Was the decision to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki a good one? Was it not meant to end the war between the US and Japan and give an example of America's supremacy to the whole world? What values were at play here...?
What were the aftermath and long-term consequences? Different values were surely at play, but decision-makers prioritised their set of values, which of course did not match the values of millions of people in and around the theatre of war.
When Churchill and his allied colleagues agreed by treaty to divide the European territories, after World War II, using the value of 'allied friendship and trust' with Stalin, it was a decision guided by seemingly good perceptions.
Stalin got a share of 'the cake' and that was to become the theatre of some of the greatest atrocities in history to be performed on humankind by the very man Churchill and his other allies trusted... and, let's face it, there were the values of 'appreciation' and 'reward', of 'gratitude' at play when the decision was taken to give practically the whole of Eastern Europe to Stalin on a silver platter... yet the 'thinking' of the allies was based on misguided perceptions of Stalin's honesty and good will.
Perceptions sometimes born of instinct, sometimes 'rationalised' with 'logic' do not always show us the truth. They are often good and useful, but about 90 per cent of people's thinking/mistakes occur via 'perception'.
Closer to home we all know the divergent views that had arisen (and are still rampant) about Iraq, go in or keep out? ...or about the Palestinian crisis... is it being handled rightly or wrongly?... A lot of contrasting perceptions and indeed people's values are at odds here.
I mention these events as mere examples to demonstrate the tremendous influence that values (or standards, be they moral, political, utilitarian) have on people's perceptions of facts, situations, other people, and resultant actions.
And those same perceptions, unless tampered or complemented with effective thinking tools to fashion and design clearer images, frameworks and focus, can lead to wrong conclusions and harmful consequences.
Values have a reflection also in language. And conversely, the language we use can have an impact on how we perceive a 'value' or 'standard' of assessment. The very terminology we use can contribute to a 'different' type of picture, depending on how it is expressed.
I can quote a simple example to demonstrate the close connection between the picture/image evoked by words and the thinking mode that inevitably follows. Thus we speak of the elderly today, but we used to call them old people. Even the 'homes' were old people's homes.
The people we refer to as disabled used to be called handicapped, cripples, blind people, mentally ill... and so on and so forth. We have changed the terminology to help design a way forward in our perception of these people, namely a much more humane and respectful approach.
There is a skill that we can use in thinking up phraseology and communication which would reflect itself favourably on the average person's sensitivity to human values of love, charity, respect, regard. Prisons are still prisons but are now called 'correctional facilities'... at least in Malta.
A prisoner is an 'inmate'. Why not? He or she must still serve the period adjudged. It is not that society is 'going soft'... but that it is coming to grips with certain realities in treating people as deserving of societal regard. And this has a lot to do with how we think.
In promoting the different approaches and tools related to the skills of thinking, Dr Edward de Bono, teaches that to be effectively creative, we should give due regard and attention to the importance of values. What are the key values involved here?... we should ask before tackling a problem , an opponent, or a decision.
Indeed he stresses that our proper understanding of different sets of values, and how these fit within certain notional or nominal 'frameworks' or categories, would make a real difference... a powerful impact on the outcomes.
De Bono also insists that value design and value creation play an important part in the interface between people's perceptions and our creative thinking activity. Value signifies worth, wealth of content, shape, size, benefit versus cost, and so on.
Values, on the other hand, are those personal or social standards by which things or people or situations are gauged. They serve as 'yardsticks' whether conventional or new. But, just like value can be 'added' , 'designed' or conceived, so can values be the object of enhancement or of a 'shift'.
We speak of a 'value shift' when perceptions of particular things change... a downwards or upwards shift is just as possible as a lateral shift. When ladies started wearing bikinis more often, it demonstrated a value shift in the attitudes of ladies to baring their bodies far beyond previous norms. When art took a direction towards cubism, naïve or other forms unheard of in earlier times, there was a value shift in artistic trends, reflected also in other forms of art in different ways...
The Sixties brought along value shifts in behaviour, dress, music and art, entertainment and many other aspects of daily life. Television and later IT have produced huge shifts in the way people perceived, thought and acted, and indeed brought a revolution in many ways.
And, as we speak of 'value shifts', I firmly believe that there is one man in our time who has generated a huge shift in the way people think and act, by discovering the meaning and use of lateral thinking.
We all know that that man is Edward de Bono, who has delivered a service to mankind by making people aware, everywhere, that the capacity of the mind to think creatively and skilfully belongs to almost anyone who cares to understand and to try and practise the skills he teaches.
De Bono has developed his studies of the human brain to the point where today it is accepted fact that our mental activity and its effectiveness does not depend only on intelligence, or perceptive power, but on its proper use. Much like a man of basic intelligence can become a very skilful carpenter without having to know too much geography or algebra or mathematics.
There is value in de Bono's teachings, and there is added value for the world in the accumulated outcome of the teaching of thinking skills in schools and universities, in companies, corporations and elsewhere.
Talking of values might seem rather vague to some, because values, as such, exist in the realm of the abstract. Many people know that values are non-specific quantums or standards of perceptions, beliefs, understandings, estimates of measurement, or even sometimes emotions of some importance... but do not actually quite know how to define them or how to use them in designing a way forward out of an impasse or during negotiations.
For many people, values are a matter of natural instinct, of upbringing, of tradition or of influence of others. Customs and tradition, religion and family tend to foster standard or fixed values that are like fixtures or unchangeable elements in the mindset of people; on the other hand external influences, the trends arising out of fashion, media, advertising, music and art tend to be factors of value-shift in thought and action. And, because of this seemingly ephemeral and sometimes widely diverse nature of values, people tend to apply them in their daily life instinctively and somewhat reactively.
We speak of having a sense of values, we speak of respect for moral values; we also speak of added value, value shifts and intrinsic or extrinsic value. The range is vast, both in terminology and in actuality. The fact remains that understanding the importance of values in our thinking and in our dealings with others, in our decision-making and problem-solving, cannot be emphasised enough.
And when we talk of adding value to a product in order to make it more saleable, adding value to a presentation to make it more effective, we are really saying 'providing that product or that presentation with the ingredients, shape, colouring, content or benefits that appeal to the receiver... and appeal is again that 'something' which triggers off in the receiver a 'pull', a satisfaction most often arising in a'match' between what is observed and what is already formed in the mind of the receiver... namely a network of 'perceptions'.
And perceptions are formed because of the mind's tendency to form self-organising patterns or 'tracks' which tend to settle and become established as a mechanism for 'judging' acceptability, feasibility or otherwise of a 'given' person, thing or situation.
Values tend to dictate our choices and reactions, they tend to direct our attention or disregard, or to be the motor of action or the promoter of inaction.
To make things easier for those who wish to practise creativity in thinking, or who anyway want to use the formal tools for idea building propounded by Dr Edward de Bono, we would do well to refer to one of his latest works The Six Value Medals, Vermillion, London. 2005. ISBN009189459X)
De Bono rightly maintains that in order to give due attention and make better use of values in our thinking we should focus in one direction at a time, and do so deliberately... in contrast to the traditional haphazard and instinctive approach. In doing so we cannot ignore the existence of positive as well as negative values, and that certain negative values are 'good' in essence.
Thus the Fifth Commandment on the tablets given to Moses on the mountain -'thou shalt not kill - proposes a negative value...while celebrating the positive values of the love of life, love of neighbour and protection of the 'species'.
Value frameworks help us build more effective decisions, gives a clearer choice of ideas, and offers better approach to dispute and a wider scope for designing a product, strategy or solution.
The Six Thinking Hats concept gets us to don an imaginary coloured 'hat' (one of six) to focus our perceptions and thinking in one mode or direction at a time; the six value medals are really six different 'frameworks' within which de Bono invites us to consider values, categorising them respectively in order of merit, importance and similarity of purport or influence.
In this exercise we assess a 'value' by its type or category and figuratively allocate it to a framework termed a medal... because the giving of medals usually reflects appreciation, reward, esteem. Just as in real life there are gold, silver or bronze medals, de Bono goes on to deem several values as 'deserving' these respective levels of consideration in our thinking activity, decision making, human relations and so on. Dr de Bono's chosen medals are gold, silver, steel, glass, wood and brass.
Thus the most important values that guide our emotions, perceptions and thoughts are placed as deserving of a gold medal... much like the athlete or swimmer who gets a Gold in the Olympic Games, or the valiant soldier who does a heroic deed in action and is awarded a gold medal for bravery. Among these are included human values, people values... the list of basic and human needs.
Maslow's hierarchy of needs comes to mind here - which until quite recently guided marketers, economists and philosophers in assessing values that essentially drive people more directly and influence their choices and decisions... people, wherever they are have innate values or behavioural standards that instinctively influence their thinking, because these are so basic, so necessary for survival... safety and security for self and progeny, food, shelter, health, comfort, freedom of movement, and so on.
The ultimate understanding of the six medal system will, one day, be a very powerful tool for people who wish to develop further their thinking skills. Particularly because the understanding of and regard to existing values are an essential basis for designing new values and new approaches to communication, negotiation and creativity in all its forms.
Dr de Bono maintains that 'with decisions that are really choices between alternatives, each alternative should be scanned for value'. 'A comparison of the value scans' he adds,'then forms the basis of the decision'.
And as an example of a value scan he cites the question of whether a country should go for large volume or mass tourism or concentrate on 'high end, high spend' tourism. If governments take their decisions on whether they think they 'fit' the style or general thinking of the electorate (eg. votes) the resultant decisions will be poor, born not of'value' but of expediency.
Thinking skills and creative effort, when driven by values are just like a business that is customer focused. What value can we deliver to our customers? How can we produce added value to our service? What values drive perceptions, emotions, needs and wants of the target 'audience'?
These are questions that matter for improving competitiveness at a time when knowledge, information and competence are not enough. What matters is creative thinking with the 'value-added' impact of a high regard and consideration of values both in design and implementation or delivery.
The author is a Certified Trainer in Thinking Skills and an Instructor in the Masters Course in Creativity and Innovation run by the Edward de Bono Institute for the Design and Development of Thinking at the University.