Edward de Bono: A Short Biography

Mastery over the brain has been the goal of scientists for centuries now. Until this day, the workings of the brain continue to elude scientists.

Many popular thinkers from different fields have provided possible insights, hypotheses, and theories about how the brain works at every level.

One of them is the man who brought “lateral thinking” to light, Edward de Bono.

De Bono developed many ideas about thinking and how the brain can be leveraged to come up with new ideas by stimulating it in different ways.

De Bono’s life, education, career, and authorship can be summed up in one word: Thinking.

This article will discuss his most important contributions, along with his rise to fame in the careers he found himself in.

Early Life & Education:

Edward Charles Francis Publius de Bono was born in Malta on May 13, 1993. Edward received his education at St. Edward’s College in Malta, and he completed his studies in medicine by earning a degree from the University of Malta.

De Bono continued his graduate studies by earning a Ph.D. in his field from Trinity College, Cambridge. This was followed by an honorary DDes from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and an honorary LLD from the University of Dundee.

De Bono taught his methods and style of learning to many organisations, private groups, clients, etc.

This was all in addition to the lectures he gave while working as a professor at the University of Malta.

Needless to say, De Bono was an expert physician, and his ability to diagnose and treat patients was second to none. Furthermore, his education gave him a sound understanding of how the human brain works and how people can overcome mental obstacles if they take the right steps.

Career & Authorship:

Edward dedicated himself to medical school. He made it his life’s mission to provide the best medical services possible. In his pursuit of elevating the medical industry, De Bono helped establish Cambridge University’s very own medical school.

De Bono was a lifetime student. He continued learning and perfecting his craft while pursuing his writing aspirations with full force.

He authored a total of 85 books over the course of his life, all of which were translated into 46 languages.

De Bono’s career as an author took shape when he published his famous book The Use of Lateral Thinking (1967).

Within the pages of that book lay a newfound methodology, challenging everything that came before it in the field of cognition.

This book was followed by other best-sellers such as Six Thinking Hats (1985), I Am Right, You Are Wrong (1990), and Teach Yourself How to Think (1995).

Each book was special because it focused on a different aspect of the cognitive spectrum, and they proved hugely influential and controversial at the same time.

Influence & Ideas:

It’s hard to cover everything that De Bono wrote about, but there are key discoveries and important methodologies he invented that define his career.

- Lateral Thinking:

Edward de Bono is best known for popularising the style of thinking called “lateral thinking.” In the book bearing the same name, De Bono discusses a novel way of solving problems.

He says any problem can be approached laterally. That is to say, you can begin solving a problem by reasoning about it in a way that defies sequential reasoning.

In other words, you look for what is not obvious, something that you come up with spontaneously by thinking deeply about the problem.

De Bono found after a lot of trial and error that lateral thinking is somehow linked to humour.

He claimed that humour is unexpected. You laugh spontaneously, and this laughter, along with its trigger, is the key to unlocking the potential of lateral thinking.

By acting on what made you experience this laughter, you might be able to discover some unseen pattern that was not obvious the first time around.

While contentions still abound today about the accuracy of this idea, De Bono nevertheless provided scientists with a new lens through which to study the human brain.

- The Six Thinking Hats Toolbox:

Another very famous idea that De Bono found himself returning to often is his division of thinking into six styles.

De Bono claimed that each style of thinking is a tool in its own right, and it’s up to the person to train themselves how to best use each one.

These “hats” are:

• The White Hat: stands for logic.
• The Red Hat: stands for emotion and intuition.
• The Black Hat: stands for caution.
• The Yellow Hat: stands for optimism.
• The Green Hat: stands for creativity.
• The Blue Hat: stands for control.

Most of De Bono’s hats are used in team environments where assigning team members a specific role can be the difference between maintaining great performance and failing to complete a project entirely.

The phrase “a person who wears many hats” also originates from De Bono’s studies about the different thinking styles.

On an individual level, the hats serve as references for a person looking to solve a problem on their own.

By attacking a problem from different angles and taking note of the outcome, a person can decide on an optimal solution by applying the right thinking style for this specific problem.

While solving problems individually with the six-hats technique is possible, it’s usually very time-consuming and less motivating than doing so in a group.

De Bono’s two core teachings discussed here have been used a lot and were also scrutinised for not following proper scientific reasoning.

Nevertheless, De Bono had people coming back when he wrote about these ideas and more in his books, and there is no doubt many benefited from applying such techniques in their daily lives.

Criticism:

De Bono was subject to criticism like many other authors. The main issues arising are his repetitive writing style, where the same ideas are discussed again and again but with a different narrative.

Also, he never cited sources in his books, which perhaps was pure arrogance on his part because he saw himself as an expert in the field with many degrees to prove it.

Some associates who worked with de Bono claimed all his material was heavily plagiarised. This allegation, however, remains unproven to this day.

Death & Legacy:

Edward de Bono died on June 9, 2021. He was 88 of age. De Bono’s legacy is a memorable one.

Not only did he write about creative thinking patterns, but he was also a creative thinker himself. He once suggested ending the Arab-Israeli conflict through the use of marmite, an idea that seemed absurd yet strangely logical at the time.

He left his mark as an author and a physician, making sure people reached their full potential as thinkers while also taking care of their health.

While some of his ideas were criticised for lacking a solid grounding in scientific reasoning, they were nevertheless used to make progress in the fields of neuroscience and biology.

In Conclusion:

Edward de Bono, author, inventor, physician, and professor, wore many hats throughout his life and played all roles to perfection.

He was a master of the human psyche, striving to understand how the brain worked and writing down any new discoveries in his journals.

His love of knowledge made him a beacon of learning for many, as he did his best to transform both the education industry and the people in it.

As an author, de Bono challenged common wisdom and discovered the potential behind human creativity and its boundless applications.

He was a man of great words but also someone who never gave credit to the people who had an influence on him, which painted him in a negative light among critics and supporters alike.

Whatever you think of him, his works are worth reading just to see how some of the ideas he explained have been either proven or debunked by modern science.