Meet Edward de Bono

4.00pm on a Friday usually heralds the thought of the first beer to see in the weekend or perhaps the first chilled wine is already in hand. However, this Friday saw me having tea in a leafy eastern suburb of Sydney with Dr Edward de Bono. The startling invitation evolved only the afternoon before and was unexpected, thrilling and a little daunting.

To be sitting in the forecourt of a quiet cafe on a sunny afternoon having tea with one of the greatest thinkers of our time was nothing short of surreal.

Starting with one of his favourite, no doubt well-tested jokes, our conversation was broad ranging and eclectic. We discussed humour which Dr de Bono believes is the most significant behaviour of the human brain as it requires asymmetric patterning systems and reveals more about how the brain works than anything else.

We ventured to yachting. We jumped from Hollywood movies, Sydney real estate, hypnotherapy and the English tax system to the recent Mind & It's Potential Conference in Sydney, a conversation he had with Richard Branson about airlines, preferred local eateries, the Palace of Thinking and the Nobel Laureate meeting he has coming up in Europe. We exchanged stories about the books we are both working on - mine, a book of advice for start up businesses (which was the key reason for our meeting) and his being his 63rd book which is centred on creative thinking to add value.

We returned several times to the Palace of Thinking. Dr de Bono envisages a central point to collect ideas from around the world for review and for the good ones to be shared to facilitate specific, creative meetings on world wide issues. To house a function of such import Dr de Bono seeks a dedicated building. If you happen to own an iconic building or private residence that could become home to the Palace of Thinking you may be key to seeing this idea become a reality in Australia.

Dr de Bono was generous with his time and seemingly unpressured by the clock. An hour had idled by as we finished our tea. 

The 11/11/11 will be etched in my mind as a day of an extraordinary meeting and when I experienced some of the lessons of my university Psyc 101 classes leap from the pages to come to life. It also serves as a significant reminder to follow opportunities as they present as you never know where they will lead, who you will meet and what may come.