On my web site (http:www.edwdebono.com) I have been running a competition for creative visitors to make up a bonto or two. What is a 'bonto'? A bonto is a form of poetry which I invented quite recently. I had been in Malaysia and had a dinner table discussion with my good friend Professor Ungku Aziz. He told me all about the Malay 'pantun'. This is a very traditional form of four-line poetry which is very much part of the culture. He himself was analysing 5,000 such pantuns. The French borrowed this form and turned it into the French 'pantoum'.
As a result of this conversation I decided to invent my own poetic form. That is how the 'bonto' was born. The important point about the bonto is that it is very tightly structured. The rhyme is a, a, b, b. The first line describes some action. This action should be unexpected or bizarre enough to attract attention. The action may be performed by a known and named person. When this is the case, then the action should fit the personality. The action is fictitious and does not need to be historic.
The second line explains and gives the reason behind the action. This explanation should be as logical as possible. The more bizarre the action, the more logical the explanation should be. The third line gives the result of the action. What happens? Again, this result should follow as a logical consequence of the action.
The fourth and final line is a general philosophical reflection on life - but arising from the previous lines. The trick is to make the reflection follow smoothly from the action and yet be general in nature. This fourth line must be capable of standing on its own and making sense on its own.
Max danced on the table
to show that he was able.
The table soon gave way.
Show-off does not pay.
Max is a real person and very exuberant. He is also quite large, so the table might indeed give way. The final line could stand on its own as a general point: 'Show-off does not pay'.
Kathy yelled at Max.
She enjoyed these attacks.
Max looked astounded.
Anger may be unfounded.
Here the first two lines might indeed be true, though very exaggerated. The third line follows with a sort of logic. The final reflection is indeed valid. Anger which might be triggered by something may appear unfounded on closer examination.
Pauline went to her shrink.
She said it helped her to think.
Together they made it worse.
Over-analysis is a curse.
This bonto is indeed a true story. The final line is again a stand-alone reflection that exists independently of the preceding action. Why the invented name 'bonto'? It is derived from my name: de bono - bono - bonto. If you wish to set about creating bontos you should submit them to my website as indicated above. The relevance of the bonto to the subject of Thinking Managers is very direct. The bonto is very structured, which makes the creative task quite demanding. You can also tell for yourself whether the bonto is any good, both as regards form and as regards substance (how true is this of a person, how valid the reflection?). It is possible to become very skilled at making bontos. This requires practice - not just intelligence and creative skill.
The special skill of making bontos involves 'micro-strategies'. These are the complex strategies which evolve in order to cope with particular situations. Such micro-strategies involve attention areas, mental operations, scanning, frameworks, etc. The sequence of operations is part of the micro-strategy. Where do you start? What do you do next?
For the same situation, different people will evolve different micro-strategies. Some of these will be more effective than others. It would be impossible to set out criteria to determine, or choose, the best micro-strategy for different situations. As usual, the alternative is to generate different approaches and then to try them out. Some micro-strategies may be easier to use, but the end-result is not so good. Other strategies may be more difficult to use, but the end-result will be more powerful.
EXAMPLE
We can now return to the bonto to see how micro-strategies can help create bontos. Where do we start? Suppose we start with the first line. This should be bizarre and exotic in order to set the tone for the bonto. If a named person is to be used, then the first line must indicate some action which might be relevant to that person.
So the first line might be: 'Edward gave up thinking'. The association with thinking is fairly obvious. The surprise element is the 'giving up thinking'. This is very unlikely, so we have to search around for a reason.
The bonto rhymes a, a, and b, b. We might now search for something which rhymes with 'thinking'. We might search through the alphabet trying out each letter in turn. Such a search mechanism is not ideal, because often the rhyme involves two or more first letters. Suppose we settle on 'drinking'. This seems fertile and interesting. What about 'drinking'? What could this have to do with giving up thinking?
The second line has to give a reason for giving up thinking. The reason could be as follows: 'for it interfered with drinking'. We now have an image of someone who wants to enjoy drinking and does not want to be bothered with focused thoughts. This is reasonable in itself, even if totally inappropriate to the person involved.
Now for the result of the action. Somehow this result has to include 'drinking' and also 'thinking'. It would be even better if the result brought us back from pure fantasy to a more real world. What might happen to thinking if you indulged in drinking? Perhaps you would be more relaxed. This begins to sound more interesting. So the next line might be: 'His thoughts flowed faster'.
This is a nice paradox. Edward gives up thinking in order to enjoy drinking. But as a result of drinking his thinking actually improves. This fits in with common assumptions. Drinking is supposed to make you relax. If you try too hard at thinking you might just tie yourself into knots and get nowhere. So the line fits existing prejudices. (On a factual level, drinking does not improve thinking. Research shows that it does not even improve creative thinking.)
Now we come to the all important final line, which must stand alone as a general philosophical reflection. This reflection must follow directly from the previous lines, but must be capable of standing on its own. The final word of the last line must also rhyme with 'faster'. We settle on the word 'master'. Now the task is to connect up with master and also make a relevant statement. The final line might be: 'To relax is to master'.
This final line does make sense. If you want to master a skill you do need to relax in the use of that skill. To be all tensed up is the worst way to develop or use a skill. So the first part of the bonto is provocative. The middle part fits in with existing prejudices. The final part makes a statement which is valid on its own. So the micro-strategy is as follows:
1. Set up the first line provocatively and with some bizarre action.
2. The rhyme necessity selects a word to end the second line.
3. Connect up this word to give a logical explanation for the first line of action.
4. Lay out the logical result of the action.
5. Select the rhyme word.
6. Connect up the rhyme word to give the general statement.
EXAMPLE
For the first line, 'Bob practised eating fire'. The rhyme word might be hire, wire, tire, tyre, pyre or mire, etc. It could even be 'enquire'. Now for the logical connection: 'He needed a talent for hire'. The suggestion is that he wanted a second source of income. Perhaps his main income source was under threat.
Next, 'He burned the end of his nose' could follow logically from practising fire-eating. The new rhyme word might be: pose, rose, rows, toes, hose, woes, etc. The word 'woes' seems promising. Now for the connecting up. It could be something to do with: 'Wanting to solve one woe you create new ones'. So we might have: 'A woe often leads to new woes'. Or, and better: 'To cure a woe make new woes'. We can improve this to read: 'To cure a woe seek new woes'. So the whole bonto goes:
Bob practised eating fire.
He needed a talent for hire.
He burned the end of his nose.
To cure a woe seek new woes.
This is by no means the only micro-strategy that could be used. You might prefer a strategy that starts with the final line. So you might choose: 'Silence is golden'. You would then try to work backwards and to set up the preceding lines to lead to this final line. I suspect that it would be very difficult to do this.
STRATEGY
There is no one strategy for setting up local micro-strategies. The overall principles are:
1. Become aware of the strategies that you actually find yourself using. Seek to lay these out.
2. Deliberately generate and try out different strategies.
3. Decide which strategy is easier to use and produces the best. results. In all cases the strategy of choice must be relatively easy to use.
4. Consciously improve the chosen strategy.
If you use bontos, please remember to acknowledge the source!
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