Welcome to de Bono Thinking

Victor Hugo's once said "there is nothing so great as an idea whose time has come"

It’s little surprise that you might catch me promoting the work of Edward de Bono. It's been over 25 years since I worked with him, got trained by him, and became fascinated by the power of teaching thinking, so much so that I decided to dedicate my life to figuring it all out.  I’ve strayed to other things from time to time, but continued to come back to the “may pole”: that I call de Bono Thinking.  I am still wholly convinced that my life’s mission is to change the world by teaching it how to think, one mind at a time.

That mission has seen me knock on the doors of strangers, sip cocktails at numerous networking events, stand up and beat the thinking drum, sometimes inappropriately, at dinners, conferences and in workshops.  I’ve knocked on the doors of CEO’s CHRO’s L&D Managers not to mention Leadership, Innovation, Strategy and, to be fair, anyone that would listen.   I was a nuisance for some, and loved (fortunately) by many.  Just enough people to help me pay my rent, but never enough that I could retire in luxury. 

I also learned a lot about selling concepts and ideas, services and solutions. It’s a humbling game, and it’s a long game.  In the early days very few people wanted to buy thinking as a skill, after all it’s hard to sell air when it’s taken for granted.   I tried every angle possible, to varying degrees of success.  

Once the HR Manager for a large mining company looked at me and said “young lady” (I was young then), 50% of our workforce is HIV positive, why on earth would we teach them how to think”!  True story. It was so shocking that it stopped me in my tracks, and made me rethink the value of my chosen career.  Maybe there were easier things to sell.  There were and there are. 

At the opposite end of the spectrum was the dream client. Two meetings, one phone call and a contract to train 470 leaders in 8 days of thinking skills, including an action learning project, deep implementation and a CEO innovation award that we sponsored.  I was dealing with the CEO and CHRO, who both saw immediate value.  They were right.  In a meeting just before the project kicked off I was asked to “just teach them how to think?”.  It was a retailer.  The ROI was easy.  In retail, ideas can be implemented quickly, the results are visible, tangible and measurable. This intervention made and saved the company millions.

 Thinking as a Skill

These extremes frequently get me thinking about the merits of thinking as a skill.  The years have taught me that it’s impossible to sell thinking to anyone that doesn’t perceive the value.  If you don’t think it’s a skill you’ll do nothing to get better at it.  The development strategy is based on hope rather than mental health.  Over the years I’ve adopted a different approach, one more focused on the saying when the student is ready the teacher appears.  I have realised that it takes an enlightened client to see that thinking is a skill, and when that light goes on, we need to be known, available and willing to help, and for all the right reasons. 

 

AI and what's happened to human thinking?

I was at an event a few months ago, still pondering how to convince the world that learning to think is the thing to do now.  On my way out I bumped into a fellow participant in the car park.  We got talking, and decided that a conversation about thinking would be a great idea.  We set up a meeting, where I was introduced to a former MD of Ogilvy & Mather, the big ad agency.  Curious to understand the trends around thinking, we had a 30-minute meeting that lasted 1.5 hours.  Using their software tool we scraped the internet analyzing the search criteria on all types of thinking - creative thinking, design thinking, critical thinking, systems thinking, strategic thinking, lateral thinking, et alles.  The result.  People stopped searching for thinking when ChatGPT came out.  All types of thinking were on the decline, including leadership thinking and coaching.  Mind blowing.  A recent study by MIT also suggests that the use of AI has resulted in a decline in the use of the cerebral cortex. While early days, we know that something is happening.  

No surprise here, all this got me thinking even more.  So here’s the thing: the World Economic Forum cites Creative and Critical Thinking as two of the top skills for leaders, for today and for tomorrow.  They have even cast their net as far forward as 2030. If these types of thinking are considered a skill, what are companies doing to develop and build that muscle.  Surely it's time that we took the skill of thinking as seriously as my retail client, not my mining client?

What to do?

Towards the end of the meeting I asked them directly: would you market de Bono as a brand, or just the skill of creative thinking?  And their answer was a solid YES.  And here’s why.

de Bono’s work is proven.  It can be trusted.  It has tenure, it’s been around for years and has been used by governments, organisations, institutions, universities, corporations and leaders.  The tools have been shown to work - from the Olympic Games to Mineworkers.  There are many case studies to prove its efficacy, beyond my one retail client mentioned above. 

de Bono’s work has depth.  The obvious programs like Six Thinking Hats and Lateral Thinking Hats are both a merit and a curse.  While popular concepts, few people in South Africa are actually formally trained, or certified, to teach the methods.  Further, de Bono wrote over 60 books, translated into over 40 languages.  I personally got off planes with him where we were greeted by Presidents, dignitaries and Ministers.  Every Minister of Education in every Asian Country we visited wanted a personal meeting with him.  No surprise that today China and Singapore still lead the game when it comes to training.  We have keys to the city and can build programs and thinking solutions based on ANY of his work.  

de Bono is a brand.  Great brands take time to develop, evolve and grow.  Even companies that we think are new have often been around for years, tinkering in garages, and playing with code.  Even AI took years to develop.  

Enter de Bono Thinking

To honour Edward, to share more broadly his work, and to create access to some of the worlds best thinking tools right now, at a time when it is most needed, we have decided to relaunch de Bono’s brand in South Africa and we welcome you to de Bono Thinking.  

Written by: Nicola Tyler

Date: 16 July 2025