edward de Bono

Creativity is becoming increasingly important for all businesses as competition intensifies, because to act creatively is the best and cheapest way to get added value out of existing resources and assets.

In this book, de Bono brings up-to-date the core concept of his book "Lateral Thinking".

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Six Thinking Hats
Edward de Bono

The internationally bestselling guide to better thinking used by tens of thousands of people - fully revised and updated.

With the Six Hats methods the fullest use is made of everyone's intelligence, experience and information. Argument is inefficient, ineffective and slow. Argument was never designed to be constructive. The parallel thinking of the Six Hats method is rapidly replacing argument around the world.

Discovering "what is" may not be the same as designing "what can be".
       

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Strategic Management and Organisational Dynamics (4 Ed)
Edward de Bono

Extract from sleeve notes in the original issue of the book:

Creativity may be a luxury in a non-competitive, stable business situation. But in a highly competitive situation with fast changing circumstances, creativity is so essential a part of management equipment that it can no longer be left to chance or the gifted amateur. Lateral thinking is the deliberate process involved in the escape from old ideas and the generation of new ones. It is essential in the development of new products and new ideas, in problem solving, new approaches to organisation (especially simplification and cost cutting), and the generation of future alternatives in planning.

[De Bono] removes the mystique of creativity to treat it as a definite process which can be learned, practised, and used.
       

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