.. maintenance and problem solving ..
February 3, 2011 by admin
Classic Edward de Bono Message (first published May 21, 2001)
“You can analyse the past but you have to design the future”. The quote is from my book ‘New Thinking for the New Millenium’. ‘Design’ is such a very important word because it is the opposite of analysis. Technically, the opposite is ’synthesis’ but in practice synthesis is not the same as ‘design’. Design has a much stronger sense of purpose and value.
Most organisations run on the basis of maintenance and problem solving. This is understandable because continuity is so important and it is never possible to change a lot at a time in an established organisation. There is also the risk factor. Anything new is always a risk and if it goes wrong, or does not prove as beneficial as promised, then somebody is to blame.
The result is that most organisations rely on slow evolution, fashion and ‘me-too’ to make changes. This means operating way below potential.
Thanks for this message.
It is one of the most pertinent comment I have read in the last couple of years.
Having read almost all books of Mr. De Bono and participated in the training at the Holst Group, I am practicing my self and facilitating the 6 Hats and Lateral Thinking in business meetings.
The 6 Thinking Hats also serve daily communication and handling differences in rejecting the black hat attitude we instinctively maintain every time somebody proposes something we don’t like.
Coming back to today’s comment on design, I would link it even much further with company strategy, which is also too much on what we know as opposed to exploring new ideas in the perspective of existing constraints and unmet needs.
In this context, I would advise to link Design with Blue Ocean Strategy, a concept and tools elaborated at INSEAD a few years ago; very few business people have considered its full potential (same negligence as when Mr. De Bono first produced his 6 Thinking Hats).
Looking forward to your future message and reading your latest book ‘New Thinking for the New Millenium’.
Roger Remy
international Training & Consulting
Rue du Temple 11
1096 Cully – Switzerland
Office Tel. +41 21 729 39 35
Mobile +41 79 448 69 34
Thanks for this message.
It is one of the most pertinent comment I have read in the last couple of years.
Having read almost all books of Mr. De Bono and participated in the training at the Holst Group, I am practicing my self and facilitating the 6 Hats and Lateral Thinking in business meetings.
The 6 Thinking Hats also serve daily communication and handling differences in rejecting the black hat attitude we instinctively maintain every time somebody proposes something we don’t like.
Coming back to today’s comment on design, I would link it even much further with company strategy, which is also too much on what we know as opposed to exploring new ideas in the perspective of existing constraints and unmet needs.
In this context, I would advise to link Design with Blue Ocean Strategy, a concept and tools elaborated at INSEAD a few years ago; very few business people have considered its full potential (same negligence as when Mr. De Bono first produced his 6 Thinking Hats).
Looking forward to your future message and reading your latest book ‘New Thinking for the New Millenium’.
Roger Remy
international Training & Consulting
Rue du Temple 11
1096 Cully – Switzerland
This is a core &, by inference, valuable message.
Individually, I view all such thinking with respect to the greater challenges with which the world is faced. It is cultural evolution, better thinking to invite CPS and best use of all thinking tools, that will bring about the major change and parallel thinking. Organisations, big & small, should all have say in the future size & scope of government. Should government aim to protect individual rights and free markets and focus upon promoting equality and solving society’s problems? Such top down thinking, against my previous beliefs, is required to provide the leadership, guidance and direction that the majority of people wish for. Faith and religion can otherwise become a substitute for problem solving, to deliver comfortable thinking instead of the designer thinking of my dreams and wishes.
For sustainable, maintainable solutions we must, all of us, review our philosophy and values. And my philosophy includes great contributions from Mr De Bono. Philosophy is what you know, therefore requiring maturity often gained by simply living a long time and experiencing or observing and learning from both success and failure.
The truly great thing that we, human kind, have at our disposal is our ability to imagine. Imagining the future and then going about designing what happens NOW to create that future is an ability which only we humans, as beings on this planet possess. And, only together, can we each contribute, knowing and controlling what we feel and then what we do.
As a designer I have the designed the future I wish for my children, their children and so on. A good or great designer needs a platform and a working example to demonstrate their design, to then identify the challenges and an equal team to help him or her deliver the solutions. Following that line of reasoning, the designer must also be or be in partnership with a leader who can and will communicate the design and gather those who can then perform, replicate and convert the challenges into best possible solutions. By having the best people, evolving the best team, the required procurement, including risk management, is assured. And it all begins with a shared philosophy, a design in mind based on the past and the future and using the opportunities of present to trigger the change wished for by the ethical majority.
Back in 2001 (when this message was first published) Mr De Bono knew many of the ways forward, how to tackle challenges and how to design outcomes. Unfortunately, visionaries are only listened to by 3 to 5 % of the population who even get as far as opening their minds to looking and listening and learning. Let’s not allow the pessimists and realists of this world to impact upon our vision of the future.
Thank you Mr De Bono.