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R E D   T H I N K I N G   H A T :

I N T U I T I O N

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An image of a red hat

THE RED HAT: INTUITION (N)

Typical Red Hat Questions

"How do I feel about this?"

"Is the overall result likely to be acceptable?"

"Can I live with this choice?"

"What's my instinctive reaction?"

The purpose of red hat thinking is to discover one's gut reactions to something.

In this mode, objective facts are laid to one side so that subjective feelings can be assessed. Particularly in situations where the acceptance or rejection of an idea depends on public reaction to that idea, it can be helpful to simply react immediately to the plan or concept under discussion without trying to analyze it. This "gut reaction" can offer important clues to the effectiveness of any plan that requires the support of others.

Furthermore, where white hat thinking tries to understand things by breaking them down into their component parts, red hat thinking is "holistic"; that is, it tries to consider a thing's nature as a whole without concern for that thing's composition. This allows someone doing red hat thinking to make apparently intuitive leaps of understanding. (For this reason I equate red hat thinking with the Myers-Briggs iNtuitive type preference.) While all the parts of an idea might seem farfetched or unrelated, together they may result in a unique whole idea that might work. Red hat thinking can provide such insights.

It is important to remember that red hat thinking is not an analytical function like yellow hat or black hat thinking. Although it is often used to react to an idea, its primary function is not to judge that idea but to provide information about what kinds of ideas in general are desired. The emphasis is not on making a decision, but on assessing and communicating personal reactions.



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