Edward de Bono

is regarded as the world’s leading international authority on both creative thinking and the direct teaching of thinking. He is the originator of the concept of lateral thinking, which is attributed to him in the Oxford English Dictionary.

Edward de Bono holds a MD from Malta; a D. Phil from Oxford, a Ph.D. from Cambridge; a D.Des (doctor of design) from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology; and an LLD from Dundee. He also holds professorships at the universities of Malta, Pretoria, Dublin City University and the University of Central England.

In addition to his degrees and honours, Dr. de Bono was recently honoured with the award for best Management Consultant globally in 2005, Honoris Causa in Design from the Melbourne Royal Institute of Technology, Honoris Causa in Law from the University of Dundee, Professorship of Advancing Technology, by the Da Vinci University of Advancing Technology in Arizona. Furthermore, the Austrian Business Journal ‘Business People’ named Dr. de Bono as one of the 20 living visionaries of our time, and a list drawn up in South Africa (University of Pretoria) of the 200 people who have most effected the course of history includes Dr. de Bono. He has been recently honoured by the European Association for Creativity and Innovation. A star (planet) was named after him. The name was issued by the Minor Planet Center, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.

In April 2005 the American Creativity Association gave Dr. Edward de Bono a ‘lifetime achievement award’ and also inducted him into the ‘Hall of Fame’. In July 2005 the University of Dundee conferred the degree of Doctor of Law (LLD) on Edward de Bono for his contribution in the field of human thought. Also during 2005, he was selected by the Association of Management Consulting Firms (Europe, America and Asia) to be the person judged to have globally contributed most in the field of business thinking.

Born in Malta, Edward de Bono was a Rhodes scholar at Oxford and has held faculty appointments at Oxford, Cambridge, London and Harvard. He is an M.D. with a Ph.D. in psychology and physiology. His medical background in biological information systems inspired him and enabled him not only to teach thinking but also to design thinking methods. Although Edward’s methods are based on a fundamental understanding of how the brain handles information, the methods are designed to be very simple and practical. “Powerful simplicity” is the key characteristic of de Bono methods. He has written over 68 books, and his work has been translated into over 40 languages. He has made two television series that have been shown around the world.

Dr. de Bono's background lies in medicine where he did research on the complicated interactions of systems (heart, kidney, respiration etc.). From this work he developed ideas on the behaviour of ‘self-organising systems’.

He has an additional background in Psychology which he studied as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford. He applied the principle of self-organising systems to the neural network of the brain.

For the first time in human history he was able to describe creativity as the logical behaviour of the brain system. This lead to the practical tools of ‘lateral thinking’.

These tools are so powerful that one afternoon in South Africa some workshops using just one of these tools generated 21,000 ideas for ISCOR a steel company. The tools are widely used in business today and Dr. de Bono’s client list includes the top five corporations in the world and names as Citicorp, Prudential, Motorola, Federal Express, DuPont, Procter & Gamble, Kodak, Siemens, NTT (Japan), Ericsson (Sweden), Ciba-Geigy (Switzerland), BHP (Australia), Total (France), Heineken (Netherlands), Montedison (Italy), and Kuwait Oil Company (Kuwait).

Dr. Edward de Bono set up and officially inaugurated the World Centre for New Thinking, of which he is the Chairman, in Malta in June 2004. The World Centre for New Thinking operates as an international platform for new ideas on a global basis. The Centre has been set up with the co-operation of the Government of Malta as Malta's contribution to the European Union and to the World.

This best-selling author who has done work in 45 countries is referred to as a creative genius.

Bibliography: -

2006   H+, A New Religion?

2005   The Six Value Medals

2003   A Beautiful Mind (editions Random

           House)

2000   Super Mind Pack (editions Game)

2000   The De Bono Code Book (editions

           Penguin Books)

1999   New thinking for the New

           Millennium (editions New Millennium

           C/O Client Distribution Services)

1998   Simplicity (editions Penguin Books)

1997   How to be more interesting

           (editions New Millennium C/O Client

           Distribution Services)

1996   Edward de Bono’s Textbook of

           Wisdom (editions Penguin Books)

1996   Lateral Thinking: Creativity Step by

           Step (Abridged) (editions Editorial

           Reviews)

1995   Mind Pack (editions Games)

1995   Teach Yourself How to Think

           (editions Penguin Books)

1994   Parallel Thinking: From Socratic

           Thinking to de Bono Thinking

           (editions Penguin Books)

1993   Water Logic (editions Penguin

           Books)

1992   Serious Creativity: Using the

           Power of Lateral Thinking to

           Create New Ideas (editions Harper

           Colllins)

1992   Sur/Petition: Creating Value

           Monopolies When Everyone is

           Merely Competing (editions Profile

           Books)

1992   Teaching Your Child How to Think

           (editions Penguin Books)

1991   Handbook for the Positive

           Revolution (editions Penguin Books)

1991   Six Action Shoes (editions Profile

           Books)

1990   I Am Right-You Are Wrong: From

           This to the New Renaissance: From

           Rock Logic to Water Logic (editions

           Penguin Books)

1990   Thinking Skills for Success (editions

           Penguin Books)

1988   Decision Mate (editions Int. Centre

           for Creative Thinking)

1985   Réfléchir Mieux (Editions

           d'Organisation)

1985   Conflicts: A Better Way to Resolve

           Them (editions Penguin Books)

1985   Six Thinking Hats (editions Penguin

           Books)

1984   Tactics: The Art and Science of

           Success (editions Penguin Books)

1982   de Bono’s Thinking Course (editions

           Editorial Review)

1979   Future Positive (editions Penguin

           Books)

1978   Opportunities: A Handbook of

           Business Opportunity Search

           (editions Penguin Books)

1977   The Happiness Purpose (editions

           Penguin Books)

1977   Word power: An Illustrated

           Dictionary of Vital Words (editions

           Penguin Books)

1976   Teaching Thinking (editions Penguin

           Books)

1974   Eureka: A History of Inventions

           (editions Henry Holt & Co.)

1972   Children Solve Problems (editions

           Penguin Books)

1972   PO : Beyond Yes and No (editions

           Penguin Books)

1972   The Edward de Bono Science

           Fiction Collection (editions Elmfield

           Press)

1971   Practical Thinking: 4 Ways to be

           Right, 5 Ways to be Wrong, 5

           Ways to Understand (editions

           Penguin Books)

1970   Lateral Thinking for Management

           (editions Penguin Books)

1970   Lateral Thinking: A Textbook of

           Creativity (editions Penguin Books)

1970   The Dog Exercising Machine

           (editions Cape)

1969   The Mechanism of the Mind

           (editions Penguin Books)

1967   The 5 Day Course in Thinking

           (editions Penguin Books)

1967   The Use of Lateral Thinking

           (editions Penguin Books).