A Black Hat thinker is a logical fault finder.
In many ways it signifies negative thinking.
I was one for many years, very logical & loved to find faults. I could find faults even in things that seemed perfect:) In business such folks are required who will tell you what will go wrong. I always had a long list ready. But I realized later that such folks vibrate at the lowest frequency. Yes as energy bodies we all have a frequency. We attract similar people. Higher frequency indicates ascension.
Negative thinking cannot attract positive things. It cannot create amazing things. I also discovered that being critical of others is also a smart of hiding your own faults. It is a tool to divert attention from where the problem truly lies, within us:) Black hat thinkers are in some way like Black Spiderman, where the not so good things have come into our character. However hard we try we cant get it out.
Black hat thinkers are the opposite of yellow hat thinkers who are the positive thinkers. People who have several fears & insecurities also become black hat thinkers naturally. How you feel translates to how you think & act
Are you a Black Hat Thinker?
Have you worked anywhere near technology over the last 10-15 years you will probably be slightly wary of the phrase "BLACK HAT". For those in TODAYS GENERATION TECHNOLOGY, ‘black hat’ typically has negative connotations as it’s usually associated with devious hackers who can hack into systems to steal your personal data, or with clever search engine optimizer's who can game rankings to drive additional web traffic. But that’s not where ‘black hat’ comes from.
In 1985, Edward de Bono published his seminal book Six Thinking Hats. Within it, he outlines the modes of thinking that are required to develop the best - and most balanced - creative ideas. One of the ‘hats’ is the black hat.
Even as children, when we’re taught about effective teamwork and positive relationships, we are taught to play nicely. Criticize, yes, we’re taught. But constructively.
In contrast to this, I’ve had some experiences with people I’ve worked with in previous lives who were a lot less than constructive. And while at the time the experience infuriated me no end, a few of those projects had the most impact of any of which I’ve been involved. Recently, my last experience with one of the asshole pretend to be Managing Director, a certification Engineer, normally a Manpower Supplier, launch a startup shop - a Construction business - always thinking of deducting poor workers and downtrodden who work 14 hours on daily basis without food and without any advances at sites - but this MD is on full month of deduction spree - he even steal their money while deposit our Employees Provident fund as well. He supposed to be mentally SICK wants to became a millionaire over night. Myself worked as a Donkey round the clock for 45 days handle all task but get paid after 3 months a peanut nutshell instead receiving salary of approx more than INR 50K received 5K.....that too after complaining, co ordinating with various department, political personality and all.
A dirty man in spectacles a black hat thinkers - always thinks negativity mentally sick needs to keep all the booty into his pockets on behest of workers right to pay.
What is black hat thinking?
I’ve recognized in hindsight that my previous colleagues and clients who were destructive in their approach were simply ‘black hat thinkers’. (Mentally, I’ve buried the hatchet of the tumult of anguish they caused me; it’s taken a few years I’ll admit… but hopefully I have matured.) In de Bono’s book, black hat thinking is described as “discerning thinking - the logic applied to identifying reasons to be cautious and conservative”. Black hat thinkers may not provide ideas, but they’re great at spotting the holes and weaknesses in someone else’s and backing their observations up with logical, rational reasoning.
While I’m not convinced it’s healthy to adopt this mode of thinking permanently, I do believe that black hat thinking can be an effective weapon in one's arsenal in defeating uncertainty and developing truly breakthrough ideas.
Critical thinking is powerful
For example, recently one of our teams was about to embark on a large and complex year-long engagement with a new client. There was a highly pressurized deadline and lots of stakeholders on the client’s side to engage. It’s natural at the start of these types of engagements to project a really positive attitude and do one’s best to 'make friends'. However, this often leads to people overlooking some of the less positive times that inevitably lie ahead.
To avoid this, we held a ‘pre-mortem’. Instead of working out what went wrong with the project after it was too late to do anything about it, we focused on exactly that right up front. We went to our client’s offices for two days, gathered all the relevant stakeholders from our client’s business, and brainstormed what we all thought would cause pain on the project.
This approach had breakthrough impact. The client and their senior stakeholders started to understand in much greater detail and with greater clarity the journey the business was about to embark upon. Unforeseen risks and issues were logged, actions taken to mitigate them, and major catastrophes were averted; all within a week of the project starting.
And fundamentally the experience brought the team together with a shared goal and plan, so that stakeholders felt engaged, the client’s project team felt at one with our team, and our team felt that they understood the client’s business a great deal better.
How to use black hat thinking
‘Donning the black hat’ is a move to be made advisedly. In general, people don’t respond to unconstructive feedback well, so in any group or one to one setting make sure you know what you’re doing. If people are unaware you’re using black hat thinking it can be a disaster for your relationship with them.
Make sure your questions and challenges are dispassionate and couldn’t be construed as personal attacks, and if you can, pre-empt the conversation with a discussion about what black hat thinking looks like. Edward de Bono recommends that you literally say, “I’m now putting on the black hat”. This makes it clear to people are that you’re switching modes and taking on a persona. (Meanwhile, you could ask someone else to ‘put on the green hat’ to be the creative, expansive thinker in the room).
Ensure that for every idea you attempt to undermine from someone else, you provide logical and rational reasoning for your position. Deliver your points in a calm and detached manner. Ask people around you if they can see things your way. And never defend your position when it’s obvious it no longer makes sense.
The purpose of black hat thinking is to make sure ideas are robust, not to prevent anything from happening.
What to avoid
In my previous experiences with my black hat thinking colleagues, I’ve realized 'donning the black hat' was less a conscious choice, it was more a way of life. I’ve realized now the person at fault was me because I didn’t know how best to channel their talents to best effect. But it did take me a long time to work that out.
To conclude this victimize topics Try not to be a black hat thinker all the time. Use your newly-acquired skills wisely, with compassion and respect for others. Exploit them for the benefit of your group’s goals rather than to serve your own selfish needs, and they will serve you well.
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