EDWARD DE BONO'S MESSAGE
15th June 1997

to make a success of an idea

This message is being sent from a small island off the coast of Queensland, Australia, via a Nokia 9000 mobile phone. Tomorrow some senior people from Nokia Asia region are coming to the island for a creative retreat.

More than twenty years ago I suggested that we could have telephones which were free of charge because a call would be interrupted by advertising messages. These paid for messages would cover the cost of the call.

This idea had come from the provocation: "Po bring back the town crier". Using the 'extract a principle' method of getting movement from the provocation we extract the principle 'you cannot switch off the town crier'. So we look around for a communication system we would be unable - or at least unwilling - to turn off.

The idea is now in use in parts of Sweden, in Denmark and (I am told) in Washington State.

In 1970 I also suggested to a major oil company that oil wells should bend and proceed horizontally when a certain depth is reached. Today almost every oil well is drilled that way. Such wells produce between three and five times as much oil as the traditional well.

If you want to make a success of an idea you need to put single minded effort into it. I have been considering opening a conference room in which I (and others) could put forward business ideas which could then be picked up and used by others. I would welcome suggestions as to how this could be done in a way that was fair to all. There may be people, or corporations, who would like to pick up and run with a business concept.

Edward de Bono
12th June 1997
Off the coast of Queensland