For companies to benefit from lateral thinking, they have to appoint a chief thinking officer, he said, who is on par with the chief financial and operations officers.

He said: "The job will be about teaching the appropriate thinking skills to the workforce; about setting up a process whereby the ideas and innovations that emerge are heard and evaluated; and putting structures in place that take the selected innovations and act on them.

"You should not only be looking at new ideas, but also at ways of simplifying, of doing old things in a new way, more efficiently."

Dr de Bono will appear live and in person in a full-day event in Dubai, November 6 2008, co-hosted by Knowledge Network (knet) and Global Leaders.

He believes too many strategic decisions are driven by inputting data into a computer, and the resulting analysis sets corporate strategy.

"This is very dangerous, because unless you can look at the data in different ways you are locked into the old concepts. This is where a human's interpretation and thought processes cannot be replaced by a machine."

The ability to look at data in different ways is critical for leaders in today's society. Dr de Bono believes that there is great power in asking "why not?" more often - why not do it this way? why not try that? "When someone says we cannot do this or that, you as leader should ask - why not?"

He explained: "Creative people often put the emphasis on the novelty - this is a new idea, no-one has thought of it; and so on. Novelty is not a good currency - it is risk. But, if you focus on the benefits from the new ideas, people are more likely to agree to their implementation."

However, new ideas alone are not sufficient. There needs to be some sort of structure, with someone responsible for making it happen - the chief ideas officer.

Dr de Bono acts as advisor to governments and global organisations on the economy, unemployment, social policy, pensions, health care, finance, transportation, education, conflict resolution, and the justice systems.

Corporations to have benefited from his teachings include: Boeing, British Telecom, Sanofi, Rolex, Siemens, 3M, Ericsson, General Motors, Nestle, Goldman Sachs, Ernst & Young, and many others.

The Dubai event follows on from Dr de Bono's sell-out event in Bahrain on June 1, organised by Global Leaders. The digital media partner for the Dubai event is Arabianbusiness.com, official business magazine is Gulf Business, and media partners are Oman Economic Review, Noozz.com and Business Intelligence Middle East. The business community partner is Zawya.com.

De Bono is regarded as the leading authority in the field of creative thinking, innovation and the direct teaching of thinking as a skill. He is equally renowned for his development of the Six Thinking Hats® technique and the Direct Attention Thinking Tools™ (D.A.T.T.™) framework.

The event will be held at Al Murooj Rotana, Dubai on November 6, 2008. For more details, visit www.globalleadersevents.com/debonouae.  

DATE & VENUE

Edward de Bono: LIVE AND IN PERSON

November 6, 2008

Al Murooj Rotana, Dubai.

-Ends-

ABOUT KNET
Knowledge Network (knet) is a training and professional development provider that specialises in high quality training programmes and professional advisory services within the Middle East region.

We offer a network of internationally recognised accredited qualifications such as the Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM), City and Guilds (C&G), the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD) and the Institute of Administrative Management (IAM), assuring you of the very best quality training. 

knet Mission: To provide access for professional development opportunities for individuals and organisations in the region in line with international best practice and standards.

knet Vision: To be the preferred provider of quality world class professional development and business advisory services in the region.

ABOUT GLOBAL LEADERS
GLOBAL LEADERS has a proven track record of delivering unique content, through events with influential business and thought leaders in the field of leadership, strategic management and competitive strategy. Global Leaders has carried out communications programmes and events for corporate and government decision-makers in the Middle East, European, Asia-Pacific and African regions.

The long line-up of thought leaders to have spoken at Global Leaders events in the last 12 months has included: CK Prahalad, Ken Blanchard, Dave Ulrich, Michael Porter, Scott Bedbury, Deepak Chopra, Steven Levitt, Malcolm Gladwell, Edward de Bono, Lynda Gratton, and Rowan Gibson.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION AND REGISTRATION

Global Leaders, 18^th Floor,
BurJuman Business Tower,
PO Box 43659,
Dubai.
Tel: +971 4 5096774/5.
www.globalleadersevents.com   

MEDIA INFORMATION
To stay updated about this forthcoming event or to obtain a press invitation, please contact:
Kirstie Hepburn        
kirstie@globalleadersevents.com 
Tel: +971 4 5096774/5.

SPONSORSHIP ENQUIRIES / GROUP BOOKINGS
To find out how you can use the event to promote your brand, or how to take advantage of discounts for group bookings, contact:

Lilian Rogic
lilian@globalleadersevents.com 
Tel: +971 4 5096774/5 

© Press Release 2008

 

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