Edward de Bono's Page

I once suggested a change to the rules of soccer. When there is a draw then extra time is played. If there is still a draw there there is a penalty shoot-out. This introduces an element of luck. In addition if one side has a player good at penalty shooting then that side would win.

My suggestion would reflect the whole game. Every time the goalkeeper touched the ball that side gets a minus point. This would encourage attacks on goal and discourage passing back to the goal-keeper. After extra ti… Continue

Thinking tools/frameworks improve thinking skill much more than discussion does. One reason is that in discussion it's very difficult to pay attention to the thinking process rather than the content (because the content is interesting).

Understanding vs Use (of the thinking tools)

Understanding will never lead to use. Use can only come from habit and habit can only come from practice.

In the end thinking is the only means we have for delivering human values. Yet no bookshop has a section devoted to thinking. No university has a faculty of thinking. Only a few schools have a subject called 'thinking'. That is because we have been so satisfied with limited traditional thinking.

Recently, I invented a new word because there is a very real need for such a word. The word is 'ebne' which means 'Excellent But Not Enough'. If you want to change something you need to attack it. This is our usual dialectic thinking. We do not have an easy way of saying that something is excellent but not enough. The rear left wheel of a motor-car is excellent - but not enough for the functioning of a car. A chef who can cook the best omelette is excellent but not enough. Argument does have spe… Continue

The media, and especially the press, are usually full of negative news: murders, attacks, economic failures etc. It may be that experience has indeed shown that negative matters are of more interest to readers. Even if this is so, I believe that at least one page of positive news would be welcomed by readers. Readers would turn to this page - even if they found the negative stuff more interesting.

Editors might agree with me. Then they would ask where positive stuff is to come from. Negative st… Continue