SKILL FOR BUSINESS

Problem solving &

Lateral Thinking

The girl and the money–lender (part two)

In the previous exercise you attempted to solve
the problem that the girl had in her dealings with
the money-lender. Here below you will see the
solution proposed by E. De Bono (author of this
tale) and you’ll be able to compare your answer
and the strategies you used with those the
author proposes.
The aim is to begin to understand more fully what lateral thinking is.
Later on you will examine this concept more closely and will be able to practice
further your creative problem solving skills.

Possible strategies
What type of thinking would you use to solve the problem?
You may believe that careful logical analysis must solve the problem if there is a
solution. This type of thinking is straightforward vertical thinking. The other type of
thinking is lateral thinking. Vertical thinkers are not usually of much help to a girl
in this situation. The way they analyzed it, there are three possibilities:

1. The girl should refuse to take a pebble.

2. The girl should show that there are two black pebbles in the bag
and expose the money lender as a cheat
3. The girl should take the black pebble and sacrifice herself in order
to save her father from prison.

None of the suggestions is very helpful for if the girl does not take a pebble her
father goes to prison, and if she does take a pebble, then she has to marry the
money-lender.

PS02_The girl and the money-lender_solution.doc

 SKILL FOR BUSINESS

Problem solving &

Lateral Thinking

The story shows the difference between vertical thinking

and lateral thinking.
Vertical thinkers are concerned with the pebble the girl has to
take, lateral thinkers focus on the missing white pebble .
Vertical thinkers approach the situation using a logical point
of view, a more rational one, and then proceed to solve the
problem by following logical principles. Lateral thinkers
prefer to examine all the possible starting points rather than accept the one
that seems more appealing and base their investigation on it.

The solution
The girl put her hand into the moneybag and drew out a pebble.
Without looking at it, she fumbled and let it fall onto the pebble-strewn path where
it immediately became lost among all the other pebbles.
"Oh, how clumsy of me!" she said. "But never mind, if you look into the bag for
the one that is left, you will be able to tell which pebble I picked."
Since the remaining pebble is black, it must be assumed that she had picked the
white one.
And since the money-lender dared not admit his dishonesty, the girl changed
what seemed an impossible situation into an extremely advantageous one.
The girl looked beyond the obvious to find a solution in a way that wouldn't
initially come to mind.
In this way, by using lateral thinking, the girl changes what seems an
impossible situation into an extremely advantageous one. The girl is actually
better off than if the money-lender had been honest and had put one black and
one white pebble into the bag, for then she would have had only an even chance
of being saved. As it is, she is sure of remaining with her father and at the same
time having his debt cancelled.

PS02_The girl and the money-lender_solution.doc

 SKILL FOR BUSINESS

Problem solving &

Lateral Thinking

Guided reflection
Think about an episode in your professional or personal life in which you
experienced the breaking of a paradigm …

Briefly describe the situation

What elements led you to take this leap?

What did you learn from the change of paradigm?

How did the way you behave change?

Bibliography:
• Edward De Bono: 1971, The use of lateral thinking - Penguin

PS02_The girl and the money-lender_solution.doc