LATERAL THINKING

A man lives on the twelfth floor of an apartment building.

Every morning he takes the elevator down to the lobby and leaves the building. In the evening, he gets into the elevator, and, if there is someone else in the elevator -- or if it was raining that day -- he goes back to his floor directly. Otherwise, he goes to the tenth floor and walks up two flights of stairs to his apartment.

The man is a dwarf. He can't reach the upper elevator buttons, but he can ask people to push them for him. He can also push them with his umbrella.

Lesson in Lateral Thinking: The Tale Of Two Pebbles Many years ago in a small Indian village, a farmer had the misfortune of owing a large sum of money to a village moneylender. The moneylender, who was old and ugly, fancied the farmer's beautiful daughter. So he proposed a bargain. He said he would forgo the farmer's debt if he could marry his daughter. Both the farmer and his daughter were horrified by the proposal. So the cunning money-lender suggested that they let providence decide the matter. He told them that he would put a black pebble and a white pebble into an empty money bag. Then the girl would have to pick one pebble from the bag. 1. If she picked the black pebble, she would become his wife and her father's debt would be forgiven. 2. If she picked the white pebble she need not marry him and her father's debt would still be forgiven. 3. If she refused to pick a pebble, her father would be thrown into jail.

They were standing on a pebble strewn path in the farmer's field. As they talked, the moneylender bent over to pick up two pebbles. As he picked them up, the sharp-eyed girl noticed that he had picked up two black pebbles and put them into the bag. He then asked the girl to pick a pebble from the bag. Now, imagine that you were standing in the field. What would you have done if you were the girl? If you had to advise her, what would you have told her? Careful analysis would produce three possibilities: 1. The girl should refuse to take a pebble. 2. The girl should know that there were two black pebbles in the bag and expose the money-lender as a cheat. 3. The girl should pick a black pebble and sacrifice herself in order to save her father from his debt and imprisonment.

Take a moment to ponder this.

The above story is used with the hope that it will make us appreciate the difference between Lateral Thinking and logical thinking. The girl's dilemma cannot be solved with traditional logical thinking. Think of the consequences if she chooses the above logical answers. What would you recommend that the girl do?

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.

This is just one example of the power of Lateral Thinking.

There are several ways of defining lateral thinking

1) "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. 2) Lateral Thinking is for changing concepts and perceptions Lateral thinking is concerned not with playing with the existing pieces but with seeking to change those very pieces.

Indian Example of empty package

Six Thinking Hats

Looking at a decision from all points of view

'Six Thinking Hats' is an important and powerful technique. It is used to look at decisions from a number of important perspectives. This forces you to move outside your habitual thinking style, and helps you to get a more rounded view of a situation. This tool was created by Edward de Bono in his book '6 Thinking Hats'.

How to Use the Tool: Each 'Thinking Hat' is a different style of thinking. These are explained below: 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.

White Hat Thinking: Information That We Have We can often find more information by taking a close look at what is known than we might expect. Its like detective work: each known fact can be examined for its significance.
Example: The dates of employment for each position on this applicants resume shows that she has never held a job for more than 18 months. (Note: we dont jump to conclusions, we just note the fact.) White Hat Thinking: Information That We Would Like to Have Here we include everything that comes to mind, without deciding whether there is a way to get the information or how urgently it is needed. Sometimes there are ways of getting information that at first seems unattainable. Example: It would be nice to know how this applicant would cope if George retires early and she is left to sort out his recruiting system on her own.

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

Red Hat Thinking: Signaling feelings Red Hat Thinking is very valuable because it makes clear that intuition, feelings, and emotions are going to be expressed as such. There is no need to pretend that they are something else. If feelings are indeed present, it is helpful to know what these feelings are. We can then see what we are dealing with. Example My Red Hat feeling is that I resent the email that was sent out. (Notice that no reasons are given. It is difficult but important not to explain the reasons.) Red Hat Thinking: Considering Feelings in Decision Making Feelings and intuition cannot be checked out, so it is unwise to use the Red Hat alone for decision making. However, Intuition, hunches, feelings, and emotions have a high value as ingredients in the thinking that leads up to a decision. Example The facts do not support going ahead with the plan, but my Red Hat feeling is that we should explore it further.

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.

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, as many successful people get so used to thinking positively that often they cannot see problems in advance. This leaves them under-prepared for difficulties.

Black Hat Thinking: Looking at faults The Black Hat helps us improve on an idea by drawing attention to the faults in the idea. Once we see the faults, we may be able to think of ways to overcome them. Note: We think of ways to overcome them later, when were using Green Hat Thinking.
Example If we order these items in larger quantities to take advantage of the volume discount, we will have the expense of renting more storage space to warehouse the inventory. Black Hat Thinking: Scanning for Potential Problems Black Hat Thinking can discover potential problems that might arise. Then we can either design ways to avoid the problems or be prepared to address the problems if they do come up. Example If we describe our product in detail on the website, it may be an open invitation for others to copy our design.

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.

Yellow Hat Thinking: Values and Benefits Values are more abstract than benefits. We may sense a value in an idea and then need to look around to see how the value can be enjoyed. Benefits are more specific. Who will reap the benefits? How are the benefits going to be enjoyed? Examples Could we implement this idea in such a way that it improves customer satisfaction? Awarding a bonus for employees at their five-year anniversary may reduce our turn-over.

Yellow Hat Thinking: Reasons for Optimism In Yellow Hat Thinking, there must be reasons to support the benefits that are claimed. In Green Hat Thinking ,we note possibilities even if they are vague and unlikely. With the Yellow Hat, we must have reasons why something has value or might work.
Example If we include home dcor along with our outdoor sporting equipment, we could attract people who dont actually get out much, but who like to feel that they lead a healthy, active lifestyle. .

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. A whole range of creativity tools can help you here.

Green Hat Thinking: Adopting a Creative Attitude What if youre in a Green Hat session and cant think of any ideas? The simplest form of creative effort is to look for alternatives. Even if these are well-known, its a creative effort to recall and list them. The minimum creative effort during Green Hat Thinking is to think of alternatives. Example Heres one alternative: We could bundle some of the slower selling items in with more popular ones and sell the combination as a package. What are other options?

Blue Hat: The Blue Hat stands for process control. This is the hat worn by people chairing meetings.

Blue Hat Thinking: Defining the Focus In defining the focus, Blue Hat questions include these kinds of things: What is the subject? What are we thinking about? What is our goal? Example We agreed to hold this meeting to target the customers most likely to keep buying our products during an economic downturn. Blue Hat Thinking: Setting out the Agenda Here were referring to making a plan for using the hats as well as for how and when were going to handle any other activity during the meeting. Example Okay, Blue Hat, everyone. We have the conference room for one hour. What hat sequence would make the most of our time?

Thank you