‘If you think creativity is a mysterious gift, you can only sit and wait for ideas. But if creativity is a skill, you ought to learn it’ (Edward de Bono).

Edward de Bono passed away on June 9. He lived a rich and rewarding life, during which he travelled extensively around the world, sharing his inspirational ideas with world-leaders, people in business, educators and anyone else interested in improving their thinking skills.

The professor was honoured with the National Order of Merit by the then president of Malta Ugo Mifsud Bonnici in 1995 and he is often referred to as ‘the Lateral Thinking guru’ as he invented this concept which found its way into the Oxford Dictionary. However, there is a great deal more to de Bono than first meets the eye. His original contributions to education, management and training are remarkable and they deserve increased recognition.

He was always curious and inquisitive. While at school in Malta, he bypassed a class, was the only student who was given a key to the school’s laboratory, and was one of the youngest persons ever to graduate in Medicine from the University of Malta. This was followed by a Rhodes scholarship to study psychology at the University of Oxford. His education led him to reflect on how the human brain works: as a self-organising information patterning system.

The evolution of de Bono’s thought started with the publication of The Mechanism of Mind in 1969. This is one of his most original and inspirational texts which provides the basis for much of his later work. In this publication de Bono describes, often in metaphorical terms, how the human brain functions and how it processes information.

Since then, he has been acknowledged as a creativity expert in all the four corners of the world. Besides coining the term ‘lateral thinking’, de Bono’s obsession with the futility of argumentation led him to come up with the term ‘parallel thinking’ and the world-renowned ‘six thinking hats’ to counteract the negative tendencies of argumentation and conflict.

De Bono published over 80 books, which may be divided into three main categories. The first are provocative books which advocate for paradigm changes, some of which may sound preposterous at face value, but which embody a serious underlying message. The second are books on education, aimed at including ‘the direct teaching of thinking’ as a subject in schools. The third are self-help books which target the management or broader market, many of which have achieved international bestseller status.

De Bono generously shared his ideas with countless people all over the world

The provocative books include Why I Want to be King of Australia (1999), which attempts to motivate Australians to seriously think about their future in the 21st century, and The de Bono Code Book (2000), which addresses the inadequacy of language by presenting an international language with numbers representing various thoughts and concepts.

H+ (plus) A New Religion? How to Live Your Life Positively Through Happiness, Humour, Help, Hope, Health (2010) is yet another provocative piece of work. Here de Bono proposes a framework for living by means of conscious positive actions (‘pons’) which result in a sense of achievement and self-confidence, and the motivation to make the world a better place through changing outdated paradigms. His originality and fertile imagination are clearly at play here.

Most educational and self-teaching publications, such as Teach Your Child How to Think (1992) and Teach Yourself to Think (1995) include practical exercises to improve the skill of thinking. de Bono strongly advocated for ‘operacy’ – the skill of thinking – as a third gateway for success in education, together with literacy and numeracy.

The Dog Exercising Machine (1970) and Children Solve Problems (1972) are two iconic, playful and original de Bono publications which reveal his interest in education in the early days. The 1970 publication presents drawings submitted by children who were asked to design a dog exercising machine. The second exhibits children’s ideas related to assigned tasks, such as how to weigh an elephant and how to design a sleep machine. These reveal how young children tend to be totally uninhibited when coming up with ideas, which tends to diminish over time as they move through the educational system and become more cautious where censorship and right and wrong are concerned.

The numerous publications de Bono authored in the management field include two original publications, Sur/Petition: Going Beyond Competition (1992) and Simplicity (1998).

In Sur/Petition, de Bono suggests that competition is necessary but insufficient for business to survive: ‘Success requires going beyond competition to sur/petition’ (pp.viii-ix); ‘Instead of running in the same race, you create your own race’ (p.xi). Its originality lies in the methods it provides for organisations to generate value by moving beyond the competition, rather than simply reacting to it.

Simplicity (1998) is de Bono’s reaction to increased complexity with regards to devices and legislation. In a provocative and unique de Bono fashion, the book starts by directing the reader to page 279 where 10 rules of simplicity are presented. It ends with an appendix that suggests the setting up of ‘The Edward de Bono National Simplicity Campaign’, including a yearly ‘Simplicity Day’ when thoughts related to simplicity are shared.

Bonting: Thinking to Create Value (2015), published in Malta by Kite Group, is one of de Bono’s latest books. The term ‘bonting’ is derived from the Latin word bonum, which means good, and which allows for the creation of value through constructive and creative thinking. This publication also exhibits a number of de Bono’s provocative ideas. One is that there ought to be one moment in the day when people are allowed to propose ‘preposterous suggestions, crazy ideas and provocations’ which ‘need not be taken seriously’ (pp.293-94). The idea behind this is clear: too many crazy ideas which may contain value are unjustly censored, generally due to fear of rejection or unfair criticism. Some value, which could be of benefit for humanity, may emerge from them.

De Bono generously shared his ideas with countless people all over the world, including at The Edward de Bono Institute for Creativity and Innovation, where he delivered regular workshops and seminars since it was set up at the University of Malta in 1992.

We are proud to form part of his exceptional legacy, and grateful for his intellectual contributions. He has been a constant inspiration for us and our students, and we are privileged to have known this exceptional and unique person who has been our mentor, colleague and friend.

Our sincere condolences go to his family, particularly to his two sons, Caspar and Charlie, and their families.

Sandra M. Dingli set up The Edward de Bono Institute for Creative Thinking and Innovation at the University of Malta and was its first director, Leonie Baldacchino is the current director and Margaret Mangion is a senior lecturer at the institute.