A click on the books will take you to Amazon.com
where you can purchase many of the books authored by Edward de
Bono. If you are unable to find the books you want, please contact
us.
A recent survey of CEO's by the American Management
Association indicated that 81% considered that innovation will
be the single most important factor to assure the future success
of their business. Innovation will be the engine that drives
the corporate train into the future. Some have said, 'innovate
or die'; others 'innovate or evaporate'. Whatever the mantra,
you know the long-term viability of your company depends on
your continuing ability to innovate. New products and services
for customers, innovative and more effective ways of dealing
with vendors, ways of strengthening the relationship between
key employees and the company, improving quality and productivity.
All depend on your ability to be creative and innovative. To
address that need some simply hire for it searching the job
market for those 'creative ones.' While you may find 'the creative
ones, ' we can take you to the next step of systematically building
a more innovative company at all levels. Innovation doesn't
magically happen. It requires intent and persistent effort,
as well as effective, proven tools like (dB) NewThink™.
We are specialists in corporate innovation and creativity and
can help you develop the 'innovative mindset' of your company.
Click
here to go to the recent report by The
Council on Competitiveness, Innovate America. To quote, "Innovation will be the single most important factor in determining America's success through the 21st century." What part will you and your company play in that? Or will you be a player?
The U.S. Council on Competitiveness is a nonprofit organization representing the nation's top corporate chief executives, university presidents and labor leaders. Click
here to go to their website.
Managing Risk
Given the global and competitive environment the
need to manage risk has never been greater. Your role as a risk
manager has never been more important. In your responsibility
as a risk manager, you have several key functions that must
be performed. They range from setting the framework for the
team to work within, the enforcement of risk policy, explaining
to other managers at all levels what operational risk is, to
managing statistics, introducing new processes and models, and
handling crisis. And of course you cannot fulfill all of those
roles, but the team you lead should. So you are a team leader
as well. And in all of that you must remain calm and unflappable,
the model of stability, the knowing thinker. While you are already
an excellent analytical critical thinker, the problems confronting
you go beyond the bounds of that particular thinking methodology.
The thinking tools of analysis and critique, while strong in
their ability to examine what is, are severely limited when
you need ways to 'think your way out of what is'
to less risk filled alternatives. That underscores another key
responsibility as a risk manager and team leader; the ability
to generate viable risk adverse alternatives and ways of doing
business that minimize your company's operational risk.
We see Six Thinking Hats and Lateral Thinking as the necessary
accompaniment to the already strong analytical critical thinking
tools you already have. We see Hats and Lateral as the needed
generative and complementary side to caution without which can
lead to overly protective inaction or increased risk and cost.
In Six Thinking Hats language, we need to be crystal clear about
our Black Hat concerns and risks, yet we also need the idea
generation Green Hat and Lateral tools to keep us moving forward
in a profitable direction.
Project Management
Whatever your industry, banking, insurance, aerospace,
et al., the ability to be able to competently and effectively
manage temporary projects to achieve a particular aim is now
part and parcel of your every day corporate life. And your ability
as a Project Manager to effectively execute each project management
phase and be proficient in the necessary project management
knowledge is essential. Understanding the project phases and
key project management knowledge then is the base line. But
there is also parallel and underlying need if you will a need
that is right to the point of being an effective project manager;
that of being an effective project thinking manager.
Your ability to think as well as lead your team in the process
of solving problems, generating alternatives, and finding better
means and cost efficiencies is at the heart of effective project
management.
The application of skills, knowledge, tools, and techniques
to a broad range of activities in order to meet the specific
requirements of a particular project is what project management
is all about. It is in skills, tools and techniques that we
believe we will be able to assist you.
We suggest that the thinking methods developed by Dr. Edward
de Bono aka Six Thinking Hats and Lateral Thinking will productively
enable your project management effectiveness. Your skill as
a thinker is always at the test, and we see the tools based
approach to thinking developed by Dr. Edward de Bono as part
of the baseline along with understanding project management
phases and knowledge. In that regard you might want to take
a look at our two or three day Course in Creativity.
Managing Cultural Differences
You are on the telephone discussing the new business
plans with key players in China, India, Malaysia, Germany, France
and Italy. The decision has to be made in three days on whether
to move ahead or not. But the conversations continue to deteriorate
or be sidetracked by differences of culture. Language and cultural
assumptions often function as barriers to the forward movement
your company needs. And regrettably too often the solution simply
lies in one person calling the play because sh/e has to power
and authority to do so. The resulting problems however, can
often prevent effective implementation; lack of ownership of
the solution, absence of forward moving energy, lack of team
ownership of the issue. As in all of corporate life mutual trust
and respect lies at the heart of effective ongoing relationships,
and that is especially true where the players are of differing
cultures, countries or both.
If this has been or is an emerging issue for you, we suggest
you take a look at the Six Thinking Hats program and methods
as a way to help you more effectively and efficiently manage
those differences. The accompanying interactive software can
be used with distance meetings as above or with your regular
onsite meetings. We have had managers say that as they move
from country to country into new management positions, the effectiveness
of Six Hats in those different cultures continues to impress
them with its effectiveness.
Knowledge Creation and Management
A director of Human Resources at a Fortune 500
company said, "Every time our employees walk out the door of
the company, I know we have missed something. We miss the knowledge
they carry around in their minds, and we don't really know how
to capture and learn to use it." Your employees and their intellectual
capital are the most important assets your company has. The
question then becomes, how do you fully actualize your company's
true value, the mind power of your people? How do you move it
from being a hidden asset to an asset to be fully used? If innovation
is the core competence of the modern corporate enterprise, how
is innovation sustained and fully developed? The answer lies
in your human capital, and how you call forth their intellectual
capital. You can find no better set of tools to fully actualize
the intellectual capital of your people than the de Bono Thinking
Methods. We call it (dB) NewThink™:
the Corporate Framework for Thinking, an intervention that is
basic regarding your companies need, yet profound and powerful
in its organizational impact.
Organizational
Change, Culture Change, Change Management
and Organization Design
In today's business environment, change is a
given. The challenge of change is not only how to help your
people work effectively in the changing environment, but to
embrace the changes that are taking place. A basic underlying
resistance to any change process is the analytical, critical,
adversarial system of thinking we presently use. We can show
you how to move beyond the limits of analytical, critical
thinking that focuses on 'what is', to the needed design and
movement forward you desire in your change process which focuses
on 'what can be.' Whether culture change, integrating different
corporate cultures, or a new organizational initiative we
can show you how you can move forward with less resistance
and more productive involvement by more of your people. Much
more than exhortation and advice that change is good, the
(dB) NewThink™
tools have been proven effective with more than 400,000 users
in companies worldwide.
Mergers and
Acquisitions
You now find yourself with a new set of relationships
and organizational boxes to deal with. Whatever the reason for
merger or acquisition; faster growth, reducing competition,
a good buy, similar cultures or client base, we can help you
more effectively do the transition work that needs to take place
to become a fully integrated company. The de Bono tools provide
a flow mentality and process that insure the opportunity for
breadth of input with focused intent. We can help you turn
natural resistance into proactive energy and focus the intellectual
capacity of your people in a 'we can do it together environment.'
Team Development
Organizational teams are formed in order to create
higher levels of cooperation and collaboration. The concept
and question behind most teams is, how can we work more effectively
together, and how can we create more synergy and therefore be
more productive? And of course there are a variety of approaches
and models for team building and team development. Whatever
model of team building or design you are presently using, or
wherever you are in the dynamics of teams, we want to strongly
suggest you may be missing something. Analysis and critique
forms the basic foundation of the way we presently think. With
that given no matter how good your intent, or resolute you are
in your effort to implement a team based organization, there
will always be and underlying drag on team effectiveness. Your
immediate answer may be an upgrade in the skills of the team
leader or leaders in their understanding of group dynamics.
And in the short run, team performance may improve. But the
drag is still there. We can show you how to move from the
singular use of analysis and critique to flow, parallel thinking
and higher performance.
Leadership Development
Organizations need leadership at all levels if they are to
position themselves as long term high performing corporations,
according to research done by John Kotter at Harvard. And
with a variety of good programs to select from, many organizations
are in process of implementing leadership development programs.
In fact, many are developing their own programs based on the
needed competencies in their business environment. There are
several 'gurus' in the field who still advocate 'more critical
thinking.' We couldn't disagree more. Most of the managers
you are training as leaders already know how to do critical
thinking. Critical thinking for most is simply a default thinking
method. They really don't know how to think any other way.
The thinking default of critique and analysis is one of the
most powerful inhibiting factors underlying the full actualization
of leaders. The system is based on critique and attack, point
and counterpoint. And that is not what real leadership is
all about.
Throwing ideas out in a meeting, then fighting over them
to see which idea is strong enough to survive is inadequate.
We believe 'fighting it out' is inefficient and an enormous
waste of the use of intellectual capital and assets. 'Fighting
it out' means you have all of that intellectual and emotional
energy pulling against each other, rather that working together
and with each other. It's like harnessing a team of mules
to plow a field, then hitching them to pull against each other.
You know how much productive plowing takes place. Leadership
is getting people to work together as they focus on the issues.
We can help you make the move from the want to work together
to the next level of focused, leadership synergy. The (dB)
NewThink™ tools will enable
you to create that leadership synergy.
Quality and Continuous Improvement
Quality and continuous improvement forms the basic
foundation for all of the major players in the manufacturing
and service industries. Whatever the basis for your program
(Juran, Deming, Crosby, and et. al.) you are certainly aware
of the constant need to improve your quality effort. Maintaining
your quality momentum over time is probably one of the most
difficult parts of TQM. And the toughest, yet most important
part of TQM is creating, nurturing, and sustaining a culture
based on TQM. Maintaining quality momentum and quality culture
goes hand in hand. The de Bono tools will not only help you
sustain these important corporate agendas but enable you to
create new, highly generative efforts with more effective
and higher levels of employee involvement.
Strategic Planning
Strategic planning is the way an organization
envisions its future and develops the products and services,
procedures and operations necessary to achieve that future.
Usually developed by the top leadership of the company, strategic
planning is done because economic conditions, consumer expectations,
competition and other factors change rapidly in today's business
environment. While the de Bono tools can be helpful at all phases
of the planning process, they are most helpful in the implementation,
contingency planning and action planning segments. They provide
the creativity tools that provide you with what we call 'dynamic
and innovative flexibility'. When one plan or part of a plan
is not working, you can immediately produce creative contingencies
and new directions. What you have with the (dB) NewThink™
tools is the ability to produce innovation and creativity on
demand as an integrated part of your strategic planning process.
Organizational
Learning
According to Peter Senge innovating the learning
organization requires your expertise in at least five disciplines:
Systems Thinking, Personal Mastery, Mental Models, Building
Shared Vision and Team Learning. And a key to organizational
learning is that you are always 'becoming.' You never really
arrive. Persistent dynamism then is essential to the continued
uncovering/discovering of the system you inhabit. Lest you victimize
yourself with being 'prisoners of the system', you realize perhaps
you are 'prisoners of your thinking'. Building on Senge's Five
Disciplines, we suggest the Sixth, (dB) NewThink™,
that will enable you to free your self from the thinking circularity
you may presently find yourself in. Use (dB) NewThink™
and innovate the learning company you desire.
Research and Development
You know by now that if you never put money into
Research and Development, you can probably count on not getting
anything out of it. When you put something in though, you know
your teams ability to think and explore is essential to success.
For many companies R&D forms the foundation for their long-term
success, for others R&D is the stimulant to new products and
services. R&D units often have the best leading edge technology
available in their efforts to find and develop the next new
product or service. While we don't provide hardware or software
for the technology and equipment you operate, we do provide
the 'software for the mind' your R&D people will need to think
and explore to their fullest. We can help your already expert
R&D group more fully actualize their thinking potential.
Working with Diversity
Managing work force diversity can be critical
for the productive success of your company. And often working
with and managing diversity means raising awareness of cultural
or ethnic differences learning to appreciate and understand
those differences. We do this awareness raising not only to
create better insight but also to develop more productive relationships
and output. While we believe raising awareness to cultural differences
is an important part of improved relationships, we also believe
increased awareness and sensitivity does not always convert
to higher productivity. Building on your present diversity efforts
and programs, we can show you how to enable your employees
to work in parallel with each other and to convert their energy,
willingness, and desire to understand each other into the strength
and achievement of productive output.
The Relationship between Management
and Unions
There is no longer payoff in adversarial relationships
between Unions and Management. Adversarial relationships only
produce win-lose or lose-lose thinking that leads to decreased
productivity and output. However, moving toward an environment
and process of effectively working together presents it's own
set of problems. It is difficult to move away from the right/wrong,
yes/no way of negotiating. That is underscored further when
we realize our basic thinking methodology reinforces the right/wrong,
yes/no approach. Our goodwill and efforts then can be undermined
by the very way we are taught to think. The parallel thinking
methods developed by Edward de Bono can help you address and
overcome that problem. We build on your ability to use your
good analytical thinking skills to a new level of productively
working together.
Product Improvement, New Product
and Service Development
Sitting on your laurels with present products
and services simply won't do. The search must be constant for
improving your present line of products, developing new products
and creating new services. The customer demand for better value
in all these areas is voracious. Cheaper, better, simpler and
with high quality become the voices heard through the megaphones
of customer service. And here you are. How do you proceed? Obviously
the first step is having the right people. People who are curious,
constantly looking for the better way, interested in questions
with practical answers, who have the interest of the customer
at heart and who are constantly striving in their search for
better, cheaper, simpler, and practical. The next step is providing
these 'searchers' with the tools to help them get to their destination,
tools that will naturally complement their insatiable quest
for better and new products and services. The (dB) NewThink™
tools are a natural fit. They will increase your teams skill
and ability to drive this effort more productively.
Employee Empowerment and Participation
We live in an age of employee involvement and
participation. Companies want and need to have employees who
fully participate and feel empowered in their jobs. Employee
empowerment and participation lies at the heart of most key
corporate initiatives, whether quality, leadership and innovation
or diversity awareness, team development or organizational learning.
Yet the basis of involvement in most companies is limited by
the way they think. Typically the focus on thinking is exclusively
on critique and analysis. And while critique and analysis is
helpful, the problem lies in its exclusive use. As a thinking
system critique and analysis is not designed to move forward.
Yet the notions of empowerment and participation are based on
forward movement, flow and productivity. We can introduce the
de Bono thinking system, which is based on flow and movement,
and show you how to more fully enhance your present initiatives
of empowerment and participation.
Coaching and Consulting
If your job is to help your clients solve problems,
get over obstacles, give them fresh perspectives, or help them
develop permanent changes in the way they approach business,
then you need a set of thinking tools that go beyond the typical
answers given with analysis and critique. We all know that simply
analyzing a problem does not design a way forward. And designing
a way forward is ultimately what you as a coach/consultant do
with your clients. Yet a key underlying restraining force in
your work with clients is the almost singular use of analysis
and critique as a thinking methodology. Using the parallel and
lateral thinking methods, you can on demand enable and help
your client produce better answers to their problems. Your tool
kit for helping your client is more complete when you use the
de Bono methods.
Emotional Intelligence
Since the publication of Emotional Intelligence
by Daniel Goleman in 1995, we have seen a dramatic increase
in the amount of training and commitment by companies to this
important concept. Goleman and Company (aka Boyatzis, McKee
and others) make an excellent case for equipping managers with
better emotional intelligence and competence. No doubt organizational
leaders need to be more holistically equipped. And ownership
from the top is essential. Yet, because of the way our mind
typically works using judgement and analysis, we will continually
subvert, undermine and weaken our efforts to launch and implement
our corporate emotional intelligence initiative. For too long
we have lived with the almost singular use of analysis and critique
as a thinking methodology. This right/wrong-yes/no-fit/not fit
method severely dampens our spirit of risk and want to be and
become emotionally intelligent. A perceived natural tension
develops between logic and emotion. Analysis and critique powerfully
reinforce our need to be right. And our need to be right can
get in our way of designing new ways forward. What is needed
to positively reinforce Emotional Intelligence Training is the
tool of parallel thinking. More about flow, rather than right
or wrong, parallel thinking refrains from the attack of analysis
and focuses our emotions and energy on exploration. Parallel
thinking and the methodology, Six Thinking Hats, will reinforce,
complement and fully support your emotional intelligence efforts.
