edward de bono's autobiography

8/6/2019 Edward de Bono's Autobiography

1/4

Edward de Bono

Edward de Bono was born in Malta in 1933. He attended St Edward's College, Malta, during World War IIand then the University of Malta where he qualified in medicine. He proceeded, as a Rhodes Scholar, toChrist Church, Oxford, where he gained an honours degree in psychology and physiology and then a D.Philin medicine. He also holds a Ph.D from Cambridge and an MD from the University of Malta. He has heldappointments at the universities of Oxford, London, Cambridge and Harvard.

Dr Edward de Bono is one of the very few people in history who can be said to have had a major impact onthe way we think. In many ways he could be said to be the best known thinker internationally.

He has written numerous books with translations into 34 languages (all the major languages plus Hebrew,Arabic, Bahasa, Urdu, Slovene, Turkish etc).

He has been invited to lecture in 52 countries around the world.

In the University of Buenos Aires five faculties use his books as required reading. In Venezuela, by law, allschool children must spend an hour a week on his programmes. In Singapore 102 secondary schools use hiswork. In Malaysia the senior science schools have been using his work for ten years. In the U.S.A., Canada,Australia, New Zealand, the Republic of Ireland and the UK there are thousands of schools using Dr deBono's programmes for the teaching of thinking. At the International Thinking Meeting in Boston (1992)He was given an award as a key pioneer in the direct teaching of thinking in schools.

In 1988 he was awarded the first Capire prize in Madrid for a significant contribution to humankind.

What is unique about Dr de Bono is the response to his work across an unusually wide spectrum.

At the special request of the delegates Dr de Bono was asked to address the Commonwealth LawConference in Vancouver in August 1996 (2,300 senior lawyers, judges etc from 52 Commonwealthcountries and other invited countries such as China). This followed an address which was regarded as thehighlight of a previous Conference held in Auckland.

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. Thelargest corporation in Europe, Siemens (370,000 employees) is teaching his work across the wholecorporation, following Dr de Bono's talk to the senior management team. When Microsoft held their firstever marketing meeting, they invited Edward de Bono to give the keynote address in Seattle to the fivehundred top managers.

Edward de Bono's special contribution has been to take the mystical subject of creativity and, for the first

time in history, to put the subject on a solid basis. He has shown that creativity was a necessary behaviourin a self-organising information system. His key book, 'The Mechanism of Mind' was published in 1969. Init he showed how the nerve networks in the brain formed asymmetric patterns as the basis of perception.The leading physicist in the world, Professor Murray Gell Mann, said of this book that it was ten yearsahead of mathematicians dealing with chaos theory, non-linear and self-organising systems.

From this basis, Edward de Bono developed the concept and tools of lateral thinking. What is so special isthat instead of his work remaining hidden in academic texts he has made it practical and available toeveryone, from five years olds to adults. The late Lord Mountbatten once invited Dr de Bono to talk to all


2/4

his admirals. Dr de Bono was asked to open the first ever Pentagon meeting on Creativity. At the UNSocial Summit in Copenhagen he was asked to address the banking and finance group.

The term 'lateral thinking' was introduced by Edward de Bono and is now so much part of the languagethat it is used equally in a physics lecture and in a television comedy.

Traditional thinking is to do with analysis, judgment and argument. In a stable world this was sufficientbecause it was enough to identify standard situations and to apply standard solutions. This is no longer so ina changing world where the standard solutions may not work.

There is a huge need world-wide for thinking that is creative and constructive and can design the wayforward. Many of the major problems in the world cannot be solved by identifying and removing the cause.There is a need to design a way forward even if the cause remains in place.

Edward de Bono has provided the methods and tools for this new thinking. He is the undisputed worldleader in what may be the most important field of all in the future: constructive and creative thinking.

In 1996 The European Creativity Association surveyed their members across Europe to ask who had mostinfluenced them. Dr de Bono's name came so far ahead that they requested the official naming committeeof the International Astronomical Union (in Massachusetts) to name a planet after him. So DE73 becameEdeBono.

In 1995 the Malta Government awarded Edward de Bono the 'Order of Merit'. This is the highest awardavailable and is limited to only twenty living persons.

For many thousands, indeed millions, of people world-wide, Edward de Bono's name has become a symbolof creativity and new thinking.

In December 1996, The Edward de Bono Foundation in Dublin will be hosting a European Unionsponsored conference on "the teaching of thinking in schools".

In 1972 Edward de Bono established the Cognitive Research Trust as a charitable organisation devoted tothe teaching of thinking in schools (see CoRT Thinking Lessons).

Edward de Bono founded the International Creative Forum which has had as members many of the leadingcorporations in the world: IBM, Du Pont, Prudential, Nestle, British Airways, Alcoa, CSR etc.

The International Creativity Office in New York to work with The UN and member countries to producenew ideas on international issues - has been set up by Dr de Bono.

Dr de Bono has made two TV series: de Bono's Course in Thinking (BBC) and The Greatest Thinkers(WDR, Germany)

Peter Ueberroth, whose organisation of the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles rescued the Games fromoblivion, attributed his success to his use of de Bono's lateral thinking. So did John Bertrand, skipper of thesuccessful 1983 challenger for the America's Cup yacht race. Ron Barbaro, President of PrudentialInsurance (USA) also attributed his invention ofliving needs benefits to de Bono's methods.

Perhaps what is so unique about Edward de Bono is that his work spans from teaching 7 years olds inprimary schools to working with senior executives in the world's largest corporations. His work also spansmany cultures: Europe, North and South America, Russia, The Middle East, Africa, SE Asia, Japan, Korea,Australia, New Zealand etc.


3/4

In September 1996 there was launched in Melbourne a 'de Bono Institute' as a world centre for newthinking. The Andrews Foundation has donated $8.5 million to make this possible.

In 1997 Dr de Bono has been invited to be one of the major speakers at the first ecology conference to beheld in Beijing, China. His role is to provide the 'new thinking' element.

Some of Edward de Bono's recent activities:

Edward de Bono is the consummate peripatetic educator! Nearly every week he is in a different part of theworld talking to government leaders, educators and heads of industry and business. Some of his keyengagements listed below demonstrate the broad appeal of Dr de Bono's message: thinking can andshould be taught if we are to meet the needs of today's fast-paced and changing world.

Invited to Moscow by the Academy of Sciences to train teachers in School Project One - tenMoscow schools used as laboratories for innovative teaching techniques. Also, working with atranslator, Dr de Bono taught CoRT Thinking lessons to children ranging in age from 7 years oldto 17 years old at School 57, the top school in Moscow.

Met with the Minister of Education in Kuwait at a special meeting of 500 educators. The

Education Research Institute there is interested in initiating a pilot programme using the CoRTThinking Programme.

Spoke at PACRIM, an economics meeting of senior business and government personnel from thePacific rim nations.

Travelled to Minneapolis to talk to the Education Commission of the States about the directteaching of thinking in schools, and conducted several workshops for Minnesota teachers.

Spoke to the Research Board, a group of Information Managers from top Fortune 500companies, at their meeting in Newport Beach, California.

Visited the Annadale Campus of the Northern Virginia Community Collegewhere LizGrizzard, Dean of Student Development, has organised an introductory thinking skills course.

Invited to address INSEAD on its 25th anniversary - one of Europe's leading business schools.

Arranged a meeting with the corporate leaders from the United States of America, Japan,

New Zealand and the United Kingdom to pursue the formation of a task force on thinking.

Senior representatives from Xerox, Digital, McDonnell Douglas and Hewlett Packard joined Dr deBono to explore new strategies that will allow us to consciously plan our future.

Delivered a keynote address to the Eighth World Conference on Gifted and Talented

Children in Sydney, Australia.

Delivered the keynote address to an OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and

Development) entitled The Curriculum Redefined: Learning to Think - Thinking to Learn,

New Strategies for Effective Communication. Attendees explored the theoretical background ofthe teaching of thinking, as well as techniques with which thinking skills are now being taught,and the ways those techniques relate to current cognitive development research.

Accolades

In January 1995 Dr de Bono was awarded the National Order of Merit, the highest honour, bythe President of Malta. This honour can only be held by 20 living persons at any time. Dr de Bonowas born and received his early education in Malta.

July 1994 he was awarded the Pioneer Prize in the field of Thinking at the InternationalConference on Thinking at M.I.T. in Boston.

1992 the first recipient of the Capire prize in Europe for outstanding achievement.

The book by Edward de Bono - I am right, You are Wrong has forwards by three Nobellaureates.


4/4

A recent survey by the European Creativity Association of its members showed that 40%considered Dr de Bono as the greatest influence in the field of creativity. This was far ahead ofany other nominee.

When the US Defense University held their first ever symposium on creativity they asked Dr deBono to open it by telephone from Helsinki, in Finland, where he was at the time.

In 1990 Dr de Bono was invited to chair a meeting of Nobel laureates from around the world. The

meeting took place in Korea.

What the World is Saying about Dr de Bono's Works....

In Du Pont, we have many good examples of how out technical people have applied Dr de Bono's lateral

thinking techniques to successfully solve difficult problems David Tanner Ph.D, Technical Director, DuPont

The complexity and pace of contemporary life being what they are, de Bono's course should be an essential

curriculum for the human race Alex Kroll, Chairman & President, Yong & Rubican

It's difficult for anyone to put a precise value on Edward de Bono's work and expertise. His views on

thinking and creating are persuasive and cumulative Jeremy Bullmore, Chairman, J. Walter ThompsonCompany

Dr de Bono's course builds up your thinking skills quickly and enjoyably and you then find yourself using

the skills instinctively in approaching all situations......

Leaders in every field - from skilled labour to nuclear physics, from manufacturing to selling - have this in

common : the ability to think clearly. I've seen in my own organisation how de Bono's concepts have

triggered ideas, enthusiasm and positivism - at every level of personnel. Paul MacCready,Founder/President Aero Vironment Inc., known as the 'Father of Human Powered Flight'.

de Bono's work may be the best thing going in the world today. George Gallup, originator of the GallupPoll.

I definitely know of Dr de Bono and am an admirer of his work. We live in an information economy, where

we have to live by what comes out of our minds. John Sculley, Chairman, President and CEO, AppleComputer Inc.

It is a function of clarity of de Bono's approach that his thinking course works well with school children or

executives. John Naisbitt, Author of MEGATRENDS 2000

We all hang on to assumptions of the past to make conclusions about the future......de Bono teaches us tochallenge such assumptions and develop new creative solutions to problems. Philip L Smith, President,General Foods Corporation

Lateral Thinking.....really transformed my approach to business problems. A. Weinberg, ManagementConsultant, NY

Creative Thinking is a new field and Dr de Bono is generally regarded as the leading

world authority in this area.

edward de bono's autobiography

Documents