Lateral Thinking

Thinking that is Outside

the Box!
Can You Solve this Puzzle?
Can You Solve this Puzzle?
Can You Solve this Puzzle?
Can You Solve this Puzzle?
You are driving down the road in your car on a wild,
stormy night, when you pass by a bus stop and you
see three people waiting for the bus:

1. An old lady who looks as if she is about to die.

2. An old friend who once saved your life.
3. The partner you have been dreaming about.

Knowing that there can only be one passenger in

your car, whom would you choose?
 Answer
 The old lady of course!

 After helping the old lady into the car, you

can give your keys to your friend, and wait
with your partner for the bus.
 Lateral Thinking
 Lateral thinking is a term coined by
Edward de Bono, a Maltese
psychologist, physician, and writer

 de Bono defines Lateral Thinking as

methods of thinking concerned with
changing concepts and perception.
Lateral Thinking Example
It took two hours for two men to
dig a hole five feet deep. How
deep would it have been if ten
men had dug the hole for two
hours?

The answer appears to be 25 feet deep

 But did you consider…?
 A hole may need to be of a certain size or
shape so digging might stop early at a
required depth.

 The deeper a hole is, the more effort is

required to dig it, since waste soil needs to
be lifted higher to the ground level. There
is a limit to how deep a hole can be dug by
manpower without use of ladders or hoists
for soil removal, and 25 feet is beyond this
limit.
 But did you consider…?
 Deeper soil layers may be harder to dig
out, or we may hit bedrock or the water
table.

 Are we digging in soil? Clay? Sand? Each

presents its own special considerations.

 Digging in a forest becomes much easier

once we have cut through the first several
feet of roots.

 Each man digging needs space to use a

shovel.
 But did you consider…?
 It is possible that with more people
working on a project, each person may
become less efficient due to increased
opportunity for distraction, the
assumption he can slack off, more people
to talk to, etc.

 More men could work in shifts to dig faster

for longer.

 There are more men but are there more

shovels?
 But did you consider…?
 The two hours dug by ten men may be
under different weather conditions than
the two hours dug by two men.

 Rain could flood the hole to prevent

digging.

 Temperature conditions may freeze the

men before they finish.

 Would we rather have 5 holes each 5 feet

deep?
 But did you consider…?
 The two men may be an engineering crew
with digging machinery.

 What if one man in each group is a

manager who will not actually dig?

 The extra eight men might not be strong

enough to dig, or much stronger than the
first two.
 What is Lateral Thinking?
 Lateral thinking is about reasoning that is
not immediately obvious

 Ideas may not be obtainable by using only

traditional step-by-step logic.

 Techniques that apply lateral thinking to

problems are characterized by the shifting
of thinking patterns away from entrenched
or predictable thinking to new or
unexpected ideas.
 What is Lateral Thinking?
 A new idea that is the result of lateral
thinking is not always a helpful one

 When a good idea is discovered in

this way it is usually obvious in
hindsight
The Six Thinking
Hats
A Lateral Thinking Strategy by
Edward De Bono
 The Six Thinking Hats
 Six Thinking Hats' is an important
and powerful technique.

 It is used to look at decisions from a

number of important perspectives.
 The Six Thinking Hats
 This forces you to move outside your
habitual thinking style, and helps you to
get a more rounded view of a situation.
 It has the benefit of blocking the
confrontations that happen when
people with different thinking styles
discuss the same problem.
 Each 'Thinking Hat' is a different style of
thinking.
 The Six Thinking Hats
 Many successful people think from a very
rational, positive viewpoint. This is part of the
reason that they are successful.
 Often, though, they may fail to look at a
problem from an emotional, intuitive, creative
or negative viewpoint.

 This can mean that they underestimate

resistance to plans, fail to make creative leaps
and do not make essential contingency plans.
 The Six Thinking Hats
 Similarly, pessimists may be excessively
defensive, and more emotional people may
fail to look at decisions calmly and rationally.

 If you look at a problem with the 'Six Thinking

Hats' technique, then you will solve it using
all approaches.

 Your decisions and plans will mix ambition,

skill in execution, public sensitivity, creativity
and good contingency planning.
 The Six Thinking Hats
White Hat

 With this thinking hat you focus on the data available.

Look at the information you have, and see what you
can learn from it.

 Look for gaps in your knowledge, and either try to fill

them or take account of them.

 This is where you analyze past trends, and try to

extrapolate from historical data.
 The Six Thinking Hats
Red Hat
 'Wearing' the red hat, you look at problems using
intuition, gut reaction, and emotion.

 Also try to think how other people will react

emotionally.

 Try to understand the responses of people who do not

fully know your reasoning.
 The Six Thinking Hats
Black Hat
 Using black hat thinking, look at all the bad points of
the decision.

 Look at it cautiously and defensively.

 Try to see why it might not work. This is important

because it highlights the weak points in a plan.

 It allows you to eliminate them, alter them, or
prepare contingency plans to counter them.
 The Six Thinking Hats
Black Hat
 Black Hat thinking helps to make your plans 'tougher'
and more resilient.

 It can also help you to spot fatal flaws and risks

before you embark on a course of action.

 Black Hat thinking is one of the real benefits of this

technique.
 The Six Thinking Hats
Black Hat
 Many successful people get so used to thinking
positively that often they cannot see problems in
advance.

 This leaves them under-prepared for difficulties.

 The Six Thinking Hats
Yellow Hat
 The yellow hat helps you to think positively.

 It is the optimistic viewpoint that helps you to see all

the benefits of the decision and the value in it.

 Yellow Hat thinking helps you to keep going when

everything looks gloomy and difficult.
 The Six Thinking Hats
Green Hat
 The Green Hat stands for creativity.

 This is where you can develop creative solutions to a

problem.

 It is a freewheeling way of thinking, in which there is

little criticism of ideas.
 The Six Thinking Hats
Blue Hat
 The Blue Hat stands for process control.

 This is the hat worn by people chairing meetings.

 When running into difficulties because ideas are

running dry, they may direct activity into Green Hat
thinking.

 When contingency plans are needed, they will ask for

Black Hat thinking, etc.