ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOR

BOOK REVIEW

Review by: Mandar Navare

Roll No: M-10-34

 Think! Before It’s Too Late.
Why this book

Think! Before It’s Too Late. The title alone was enough to give this particular individual the
desire to read. Creative thinking is very important in every organisation. This book will be
very helpful for anyone who wants to excel in career. I really enjoyed reading this book.
Although de Bono’s name sounded familiar, I knew nothing of the author on starting the
book. What is there to say that can possibly be new? For most people de Bono’s name is
synonymous with the term ‘lateral thinking’, coined by him when he started, but over time
his canvas has widened to cover pretty much the whole field of deliberate thinking; thinking
as technique, thinking as a skill

This book is fabulous that challenges the readers to think. In this book he brings out creative
thinking as an alternative to critical thinking. He promotes design thinking which is future
oriented. The author clearly states that the purpose of thinking is to enable us to deliver and
enjoy our values. Thinking without values is pointless-for thinking then has no purpose. This
thinking is concerned with perception and not logic. For logic do not have capacity to change
emotions and behavior of a person.

About the author Edward de Bono

Edward de Bono was born in Malta in 1933. He has written numerous books with translations
into 34 languages. Dr Edward de Bono is one of the very few people in history who can be
said to have had a major impact on the way we think. In many ways he could be said to be the
best known thinker internationally. He has been invited to lecture in 52 countries around the
world. Dr de Bono has made two TV series: de Bono's Course in Thinking (BBC) and The
Greatest Thinkers (WDR, Germany). He has held appointments at the universities of Oxford,
London, Cambridge and Harvard.  Dr de Bono has worked with many of the major
corporations in the world such as IBM, Du Pont, Prudential, AT&T, British Airways, British
Coal, NTT(Japan), Ericsson(Sweden), Total(France), etc. In 1969 de Bono founded
the Cognitive Research Trust (CoRT) which continues to produce and promote material
based on his ideas.
 Bird’s eye view on Content

Edward de Bono may possibly be the most awe-inspiring person of modern times. A long list
of claims made include personally coming up with the idea of drilling horizontally for oil (as
opposed to previous standard procedure in which drilling was solely vertical) which resulted
in a greater than three-fold increase in specific oil production, as well as literally halving
product development time at Siemens (Europe’s largest engineering conglomerate) upon
introduction of his thinking.

The book takes you through a myriad of these tools, used by everyone from blue-chip
corporations to national governments. De Bono claims some spectacular results. In
Venezuela his thinking lessons are compulsory and he cites that they improve performance in
other subjects by an average of 30-100%.Reduction of violence and increased employment
amongst disadvantaged social groups. Corporate devotees have saved themselves millions of
dollars and countless wasted days of meetings and arguments.

The above success stories simply could not be made up. Elsewhere, the ability to quantify
detailed anecdotes leaves me raising my eyebrows, specifically one regarding a student - now
worth $3 billion - who attributes “80% of his success” to de Bono’s first book.

In first few chapters author majorly talk about creativity and thinking ability. According to
author human brain is not designed to be creative. It is design to set up routine patterns and to
use and follow these patterns. We may need to use routine pattern 98 percent of the time and
only to be creative 2 per cent of the time. Since creativity cannot be explained or achieved
logically it must be some mysterious talent that only some people have and others can only
envy. These are some reasons we have paid very little attention to creativity.

So if we do nothing about creativity then obviously creative ability is depends only on natural
talent. But if we provide training, structures and symmetric techniques, then we raise the
general level of creative ability. Some people will be much better than others but everyone
will acquire some creative skill.

It is important to note that perception is and will always be the starting point in any system,
and any lack or error in perception will not be cured or corrected by other modes of thinking,
whether logical or illogical. It was, therefore, very important that we develop a strategy and
attention-directing tools to broaden our perception. Dr. de Bono saves us this effort and
brilliantly developed this strategy in chapter 10 that entitled “Perception”, which I considered
it to be the most important of all other chapters. This perception-improving strategy has three
components: (1) Attitude; (2) Perceptual Tools (e.g., PMI, CAF, C&S, AGO, FIP, APC,
OPV); (3) Perceptual Maps

One of the insights I found most interesting is the difference between “idea creativity” and
“artistic creativity”. De Bono draws a helpful line between creative art - as taught in schools
in subjects like music, dance and painting - and the much broader concept of creativity in the
whole field of ideas. The phrase “the creative industries” to describe theatre, TV, film and so
on perhaps carries with it the implication that all other activities are not creative or do not
require creativity. But, from his experience, de Bono credits the world of business with
showing greater interest in the creativity of new ideas than any other sector of society.

In the fourth chapter author talks about parallel thinking and the six thinking hats. In our lives
we need a symbol to indicate direction of thinking at any one moment to ensure we are
thinking in the same direction. The purpose of six hats is to separate the modes of thinking
and to ensure that everyone is thinking in parallel in the same mode at any one moment.
Author use the symbol of thinking hat.

In fifth chapter author talks about language and he feels language is immensely important i
valuable thinking. Language is extremely valuable device and we could never have
progressed far without it. But language is no means as perfect as we may believe. A lot
further development is needed and this will not happen by chance. Author suggests a code
system to overcome the barriers in international communication.

In sixth chapter author talks about democracy, its advantages and limitations. There are
concepts and ways of doing things that we are prevented from seeking alternatives.
Democracy as a form of government is one such example. Author feels democracy is not
perfect but better than all other systems. Author suggests six hats framework to be used in
parliament. Creativity is not only involved in changing ideas that are in use, such as
democracy. Creativity can be involved in designing completely new things.

In seventh chapter author talks about universities, theme of this book applies to universities
also “excellent but not enough”. The original purpose of university was to bring the
knowledge and information of the past and make it available to the students of today. Ina
digital age it is possible to get all the information you want without going to universities.
Author feels universities will teach information skills, thinking skills, people skills and
professional skills in the coming future.

In eighth chapter author talks about schools and need of change in our education system.
Author feels thinking should be the key subject in education. Nothing is more important than
thinking – for personal life, for professional life and for contribution to society. There is great
deal that needs to b done to improve education, but it is rather unlikely to happen.

In ninth chapter author talks about poor performance of media, in general the press has a duty
to expose scandals, corruption and bad behaviour but the belief that readers are only
interested in negative stuff is misplaced. There is real need for much more positive stuff in
the world. The media once played a central role in culture. That is hardly the case today.

The tenth chapter is dedicated to perception and it is one of the most important chapters in
this book. Perception is a key part of thinking. All are constantly emphasizing logic, but logic
without perception is misleading and can be very dangerous. It is important to note that
perception is and will always be the starting point in any system, and any lack or error in
perception will not be cured or corrected by other modes of thinking, whether logical or
illogical. It was, therefore, very important that we develop a strategy and attention-directing
tools to broaden our perception. Dr. de Bono saves us this effort and brilliantly developed this
strategy. According to author there are three things which we can do.

(1)Attitude

(2) Perceptual Tools (e.g., PMI, CAF, C&S, AGO, FIP, APC, OPV)

(3) Perceptual Maps (e.g. Flows capes)

We need to realize that the perception is the critical source of “input” in the whole thinking
process, and any deficiency in this input will negatively impact the output, regardless of the
process - analytical or logical. We need to acknowledge the huge importance of perception,
as well as its interpersonal differences. We need to realize that logic does not easily change
emotions but perception “easily and logically” does.

In 11 chapter author talks about critical thinking and criticism, in real world critical thinking
is simply not enough. No amount of critical thinking can produce new ideas in first place. We
need perceptual thinking. We need design thinking. We need creative thinking. no amount of
excellence at critical thinking will supply this need.

In 12 chapter author discussed about art and thinking, it could be claimed that life is to be
experienced and not thought about. It could be claimed that purpose of art is to make more
acute that experience of life. At the same time, adding thinking to experience is like adding
colour to black and white photograph.

Chapter 13 entitled “Leadership and Thinking” does not have much to say about leadership in
relation to thinking. Business leaders have continued to be more interested in thinking, in
general, than any other sector of society. business really needs to use creative thinking to
succeed. Better and more creative thinking will result in more profit or market share.

Chapter 14 is about conflicts and disagreement, this is an area whre the difference between
traditional thinking and newer thinking becomes clear. Our normal approach to conflicts is
judgement, condemnation and attacking action. Th newer approach is to seek to design a way
forward taking into account the needs, fears, and future forecasting of both parties. A conflict
is not so much a problem as situation that can develop one way or another. Design and better
thinking can help the situation design in a positive way.

Chapter 15 contains many reasons for why the world thinking is so poor. They could all be
summarised in the word complacency. All are so smug n satisfied with our existing thinking
that we cannot see how poorly it serves us in the area of human affairs, creativity and design.
Unfortunately, our traditional thinking system demands that you show something to be bad
before you can ask for change. That is not always possible.

In chapters 16-18, author identified the shared responsibility upon himself, the individual,
and the society to ingrain a new and better thinking system that can make the world a better
place to live. I could feel how and understand why author is desperate not having the proper
response from those who are able but unwilling to do. The idea of establishing a “Palace of
Thinking” is great. I here recommend that author contact President Obama to help, for he
seems to be a creative leader who is able and capable.

Chapter 19 is a nice and concise chapter about how to link thinking to purposeful values and
truth. The idea of value scans according to Dr. de Bono Six Value Medals is a great one and
this framework, in my opinion, should follow the six hats in problem solving, strategy design,
etc.

Chapter 20 entitled “The Right to Think” is a good closing chapter. You might have the right
to play tennis but unless someone teaches you how to do it, that right is meaningless. It is no
more difficult to teach thinking in a neutral manner than it is so mathematics. In today’s
world there is immense need of evaluation of “thinking” as a subject.
 Learning I gained from the book

 perception and its instrumental role and exceptional importance in our

thinking
 logic can never be better than the perception on which it is based
 need to train our mind to open up and accepts new possibilities
 need to resist the temptation of jumping into a conclusion or addicting the
status quo
 thinking in general is a life skill
 logic is not enough, and it can even be dangerous if it is based -consciously
or unconsciously- on deficient perception
 Creative thinking is very important in today’s world
 that new ideas for the future don’t just evolve; they can be deliberately and
consciously -until unconsciously and skillfully- created
 need to understand that alternatives, possibilities and choices (APC) can
never be harmful if they are not beneficial
 Creativity is no longer a mysterious gift or special talent. It can be learned
and implemented by proper methods
 Bottom-line

Even though this book contains 20 chapters, I personally consider it to be dealing with three
major topics: first, the current thinking system (The GG3 System) and how the world came
out to complacently use it despite that fact that it may be excellent, but certainly not enough
or adequate; second, the reasons why the world thinking is so poor with suggestions and ideas
on how to empower it using components of “de Bono system”; third, the responsibility upon
himself, individuals and the society on how to collectively learn, teach, and function
according to a better thinking system, the de Bono’ system. I agree fully with author, that we
need to shift our paradigm regarding the current thinking system that sweeps the majority of
the world with complacency and attitude. I think that teaching the above attitudinal concepts
or tips is far better than teaching 97% of the mathematics that we learn in schools and most of
us never use in life after school exams. We need to imprint a new attitude of thinking if we
want to preserve this world from the ever-increasing conflicts and disagreements. Dr. de
Bono’s tools and frameworks should be taught in schools and universities explicitly and
remotely from any other subject.

I really like the way author has explained the importance of creative thinking and perception
in today’s world. Reading this book was really nice experience. So I highly recommend this
book for everyone to know the importance of thinking.