Lateral Thinking By Edward de Bono

Recommended by S Badri Narayana, Director – Operations Excellence, FLAME TAO Knoware

Why to read ‘Lateral Thinking’?

What do businesses need today…? A new way of thinking that opens a door they didn’t even know exist, a way of thinking that seeks a solution to an intractable problem through unorthodox methods or elements that would normally be ignored by logical thinking. They need ‘Lateral Thinking’. Dr. Edward de Bono divides thinking into two methods. He calls one ‘vertical thinking’, which uses the processes of logic – the traditional and historical method; and the other ‘lateral thinking’, which involves disrupting an apparent thinking sequence and arriving at the solution from another angle. Developing breakthrough ideas does not have to be the result of luck or a shotgun effort. Dr. de Bono’s proven Lateral Thinking methods provide a deliberate, systematic process that will result in innovative thinking.

Creative thinking is not a talent, it’s a skill that can be learned. It empowers people by adding strength to their natural abilities, which improves creativity and innovation, leading to increased productivity and profit.

Excerpts: “Vertical thinking is selection by exclusion. One works within a frame of reference and throws out what is not relevant. With lateral thinking one realizes that a pattern cannot be restructured from within itself but only as the result of some outside influence. So one welcomes outside influences for their provocative action. The more irrelevant such influences are, the more chance there is of altering the established pattern. To look only for things that are relevant means perpetuating the current pattern.”