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Hats Off

1/15/2009

4 Comments

 
Posted by BJ
One of our readers (hey there Ruth and how’s things down South Carolina way? I imagine it’s a bit warmer than the sub freezing temperatures up here in NH) recently sent me what she called a “stump the proposal guys question.” (Jon and I enjoy the challenge of answering reader’s questions and would encourage other readers to submit questions.)

I had to smile when I read Ruth’s question, as I have a fondness for derivations of words, phrases, expressions etc. and Ruth asked, “How did Black Hat reviews come to be named thus?” Great question Ruth and thanks for asking. (This question surely would have won a prize if you’d asked it of the Big Professor*).

Now, I know the majority of you, especially any one who has taken the APMP Foundation Level Accreditation Exam as this question comes up almost every time, will know that a Black Hat review is one in which the strengths and weaknesses of your offer and position are reviewed against those of the probable competition.

As to how a review of this information came to be referred to as a Black Hat review, I’m pretty sure I know the answer. However, before I confirm my answer, with Ruth’s permission, I wanted to first pose the question to our reader’s, as I suspect a few of you (especially our good friend Jay Herther, government proposal guru that he is) will have the correct answer.

Once we’ve heard from a few readers, Jon and I will confirm the answers and offer comment.

* The Big Professor was a character on a children’s show – the Sandy Becker show – seen in NY in the 60’s (way before your time Jon). Viewers could submit questions and if the professor deemed them worthy, would win a prize. A cousin of mine won a prize for the question, “What makes popcorn pop.”)
4 Comments
Maryjane Hoover
3/26/2016 02:43:47 am

Total guess (so no laughing if I’m way off track), but a “black hat” makes me think of old movies where the bad guys always wore black hats. In a Black Hat Review, someone in the company plays the role as a competitor, thereby putting on the imaginary black hat of a bad guy.

Reply
Jay Herther
3/26/2016 02:43:58 am

BJ,

Ha Ha — what an irony — I had the book with the answer on my table and was skimming it last night!!

I believe the answer came from the “Six Thinking Hats” by Edward De Bono.

It was published in 1985 — I don’t know if anyone came up with the term before that but I didn’t find it in Jim Beveridge’s books,

He defined Black Hat as “careful & cautious, the “devils advocate” hat.

The other 5 hats are white, red, yellow, green and blue.

Cheers, Jay

PS — for the prize you can just include the link to the book “Getting in the Winner’s Circle – Creating Winning Proposals” by Dick Close.

http://www.lulu.com/content/3074109

Reply
Jon
3/26/2016 02:44:25 am

BJ and I have been having fun swapping notes about this post with Joe O’Neill and Jay Herther. With their agreement, I’m copying the exchange to the blog for others to read – and, hopefully, add to!

Jay started by forwarding his comment (above), and asking Joe for his thoughts:

–

FROM JOE:

You’re ‘way to cerebral – I always thought it came from cowboy movies, where the bad guys always wore black hats, and to ‘black hat the competition’ was another expression for pretending to be the ‘bad guys’, i.e., pretending to be the competition.

–

FROM JAY:

BJ,

See Joe’s thought below.

This was also one of my thoughts too. But that Bono book was pretty influential in the day!

What are your thoughts?!

Jay

–

FROM BJ:

Good input guys. I haven’t found the ‘definitive’ answer yet.

What I always thought “Black Hat” to be derived from was the ‘spook’ agency stuff. That is, spies, cloak and dagger, sinister, sneaky, etc. (think Mad magazine and the black and white hated characters).

I think Jay has it at the moment, as he has documentation. But I’m going to do a bit more research! :-) Jay – Have you asked Dick Close what he thinks the answer is?

–

FROM JOE:

I like the Mad Magazine analogy – I can visualize that one very easily. Yah, that’s it – Spy vs. Spy – my vote: go w/that.

–

FROM JON:

Ah, but didn’t British judges in the olden days don a black hat or cap before pronouncing the death sentence…? Feels like a pretty appropriate analogy for many Black Hat reviews!

And doesn’t this all highlight the nonsense of our profession’s use of colour-codes to name reviews, as if we’re trying to create an air of mystique around the proposal process? If none of us knows the answer, that’s even more depressing than the term being a hangover from a near-25-year-old textbook! (Like Jay, I’ve always assumed this derives from de Bono)

I’ve personally always wanted to flag the need for a blue-with-yellow-spots review, just to see if anyone nods sagely and agrees: “Yep, we should schedule one of those about ten days before submission.”

I reckon it’s time for APMP to kick out the colour codes from the accreditation syllabus, and urge everyone to use names that actually describe the intent of each review.

Best regards,

Jon

Reply
Ruth
3/26/2016 02:44:39 am

Jon, absolutely LOVE the blue-with-yellow-spots review. Would that come before the lime-green-with-pink-stripes review, or after the burnt-sienna-with-purple-diamonds review (I’m reasonably certain that’s what I was sitting in about 2:00 Thursday afternoon)?

A consulting team I used to work on wasn’t satisfied with the current confusion. Noooo… They had to come up with their own scheme – “bronze,” “silver,” and “gold.” So wrapped up in this nomenclature were they that they didn’t appreciate the fact that I kept asking where their copper review was (this was my code for “so where’s your writing outline / requirements matrix?”).

As for the black hats, I figured perhaps it had dated back to the heydays of the Brooks Brothers’ grey suit. What self-respecting, high-paid, Fifth Avenue consultant would show up for a consulting gig in a brown hat?

BJ, last week you’d have been welcome to our unsesonably warm temperatures (hard to get excited about a holiday gift that contributes to the production of consistently high-quality hot beverages when it’s nearly 80 degrees), but we seem to have swung back to the opposite extreme (it was 15 overnight). Hope you like your coffee iced.

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