1. “The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently.”
Friedrich Nietzsche

2. Say nothing about it to anyone
Do NOT comment on this
Say nothing about it to anyone

3. BAM124 Thinking, Knowing and Arguing
Business and Management
BAM124 Thinking, Knowing and Arguing
Session 2

4. A change of plan – not library databases
Agenda
A change of plan – not library databases
What you’ve done since last time
Lateral thinking
Thinking errors

5. Inter-session tasks Six thinking hats exercise 2
Discuss your answers in triads (groups of three)
Use the six thinking hats to think about this: ‘using the six thinking hats in my degree studies’
Try using the six thinking hats for at least one other task of your choosing – at work, on your degree course, or in your personal life

7. Many of our thinking errors are errors of perception
We are often quick to judge things
The mind is good at classifying things and does so according to previous classifications
We find it difficult to look for new ways of viewing things once the mind has judged them
Many of our thinking errors are errors of perception

8. Many of our thinking errors are errors of perception
The six thinking hats are an attention directing tool

9. “Critical thinking, then, is the careful, deliberate determination of whether we should accept, reject or suspend judgement about the truth of a claim or a recommendation to act…”
Bruce Reichenbach (2001) Introduction to Critical Thinking

10. The six thinking hats could help us to be better critical thinkers – careful, deliberate and focused.
An alternative attention directing tool is provided by Gerald Nosich.
(See reading list)

11. The same tendency for our thinking to follow previous patterns inhibits creative thinking – the generation of new ideas.
Thinking that follows existing patterns is called vertical thinking by de Bono.

12. Lateral thinking and creativity
Creativity is highly valued
It’s a positive attribute
But it’s an attribute often ascribed to a limited number of people
To get away from vertical thinking we need to think laterally
We can all think laterally
de Bono (1982) de Bono’s Thinking Course (p55)

13. Lateral thinking and creativity
Lateral thinking is de Bono’s term for pattern switching in our thinking

14. Lateral thinking and creativity
Children may seem creative
They are not constrained by the same established patterns as adults
But they may be rigid
Rigidity may be a feature of many ‘creative’ people
They have a different perception
They may not be good lateral thinkers

15. Lateral thinking and creativity
Granny is knitting and little Ella is playing with her ball of wool
Father suggests putting Ella in the playpen
Mother suggests it might be better to put Granny in the playpen instead
Quite different but logical in hindsight
Creative thinking is not always about the wacky and new
de Bono (1982) de Bono’s Thinking Course (p55)

16. Improving our lateral thinking
Lateral thinking is an attitude of mind
A willingness to try to look at things in different ways
Lateral thinking is also a set of methods/techniques
de Bono (1982) de Bono’s Thinking Course (p56)

17. Techniques for lateral thinking
de Bono’s techniques
Provocation Po
Movement
de Bono (1992) Teach Your Child to Think (pp )

18. Techniques for lateral thinking
de Bono’s techniques
Provocation
Escape
Reversal
Wishful thinking
Outrageous
Random stimulation
de Bono (1992) Teach Your Child to Think (pp )

19. Techniques for lateral thinking
Escape
Universities have no lecturers
Cars have no windows

20. Techniques for lateral thinking
Reversal
Children teach their parents
Dogs take their owners for walks
Workers tell managers what to do

21. Techniques for lateral thinking
Wishful thinking
I wish the photocopier did not run out of paper

22. Techniques for lateral thinking
Outrageous
We should set up a shop on the moon
We should appoint an eleven year old as company chairman

23. Techniques for lateral thinking
Random stimulation
Open a book at a random page
Choose a number between 1 and 40
Select this line on the page
Choose a number between 1 and 18
Select this word in the line
What is the closest noun?
Use it!

24. Techniques for lateral thinking
Movement
Focus on the difference
Search for value
What’s interesting?
Extract a principle from a provocation
Moment to moment
de Bono (1992) Teach Your Child to Think (pp )

25. Techniques for lateral thinking
Focus on the difference
With no lecturers university students would…
be more dependent on libraries
could study what interested them
would have to assess each other

26. Techniques for lateral thinking
Search for value
If workers told their managers what to do…
small practical problems would get solved
what’s important to customers would get more attention

27. Techniques for lateral thinking
What’s interesting
A shop on the moon…
would have to deal with zero gravity
would never run out of cheese

28. Techniques for lateral thinking
Extract a principle…
from the idea of an eleven year old company chairman
We should pay attention to youth!
Ensure board meetings involve having fun!
Have toys at all board meetings!

29. Techniques for lateral thinking
Moment to moment
We’d have to launch our shop on a rocket
We’d get a great view on the way
Land it carefully
Arrange for oxygen
Put on our space suits

30. Lateral thinking exercise 1

32. Inter-session tasks
Read pages 5-21 of Thomson (2002) and do the exercises (there are copies on short loan and reference only in the library)
Practise using the six thinking hats and the lateral thinking techniques as much as you can
Reflect on what we have done so far
See the website for more