The European Union has declared 2009 to be the year of Creativity. On December 5th. I was officially appointed ‘Ambassador for Thinking’ for the European Union. Among other things I shall be issuing a monthly ‘World Thinking Report’. There may be occasional extra reports as required.
In my first thinking report I indicated that the major problem facing the earth and humanity is the inadequacy of our thinking. This is a problem even bigger than climate change. It is a huge problem because no one notices it as a problem. This is because we use our existing thinking to judge our thinking.
For religious reasons (Middle Ages etc) we developed a type of thinking concerned with ‘discovering the truth’. This is excellent but not enough. We also need the thinking concerned with ‘creating value’.
This year a new book of mine will be published with the sub-title “23 Reasons Why World Thinking is so Poor”.
I am also introducing a new and much needed word. This word is ‘ebne’ which means ‘excellent but not enough’. The rear left wheel of a motor car is ebne. The existing leg of a one legged man is ebne. Our thinking is ebne.
Edward de Bono – January 2009
