'The methods I would suggest would make big difference for Kashmir's resolution'
Mohammad Shehzad

Islamabad, Feb 18: Dr Edwad de Bono is known as the Father of the Thinking on Thinking. In South Africa, a group of Professors had made a CD on him that acknowledges Edward as one the 250 men who have most contributed in the whole history of humanity. He is also known as the 20 visionaries in the world, Bill Gates, one of them.
Edward is ranked amongst the world's leading Management Gurus and Thought Leaders in the same league as Bill Gates, Michael Porter, Tom Peters, Philip Kotler, Peter Drucker, Stephen Covey, Gary Hamel, and C K Pralahad. He has written 69 books with translations into 42 languages. He is on the Accenture (formerly Anderson Consulting) list of the fifty most influential business thinkers in the world. His methods are taught in thousands of schools around the world and are mandatory on the curriculum in many countries.
Edward's instruction in thinking has been sought by many business organizations over the years, including: IBM, Prudential, Shell, Exxon, NTT, Nokia, Bank of America, Union Bank of Switzerland, GM etc. Unusual clients include the Australian national cricket team. The International Astronomical Union named a minor planet after him: DE73 became edebono.

The University of Pretoria and the University of Malta have both set up 'de Bono Institutes'. The University of Pretoria has also made him the first 'Professor of Thinking' in the world. The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology recently awarded him the degree of Doctor of Design. There is a 'de Bono Institute' in Melbourne and The Edward de Bono Foundation UK/Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland.
Peter Ueberroth attributed part of his great success in organizing the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games to his use of de Bono's lateral Thinking methods, which he had learned some years earlier at a YPO (Young Presidents Organization) meeting in Florida. Edward facilitated Thinking sessions for Noble Laureates in South Korea in the early nineties.

Edward is the world's leading authority on conceptual thinking as the driver of organizational innovation, strategic leadership, individual creativity, and problem solving. Since 1970 his exclusive tools and methods have brought astonishing results to organizations large and small worldwide and to individuals from a wide range of cultures, educational backgrounds, occupations, and age groups.
Edwards has been credited with producing thinking techniques that are simple, practical, and powerful. His Six Thinking Hats, Lateral Thinking T, and DATTT (Direct Attention Thinking Tools) training courses are now being implemented in organizations of all sizes because of their simplicity and their power to change thinking behavior, increase productivity, foster team-building, and evoke profitable innovation.
Born in Malta, Edward was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, is an MD and PhD, and has held appointments at Oxford and Cambridge Universities, the University of London, and Harvard University.

Edward never knew he would touch the pinnacle of fame. "I was just interested in the subject. I kept working on the subject. Gradually people said, it makes sense and it is about time to pay more attention to thinking because the judgment is not enough," he told this correspondent in a recent interview.
Edward was invited to Pakistan by Dr Atta-ur-Rahman, Chairman, Higher Education Commission. There is a strong likelihood that his work would become part of Pakistani curriculum.

Excerpts of a meeting between Kashmir Images and Edward de Bono:

Why did you evade questions regarding Kashmir's resolution during your presentations?
There are many countries in the world that use my work in schools and the children do much better, as a result, they control their lives. There are many drug addicts who have been rehabilitated through my work. In terms of my services for peace, I can't say this is what you should do in Kashmir. I am going to help if people would ask me. The methods I would suggest would make the big difference. But if people are not interested, I can't impose anything.

How did you come up with this concept of Lateral Thinking [LT]?
My background is in medicine and psychology. In medicine, I've been dealing with more complicated systems-kidneys, respiration, circulation, brain, etc. From that, I developed the ideas of self-organizing systems. I wrote a book in 1969-The Mechanism of Mind-which described how nerve networks form patterns. My book was read and hailed by the leading physicist of the world-the Nobel laureate Professor Marray Geo. We could put creativity on the basis of the behavior of the systems, not just magic or inspirations. That was the basis for designing the tools of LT.

Did you invent LT or did you discover it?
Let's put it this way. I invented the concept of LT. This does not mean, historically, there may not have been people who from time to time had the effects of LT-for not knowing how to do it deliberately. So, I invented it. I give you an example. In mathematics, when you devise a new theory, are you inventing it or discovering it? The answer is, it is inventing! But it makes sense.

From your examples of LT, it appears only genius/intelligent people are capable of making use of LT...
No. I am involved in teaching of thinking in general-LT is only one part. And we teach thinking to 4-year olds in schools; top executives of IBM and so on. And there are different aspects of thinking. I've taught thinking to down-syndrome youngsters as well as Nobel Prize winners. No, it is not for geniuses! Thinking is something that everyone can do. The relationship between thinking and intelligence is like a relationship between a motorcar and the driver. You can have someone who has much money and buys an expensive car but is a bad driver. You can have someone who doesn't have much money, buys a simpler car but is a better driver. You could be very intelligent but if your thinking is not good, the result is not very effective. You could be less intelligent but a good thinker. Obviously, the idea is, you are very intelligent and a very good thinker. It's not just intelligence.

Some problems cannot be resolved through vertical thinking. But sometimes, the LT also fails to provide an answer...
The point is, both have their place. Traditional thinking is like 'front-wheel' of a motorcar. It is excellent, but is not enough. And that is your placing the ladder. Vertical thinking-the logical thinking-is how well you climb the ladder. Perceptual thinking or LT is where you place the ladder! And being able to climb the ladder very well does not tell you the ladder is on the right place. And indeed there is a mathematical term by [Kurt] Gödel, which says from within a system, you can never logically prove the starting points. That's very key because it does not matter how logical you are, the point you start with-the concepts and perceptions are not themselves proved by the logic.

Do you think vertical thinking [VT] has become stagnant and failed to offer creativity?
The purpose of LT is specifically to generation new ideas. I would not call VT stagnant in a bad sense. VT is about continuity, sometimes, about complacency. But VT works best when all the starting points are given, as in mathematics and then you work it out. That's why I use the analogy of the front wheel of a car.

How could one develop the skills required to think laterally?
First of all, you need motivation-you need to want to do it. You need to believe there is possibility of doing it. And then, there are specific processes and techniques. The book of mine that describes these processes and techniques is Serious Creativity. For the first time in history, we could treat creativity as a 'thinking skills' not just as an 'inspiration'.

Is the trend of 'suicide attacks' a result of LT?
Not at all. Suicide is explicitly forbidden in Koran. The suicide bombers say, we have no other way of expressing ourselves than the suicide bombing. So, in that sense, it is opposite of LT.

Isn't it a creative kind of terrorism?
I don't think it is particularly creative. May be in individual cases where someone has used creativity to get into a situation, not otherwise.

Are you satisfied with the current system of education?
I am back to the example of the front wheel of a motorcar. The present system is good but it is not doing enough. We need to teach the youngsters how to think. In the US, there is a government program for unemployed youngsters-The New Deal Program. We found teaching them thinking for 5 hours in all increased the employment rate to 500%. That shows a huge impact of teaching thinking. These youngsters had 10 years of education, but 5 hours of thinking made a big difference as compared to the 10 years of education.

Do you see any relation between thinking and Islam?
In the world at the moment, there is a perception that Islam is full of fundamentalists and terrorists. But if you read Hadith and Koran, Islam is more about thinking than any other religion. And the great Prophet Mohammad says one hour of thinking is worth more than 70 years of praying. He says, the ink of a scholar is more holy than the blood of a martyr. He says, one learned man is greater than 100 worshippers. Very, very strong stuff! And there are 130 verses in Koran specifically about thinking. So, this version that Islam is contrary to thinking is not true.

What's been most exciting to you among all the things you've seen done with your work?
One truly satisfying experience I had was in Heathrow Airport [London]. I was in the traveler's lounge, returning at about five in the morning from a long trip, and they have this arrangement where you can take a shower there. There's a shower attendant who takes your name and cleans the showers and so on. And this shower attendant noticed my name and said, "de Bono - are you the gentleman who writes the books about thinking?" I said, "Yes," and he said, "Oh, I read all of them!" Now that's satisfying. This is not a person who was reading them because of his profession or because he was directed to do so - they just made sense to him. That's refreshing and very satisfying.
On the other end of the spectrum, there's the experience I had with the US Navy. I was asked to meet with 20 admirals in Newport, Rhode Island, where we used my creative thinking methods to consider the possible effects of Y2K. We decided not much would happen, and as it turned out, not much did. But the top Navy leadership recognized the value of these methods enough to seek my assistance, and I was the only civilian and the only foreigner involved in the meeting.

What is your contribution to the world in your own thinking?
My contribution is, I have proved that thinking is a skill that can be taught and is being taught worldwide. That's a huge contribution. Then, I've provided the means for people to use creativity deliberately that the many people are now doing. These are two huge contributions. There has been no contribution equal in the world of thinking for 2400 years. That's a big jump. There is no person in the history since the Greeks who has made any specific contribution in the subject of thinking