Founded in 2009 by Dr. Tan Beng Huat, iconada.tv is a community-driven platform dedicated to cultural creativity, reflective inquiry, and interdisciplinary discussion. Over the years, the platform has regarded the thinking theories of Edward de Bono as one of the important intellectual foundations for advancing cultural innovation and creative practice. 

Across iconada.tv’s extensive body of research, experimentation, and published writing, its engagement with de Bono’s ideas has primarily developed along the following dimensions:

1. Translating “Thinking as a Skill” into Cultural Practice

iconada.tv strongly embraces de Bono’s fundamental proposition that thinking is a skill that can be learned, developed, and deliberately trained.

In its discussions of the cultural and creative industries, as well as the shaping of cultural spaces—such as sense of place and social memory—the platform frequently draws upon de Bono’s ideas to argue that creativity should not be understood merely as an innate talent. Rather, it can be cultivated through structured methods and practical tools designed to disrupt established patterns of perception and thought.

2. Lateral Thinking and the Generation of Creative Insight

Within iconada.tv’s exploration of the cognitive progression from Data → Information → Knowledge → Insight, de Bono’s concept of Lateral Thinking is employed as a key mechanism for moving beyond conventional patterns of cognition. [5]

Breaking through self-organizing systems:
The platform frequently examines how lateral thinking can challenge conventional forms of vertical thinking and the constraints imposed by established logic. By deliberately encouraging the mind to move beyond its self-organizing pattern-recognition systems, lateral thinking creates opportunities for the emergence of genuine cultural insight and the seeds of creative ideas.

3. The Six Thinking Hats in Community Dialogue and Collaborative Practice

As a cultural platform that emphasizes human editorial judgment and substantive dialogue, iconada.tv has repeatedly drawn upon de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats and the related concept of Parallel Thinking in discussions of collective decision-making, cultural critique, and collaboration within creative teams. [1, 2]

Replacing confrontation with constructive dialogue:
The platform draws on de Bono’s framework to explore how emotional responses (Red Hat), information and evidence (White Hat), critical judgment (Black Hat), and creative possibilities (Green Hat) can be deliberately differentiated within multicultural and interdisciplinary discussions.

Such differentiation can help reduce internal friction and unproductive ego battles, while creating a psychologically safer environment for rational, constructive, and pluralistic dialogue.

4. Reconsidering Perception, Systems, and Creativity in the Age of AI

In recent years, iconada.tv founder Dr. Tan Beng Huat has experimented with AI tools to analyse more than a decade of the platform’s accumulated long-form cultural content. Against this background, de Bono’s ideas concerning systems, simplification, perception, and creativity have acquired renewed relevance.

Although AI is increasingly capable of performing analytical and organizational tasks, de Bono’s emphasis on changing patterns of perception, generating alternative perspectives, and deliberately designing new ways of thinking remains particularly relevant to the human dimensions of cultural and creative practice.

From the perspective of iconada.tv, the ability to reframe perception, generate alternative possibilities, and exercise nuanced cultural judgment constitutes an important human capacity that cannot simply be reduced to automated information processing. In the age of AI, these capacities become especially significant for creative ethics, cultural interpretation, and deep human judgment.