Lateral Thinking

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Principles of Creative and Lateral thinking
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• Alireza Zamani
• 2007

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The Human Brain

• A self organising, self patterning system
• A good pattern maker but a poor pattern breaker -
  thus
• Creativity the art of breaking patterns,
  habits and certainties
• Left Brain vs Right Brain
• Left logical, analytical, process driven,
  risk averse
• Right Emotional, artistic,Playful,
  Humorous, Innocent
• Ideal Whole Brain thinking

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Creativity towards a definition

• To bring into being through force of
  imagination Chambers
  English Dictionary
• Imaginative processes with outcomes Sir Ken
  Robinson
• Generating new ideas which are practical, of
  value, and can be implemented to bring about
  an improved product or service
• The creation of something new and useful for
  your business
• Brainstorming Greenhousing River Jumping
  Lateral Thinking

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Are we all creative?

• YES!.
• Until.
• We get to work.!!

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Gorilla Spotting!(Professor Richard Wiseman
2004)

• We all have Blind Spots sometimes we miss the
  obvious!
• Creativity is not always about wild and
  whacky ideas
• Be mindful of a problem dont focus or forget
  it be aware and open to opportunities.. chance
  favours the open mind
• A Primed Brain Time Freedom Eureka
  moments
• The seeds of great discovery are constantly
  floating around us, but they only take root in
  minds well prepared to receive them
• 
  Joseph Henry

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Lateral Thinking
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LATERAL THINKING

• "You cannot dig a hole in a different place by
  digging the same hole deeper"
• This means that trying harder in the same
  direction may not be as useful as changing
  direction. Effort in the same direction
  (approach) will not necessarily succeed.

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LATERAL THINKING

• "Lateral Thinking is for changing concepts and
  perceptions"
• With logic you start out with certain ingredients
  just as in playing chess you start out with given
  pieces. But what are those pieces? In most real
  life situations the pieces are not given, we just
  assume they are there.

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LATERAL THINKING

• "The brain as a self-organizing information
  system forms asymmetric patterns.
• In such systems there is a mathematical need for
  moving across patterns. The tools and processes
  of lateral thinking are designed to achieve such
  'lateral' movement. The tools are based on an
  understanding of self-organising information
  systems.

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LATERAL THINKING

• "In any self-organizing system there is a need to
  escape from a local optimum in order to move
  towards a more global optimum.
• The techniques of lateral thinking, such as
  provocation, are designed to help that change.

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The Basics BehindLateral Thinking

• We are hardwired to be UN-creative.
• We need formal tools for breaking out of
  patterned thinking.
• Everyone can learn how to be more creative
• Lateral Thinking gives you the power to create
  ideas on demand

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Suggest LateralThinking If You Hear

• any of these
• seven common comments
• (The cartoons by Bob Thaves.)

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Suggest LateralThinking If You Hear

• 1. Management shoots down all of our ideas.

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Because Lateral Thinking Will

• Give managers the tools to encourage and reward
  the creative EFFORT that must become a habit
  before you can get consistently innovative
  results.
• Give employees the tools to assess and improve
  ideas before submitting them.

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Suggest LateralThinking If You Hear

• 2. Creative people are a nuisance. Theyre always
  getting out of line.

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Because Lateral Thinking Will

• Teach managers how to perceive creative
  intrusions as a valuable tool for checking blind
  spots and biases. Creative ideas are often
  jarring.
• Give collaborative employees the tools to
  generate creative ideas on demand. You do not
  have to rely on a flock of born rebels to buck
  the system.

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Suggest LateralThinking If You Hear

• 3. We dont have time to go through all that
  trial and error.

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Because Lateral Thinking Will

• Teach managers to be alert for new opportunities
  at every stage as ideas are explored.
• Give employees tools that speed up the innovation
  process.

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Suggest LateralThinking If You Hear

• 4. Creative people are so off-the-wall. Their
  ideas are never feasible.

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Because Lateral Thinking Will

• Give everyone the tools of provocation and
  movement so they know how to get value from
  initially unworkable ideas.
• Teach everyone how to harvest, tailor, and shape
  ideas to make them more practical.

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Suggest LateralThinking If You Hear

• 5. This company doesnt see mistakes as progress.
  We quit too soon.

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Because Lateral Thinking Will

• Give everyone tools to assess and minimize risk.
• Teach everyone how to perceive failures as
  necessary steps in the creative process.
• Enable everyone to learn from their mistakes.

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Suggest LateralThinking If You Hear

• 6. We dont know what to be creative about.

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Because Lateral Thinking Will

• Teach all how to develop and work on a Creative
  Hit List.

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Suggest LateralThinking If You Hear

• 7. We dont need new ideas. Were already aligned
  about what were doing/where were going/how to
  get there.

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Because Lateral Thinking Will

• Teach everyone the absolute necessity of applying
  the creative process continuously to every
  strategy, process, assumption, product, and
  practice, in our rapidly changing world.

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Lateral ThinkingFour Step Process

• Edward de BonosCreative Thinking Process

Results New Ideas
GET STARTED
Select Define Focus
Capture Workwith Output
Generate Ideas
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Vertical v. LateralThinking

• V Selective L Generative
• V Moves in one direction
• L Moves to generate direction
• V Analytical L Provocative
• V Sequential L Makes jumps
• V Each step correct L Not so

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Vertical v. LateralThinking

• V Excludes irrelevant
• L Chance intrusions
• V Classification and labels fixed L Not so
• V Moves in one direction
• L Moves to generate direction
• V Most likely L Least likely
• V Finite process L probabilistic one

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Vertical v. LateralThinking

• With vertical thinking one uses information for
  its own sake to in order to move forward to a
  solution.
• With lateral thinking one uses information not
  for its own sake but provocatively in order to
  bring about repatterning.

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Basic Nature of Lateral Thinking

• Concerned with changing patterns
• In a self-maximizing system with a memory the
  arrangement of information must always be less
  than the best possible arrangement
• Both an attitude and a method of using
  information
• Never a judgment

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4 Lines
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4 Lines
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4 Lines
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Conceptual Blockbusting

• James L. Adams

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Conceptual blocks

• Conceptual blocks are mental walls which block
  the problem-solver from correctly perceiving a
  problem or conceiving its solution.

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Conceptual Blocks

• Perceptual
• Cultural
• Environmental
• Emotional
• Intellectual
• Expressive

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Cultural Blocks

• Fantasy and reflection are a waste of time lazy,
  even crazy.
• Playfulness is for children only
• Problem solving is a serious business and humor
  is out of place
• Reason, logic numbers utility, Practicality are
  good feeling, intuition, qualitative judgments,
  pleasure are bad
• Tradition is preferable to change
• Any problem can be solved by scientific thinking
  and lots of money
• Taboos

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Environmental Blocks

• Lack of cooperation and trust of colleagues
• Autocratic boss who values only his own ideas
  does not reward others
• Distractions phone, easy intrusions
• Lack of support to bring ideas into action

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Perceptual Blocks

• Difficulty in isolation the problem
• Tendency to delimit the problem too closely
• Inability to see the problem from various
  viewpoints
• Seeing what you expect to see Stereotyping
• Saturation
• Failure to utilize all sensory inputs

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CONCLUSIONS

• Small risks bring small threats but small
  opportunities.
• Large risks bring large opportunities but large
  threats.
• While we are alive, we cannot avoid risk.

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THE BIGGEST RISK

• It is not enough to think outside the box. We
  must learn to live outside the box.
• A competitor, usual or unexpected, may accept a
  bigger risk than we have, manage the threats and
  realize the opportunities.
• Each of us has 6.3 billion potential customers
  and 6.3 billion competitors.

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LATERAL THINKING

• IS NOT SEQUENTIAL - FREQUENTLY JUMPS FROM POINT
  TO POINT -- THEN STOPPING TO COALESCE
• DOES NOT HAVE TO BE CORRECT AT EVERY POINT. A
  REDICULOUS CONCEPT IS OFTEN NECESSARY TO GIVE A
  NEW ALIGNMENT
• IS NOT RESTRICTED BY RELEVENT INFORMATION -- USES
  A RANDOM APPROACH TO PERTURB THE SYSTEM AND BRING
  CHANGE
• JUDGEMENT IS NOT ALLOWED!!!!

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LATERAL THINKING

• FOLLOWING IDEAS ARE TAKEN FROM JUMP START YOUR
  BRAIN
• BY DOUG HALL, 1996

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JUMP START YOUR BRAINCONCEPTS

• FUN IS FUNDAMENTAL
• RESPECT THE NEW BORN
• REALITY IS NOT RELEVANT
• YOU HAVE TO SWING A LOG TO MAKE A HOME RUN

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HALLS QUESTIONS

• WHAT WOULD BE THE SIMPLE SOLUTION
• WHAT WOULD BE THE MOST REDICULOUS SOLUTION
• WHAT WOULD AROUSE CURIOSITY
• WHAT WOULD TURN WEAKNESSES TO STRENGTHS
• WHAT WOULD BE MOST COURAGEOUS SOLUTION
• WHAT WOULD BE FARTHEST REMOVED FROM THE
  COMPETITION

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B.O.S.BRAIN OPERATING SYSTEM

• PEOPLE THINK IN DIFFERENT WAYS
• REALIST
• BUILDER
• DREAMER

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B.O.S. SCORES

• REALIST
• - SCORE OF 056
• BUILDER
• - SCORE OF 56-67
• DREAMER
• - SCORE OF 68-100

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REALIST

• PREFERS IDEAS THAT ARE A VARIATION ON A FAMILIAR
  THEME. HAS THE ABILITY TO GRASP ISSUES IS MOST
  CREATIVE WHEN OPERATING ON AN INCREMENTAL LEVEL
  IS GOOD IN REACTING TO OTHER IDEAS LIKES TO WORK
  IN A STRUCTURED ENVIRONMENT

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BUILDER

• SEES ALL ASPECTS OF A SITUATION AND SEES WHAT
  OTHERS MISS CONNECTS THE DOTS AND MAKES POSSIBLE
  THE EXISTENCE OF EXTREMES AT HOME IN BOTH
  STRUCTURED AND UNSTRUCTURED ENVIRONMENTS CAN
  HELP AN IDEA GROW FROM AN ACORN TO A TREE.

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DREAMER

• SEES WHAT OTHRS DO NOT SEE WORKS BEST WITHOUT
  STRUCTURE LIKES THE LOOK, FEEL AND ELEGANCE OF
  AN IDEA, WITHOUT RELEVENCE TO REALITY IS OFTEN
  THE CATYLST FOR OTHER TYPES OF THINKERS MAKES
  UP LESS THAN 15 OF THE POPULATION

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THE ART OF THINKING

• PEOPLE THINK IN DIFFERENT WAYS AND THE SAME
  PERSON MAY USE DIFFERENT THOUGHT PROCESSES IN
  DIFFERENT SITUATIONS. MOST PEOPLE TEND TO FAVOR
  ONE OR TWO MODES AND ONLY A FEW USE MORE THAN TWO

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Lateral Thinking

• Alternatives Use concepts to breed new ideas
• Focus Sharpen or change your focus to improve
  your creative efforts
• Challenge Break free from the limits of accepted
  ways of operating
• Random Entry Use unconnected input to open new
  lines of thinking
• Provocation Move from a provocative statement to
  useful ideas
• Harvesting Select the best of early ideas and
  shape them into useable approaches
• Treatment of Ideas How to develop ideas and
  shape them to fit an organization or situation

Edward de Bono
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Benefits of Lateral Thinking

• Constructively challenge the status quo to enable
  new ideas to surface
• Find and build on the concept behind an idea to
  create more ideas
• Solve problems in ways that dont initially come
  to mind
• Use alternatives to liberate and harness your
  creative energy
• Turn problems into opportunities
• Select the best alternate ideas and implement
  them