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THINKING OUT OF THE BOX

By Hiren Shah

Edward de Bono's gift to the world, lateral or

nonlinear thinking can hel !o" con#"re creati$esol"tions to e%erge a winner in an increasingl!

co%le& world

There is a story of a salesman in America who became amultimillionaire selling life insurance. On being asked

about the secret of his success, he answered that hetold his clients he was there to buy life insurance for them rather than sell it. He did

this to pre-empt the instinctual American skepticism and abhorrence of salesmen. n!anada, "on Barbaro, chief e#ecuti$e of the %rudential nsurance !ompany, made

one of the most inno$ati$e changes in life insurance. He introduced a system where aperson diagnosed with a terminal disease could be paid off during his lifetime to

enable him to afford his treatment. This was the most re$olutionary and successful

idea in life insurance in &'( years. Barbaro used the methods of )dward de Bono,whose name has become synonymous with lateral thinking.

A %h.*. in psychology, de Bono has held high academic positions at O#ford,

!ambridge and Har$ard uni$ersities. He has written o$er +( books translated into '

languages and has also made two tele$ision series aired around the world. He is theauthor of the famous co"T thinking program used internationally to directly teach

thinking in schools. )#amples of applications of lateral or nonlinear thinking aboundin se$eral fields. n cricket, erry %acker introduced day/night matches and colorful

balls and clothing, a departure from tradition that became so successful, the wholeworld of cricket adopted it. Australia recently e#perimented with two different

captains for the Test and one-day matches.

0ateral thinking is a step-by-step method of creati$e thinking with prescribed

techni1ues that can be used consciously. According to de Bono, intelligence is apotential and thinking is a skill to use that potential. He adds that thinking is no

substitute for information but information may be a substitute for thinking. 2hileinformation is swamping us, the need is for appropriate thinking techni1ues to a$oid

being weighed down by e#cessi$e information. 3ust as the skill of the dri$erdetermines how a car is used, thinking determines how intelligence is used. One may

be a good thinker without being an intellectual and $ice-$ersa.

There is a spiritual dimension to lateral thinking that has more to do with perception

than logic. 4ood conduct that arises from right thoughts and perceptions is as

important as meditation and spiritual practices. *e Bono compares cle$erness to asharp focus camera and wisdom to a wide-angled lens and wisdom depends hea$ilyupon perception. 5early all systems of meditation aim at purity of heart and mind to

refine perceptions for sound 6udgment. %hilosophy, literally 7lo$e for wisdom7, is also ameans of spirituality. 2isdom to a large e#tent in$ol$es correction of perception by

e#perience when one considers the dictum, knowledge comes but wisdom lingers.

8ocusing directly on 7thinking7 sharpens perceptions and lateral thinking is one of thebest means to achie$e that ob6ecti$e. n the introduction to his book Serious

!reati$ity 9sing the %owers of 0ateral Thinking, de Bono states that human

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perception works as a self-organi:ing information system.

(KI)) THT *N BE )E+NT

There is a misleading belief that creati$ity belongs to the world of art and is a matterof talent and chance and nothing can be consciously done about it. 0ateral thinking isspecifically concerned with changing preconcei$ed notions to bring out new ideas and

can be ac1uired and practiced as a skill. t is a special information handling processlike mathematics, logical analysis or computer simulation. Thinking techni1ues, once

mastered, can be used both indi$idually and in a group, dispensing withbrainstorming. n all the e#amples of lateral thinking gi$en in this article,

uncon$entionality clearly comes to the fore. According to de Bono, one should be freeof constraints, tradition and history in order to be creati$e. But that freedom is more

effecti$ely obtained by using certain deliberate techni1ues rather than by hoping tobe free. There is a pre$ailing belief that structures are restricti$e for creati$e thinking

but this is not entirely true. A cup does not limit one7s choice of drink, so one canconsciously a$oid being limited by structures and apply them to one7s field.

*e Bono has de$eloped se$eral techni1ues of lateral thinking under the three broadcategories; !hallenge, Alternati$es and %ro$ocation. The creati$e challenge is a

challenge to e#clusi$ity, which does not accept status 1uo and is particularly rele$antin those areas where ideas ha$e become obsolete with time. !ircumstances and

situations often restrict the choice of alternati$es and, therefore, it is better toassume a dynamic state of affairs. 0imits and components are changed to enable

new ways of doing things to emerge successful. %ro$ocation is more in the nature ofhypothesis where a situation is first concei$ed or imagined and then one proceeds to

arri$e at uni1ue plausible conclusions. According to *e Bono, the words hy

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things to achie$e in a group discussion. The western tradition of argument results in

taking positions whereby discussions are reduced to $erbal wars of attrition with aclash of personalitiesrather than of issues. 2ith the si# hats, instead of confrontation

there is supporti$e scrutiny of an issue, which is useful where there are fiercearguments, bickering or obstinacy. t is easy to switch thinking without causing

offense. The si#-hats method works as well e$erywhere and can also be used infamily situations. ts most fruitful ad$antage is that it forces you to think more

broadly.

*e Bono further states that generating creati$e ideas using his $arious techni1ues is

not enough. deas, by nature, are risky. Because the idea is new, one is not sure thatit will work or be practicable at the operational le$el. There may be a need to in$est

time, money and energy before an idea bears fruit. Cost people are reluctant tomake this effort so necessary as comple#ities multiply at the turn of the '&st century.

One person who did and became a stupendous success is *hirubhai Ambani.

0ateral thinking can sa$e your life, as illustrated in this story. Two men were on a

6ungle safari in Africa. Suddenly, they came across a tiger that started roaring. Bothmen were frightened and one of them started wearing his shoes. The other one said;How is this going to help? 2e can7t outrun the tiger. The first man replied; don7t

ha$e to outrun the tiger, only ha$e to outrun you.

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