PDF Summary:Lateral Thinking, by Edward de Bono

For centuries, logical and analytical thinking has been the cornerstone of problem-solving methodology. While this approach has led to remarkable achievements, it sometimes fails to address challenges that require creative breakthroughs or novel solutions. In Lateral Thinking (1970), physician and scholar Edward de Bono shows us how to move beyond the limitations of traditional “vertical” thinking with unconventional thought patterns he calls lateral thinking. This approach isn’t a replacement for logical thinking, but a complementary tool that enables us to view problems from new perspectives.

In our guide, we’ll explain de Bono’s concept of lateral thinking, contrast it with vertical thinking, and describe how the mind’s style of processing information lends itself to lateral thinking. We’ll also discuss practices for promoting lateral thinking, plus some structured exercises for teachers to use in the classroom. In our commentary, we’ll add research and other theories to support de Bono’s ideas, as well as tips for how to put them into practice.

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Technique 1: Idea Generation

The first technique for practicing lateral thinking that de Bono describes is idea generation. Lateral thinking aims to produce as many ideas as possible rather than finding the best one, continues to generate options even after finding promising approaches, and considers even unreasonable ideas. This is because any idea, regardless of its correctness, can lead to new and better ideas. Practicing idea generation helps you cultivate cognitive flexibility, understand that there are always other options, and turn pattern-restructuring into a habit.

Purposeful Mistakes and Inaccurate Information

Other experts agree with de Bono’s argument that any idea can lead to better ideas. In The 5 Elements of Effective Thinking, Edward B. Burger and Michael Starbird recommend deliberately making mistakes or bad leaps in logic to come up with better ideas.

Additionally, in Where Good Ideas Come From, Steven Johnson explains how mistakes made in a group setting cause people to think more flexibly. He describes a study in which a group of participants was shown a series of colors on different slides and asked to list words they associate with those colors. Most of the associations the group made were predictable, like associating “green” with “grass.” However, in subsequent studies, actors were introduced to the group who deliberately misidentified the colors (like calling a blue slide green). The actual participants then began making more creative associations, suggesting that adding inaccurate information to the group’s pool of knowledge led to greater creativity.

Using Quotas

To make idea generation a habit, de Bono recommends using quotas: Set a specific number of ideas you want to come up with before you begin. Setting this quota beforehand forces you to continue producing ideas even after finding an apparently good solution, and it requires you to make an effort to find ideas rather than just waiting for them to present themselves. This prevents you from getting stuck on the first promising idea.

(Shortform note: Setting quotas for idea generation can help you avoid the creative cliff illusion—the misconception that most of your good ideas happen early and that, once they stop flowing quickly, you’re “out” of ideas. This can lead you to give up too soon and abandon ideas that aren’t quite complete. Research suggests that the greatest number of good ideas emerge near the end of any given period of idea generation, suggesting that patience and perseverance are essential in the cultivation of ideas.)

Exercises to Teach Idea Generation

De Bono provides many structured exercises for teaching lateral thinking to students. We’ll highlight and briefly describe some of these throughout this section. As a reminder, make sure you don’t evaluate students’ ideas as they come up. If they don’t seem to make sense, ask the students to explain them, but avoid labeling them as incorrect.

1) Describe a geometric figure: Present students with a shape and ask them to come up with as many ways of describing it as possible. For example, the image of a hexagon might elicit the following descriptions:

• A six-sided shape
• A square with the four corners cut off
• A cube with the front edges not shown
• A combination of four triangles
• A cell in a beehive structure
• A silhouette of a 20-sided die

2) Story interpretation: Present students with a brief story, such as one from a newspaper article or a classroom text. Have the students come up with different interpretations of the characters’ perspectives or the meaning of the story. You can also have them take a positive description from the story and change the emphasis to make it a negative one.

3) Problem description and solving: Present students with a problem, such as a conflict in a story or a problem they’re familiar with (like overcrowded school buses). Have the students state the problem in as many different ways as possible. As an added exercise, have them generate as many different solutions as possible.

Sharing the Load of Lateral Thinking Between Subjects

As mentioned earlier, the exercises de Bono recommends can be used with students of all ages.

In elementary school settings, teachers may find lateral thinking sessions easier to implement, since the same teachers are usually with the same students all day. However, at the middle and high school levels, it may be difficult to determine which classes should provide this instruction. To make sure all students get lateral thinking instruction, teachers may find it helpful to collaborate across subjects, possibly taking turns providing this instruction in various subjects so the responsibility doesn’t fall solely on teachers of one subject area. This type of collaboration can help reduce teachers’ workload, as well as allowing them to reference information students are learning in other classes.

Also, de Bono’s exercises may be more effective or relevant in different contexts. For example, describing a geometric figure works best in math classes where teachers can use it as a transition into a regular lesson on geometry. The story interpretation exercise may work best in English classes, where teachers can use the students’ interpretations to transition into a regular lesson on writing and storytelling. Problem description and solving could work well in social studies or science classes, where teachers will likely have on hand many problems related to society and the modern world.

Technique 2: Challenging Established Patterns

Another way to practice lateral thinking is to challenge the patterns that we assume to be true in our thinking processes. De Bono explains that people often accept foundational ideas as valid before trying to arrange them into new patterns. However, these fundamental ideas are also patterns that warrant reexamination.

We must take many things for granted to function in daily life, writes de Bono. Our assumptions serve a purpose in pattern-making reasoning, which is to create boundaries for problem-solving. Boundaries and assumptions make it easier to reason through a problem, as they leave us with fewer factors to consider. For example, if you were trying to train yourself to be a faster runner using a treadmill, you’d likely assume that the speed sensor and clock on your treadmill are correct. Without that assumption, the boundaries for how you’ll measure your progress would become useless, and you’d have to spend time and energy finding a different way to measure them.

(Shortform note: Experts suggest that this tendency to rely on assumptions helps us conserve energy. Research shows that thinking actively about something expends extra energy, and because humans evolved in environments with limited energy resources, we’re wired to avoid such expenditures. This may explain our natural resistance to rethinking established patterns, as well as why we feel so tired after a long day of cognitive activity.)

However, as mentioned earlier, there are flaws in our pattern-making processes that prevent us from making optimal use of the information we receive (such as how much we rely on the sequence in which information arrives and how hard we find it to change frequently used thought patterns). These flaws lead to incorrect assumptions, and incorrect assumptions can make a problem unsolvable.

De Bono explains that most assumptions exist because they’ve historically been accepted as true, not because they’ve been thoroughly examined and restructured over time. Challenging these patterns isn’t about proving them wrong or even suggesting better patterns. Rather, it’s about examining them, identifying the ideas underlying them, and considering how all of those ideas could be rearranged to form different patterns.

(Shortform note: Rearranging your existing patterns can lead to unexpected insights that give you a whole new understanding or solution to your problem. In Seeing What Others Don’t, Gary Klein explains that insights are leaps in logic that challenge our previous assumptions and transform our perspectives. Challenging our assumptions is uncomfortable, and the more fundamental the belief being challenged, the more resistant we might be to accepting a new insight even when the evidence supports it. This means you may need to be willing to embrace discomfort in order to challenge your established patterns as de Bono advises.)

Asking Why

To challenge established patterns, de Bono recommends repeatedly asking why each piece of information is considered true. For each answer, ask “Why?” again. At no point should you simply say, “Because it’s true,” no matter how obvious the idea seems. While it may not be possible to question every facet of every assumption you make, exercises like this can train you to examine assumptions in your reasoning instead of blindly accepting them as true.

For example, you may begin with the statement, “Birds have wings.” Asking “Why?” might elicit responses like “So they can fly,” “Because they evolved that way,” and “Because they don’t have arms.” In response to these questions, you can ask “Why do wings help birds fly?”; “Why did they evolve that way instead of some other way?”; and “Why don’t they have arms?” Each of these questions leads to further “why” questions, all aimed at the core objective of questioning why your current understanding is what it is.

(Shortform note: De Bono’s “why” questions seem to focus on the question of “Why is this the case?” Another valuable “why” question could be “Why do I believe this is true?” Experts note that our definition of “fact” is not as universal or concrete as we might think. We might think of a fact as something that can be proven, but many “facts” are personal interpretations or beliefs. For example, it might be a fact that the sun rises in the east (provably true) but a person might also believe as a “fact” that certain political policies are better than others (personal belief). Exploring the “why” behind the facts we believe might provide insight into how accurate these facts are and whether we need to reconsider or restructure them.)

Technique 3: Thinking in Reverse

Another method de Bono describes for practicing lateral thinking is to think about things in reverse: Take a thought process and reframe it in different directions, whether that be backwards, from the inside out, or upside down. This can create unique arrangements of information, and it can also help you get started on an open-ended problem, especially those requiring a lot of creativity. The goal is to break free from the standard way of viewing a situation, conquer the fear of being wrong, and create provocative rearrangements of information that might lead to new insights.

For example, you may start with the following assumption: The legal system uses policing to fight crime. You could reverse it as follows: Police use the legal system to fight crime; crime fights police; crime creates police; police create crime through the legal system; the legal system creates crime for police to fight; and many more variations. While some of these may be absurd, they can still help you understand and restructure the patterns of thought that underlie the initial statement, and one of these new patterns may prove useful in solving a problem.

(Shortform note: Thinking in reverse, also known as inversion, can be especially useful in fields like engineering. Experts recommend practices like reverse brainstorming, where you reverse the goal you’re trying to achieve. For example, if you have a product that’s struggling in the market, you might ask how you can increase costs rather than decrease them, or how you can complexify your product instead of simplifying it. Once you’ve answered these questions, reverse them. This may provide you with a clear answer to your original question, or it may open you up to new insights about why your product is currently failing or could potentially fail.)

Exercises to Teach Thinking in Reverse

Consider using the following exercises to teach students how to think in reverse:

1) Reversing stories and problems: Present students with a story or problem and have them reframe it in reverse. For example, the classic story trope of “The knight saves the princess from the dragon” could be reversed as “The dragon protects the princess from the knight,” “The princess saves the knight from the dragon,” “The princess lures the knight to fight her dragon,” “The knight abducts the princess from her friend the dragon,” and more. Have your whole class discuss these reversals and highlight particularly inventive reframings.

2) Follow through on reversals: Present students with situations and their reversals, and have them carry the reversal through to its logical conclusion. For example, using the earlier example about police, you may take the reversal “the legal system creates crime for police to fight” and have students list what ideas this could lead to. They may come up with things like reducing the stringency of laws, reducing police quotas, creating other tasks for police to do besides fighting crime, and so on.

(Shortform note: De Bono recommends reversing or shifting the elements of a story, but you could also have students take the actual events in a story or problem and change their chronology—for example, the princess is saved, then the knight fights the dragon, then the dragon kidnaps the princess. Students could then take this arrangement and come up with ideas on why each event could have led to the next—simultaneously encouraging lateral thinking while also teaching about cause and effect, which helps students better understand stories and problems.)

Technique 4: Shifting Your Attention

Similar to the practice of thinking in reverse, de Bono also suggests that you can change your thinking patterns by focusing on different pieces of information or approaching the situation from a different angle. As explained earlier, the patterns our brains create from new information depend heavily on the sequence in which we take in that information. The patterns we use repeatedly also become dominant, so we tend to approach problems from the same familiar starting point. This means we’re often not using the information in the best way possible. To counteract this, try shifting your attention to parts of the problem that you may have overlooked or starting your reasoning from a different place than you did initially.

For example, if you’re learning about a conflict in another country, your standard approach might be to research the event that triggered the conflict, what each side says they’re fighting for, and how it impacts people today. However, to understand the situation more comprehensively, you’ll need to direct your attention to what was going on before the triggering event: Who was in power leading up to the event? What were their objectives and motivations? How did they convince others to follow them? Additionally, you may have started your reasoning from the belief that side A was in the right, but you can challenge your thinking if you approach it instead from the belief that side B was in the right or that both sides were equally right or wrong.

(Shortform note: Studying ambiguous figures may help you understand and apply attention shifting. Ambiguous figures are images that seem to depict two different things depending on how you look at them. By shifting your attention to certain parts of the image, you can control which of the two depictions you’re perceiving. Research shows that being exposed to figures like this enhances creativity and problem-solving, supporting de Bono’s assertion that shifting your attention helps you use information more optimally.)

De Bono emphasizes that attention is a passive activity that needs active direction. He suggests several methods for managing attention, including intentionally redirecting your attention from what stands out naturally. You can also write down all the aspects of your topic and then pay special attention to each aspect one by one. He stresses the importance of considering seemingly meaningless aspects, since the properties we perceive aren’t objective reality but instead exist in our perspectives and mental patterns.

For example, if you’re a parent trying to help your child with anxiety about school, they might tell you that there’s too much homework, they don’t like how another child is treating them, and they feel uncomfortable during gym class. You initially assume that “uncomfortable” is the same as “anxious” and so ignore that detail. However, if you consider it more closely, you might learn that they’re referring to physical discomfort because they’re having trouble breathing during gym class. Exploring this further, you eventually discover that they have asthma, and that this ailment is worsening their anxiety. You’ve uncovered a problem (and thus, a potential solution) that you wouldn’t have noticed if you hadn’t paid special attention to each detail.

(Shortform note: This activity can help you overcome two cognitive biases (or errors in thinking): the “availability” bias and the “naive realism” bias. In Poor Charlie’s Almanack, Charles Munger explains the availability bias as our tendency to make decisions based on the information available to us while dismissing information that’s not. The naive realism bias is our tendency to assume that we perceive the world objectively, meaning we assume the information available to us is unbiased and factually true. Shifting your attention to what doesn’t stand out naturally or what seems meaningless can remind you that you may not have access to all the relevant information, and that you may be interpreting your information in a subjective way.)

Exercises to Teach Attention Shifting

Use the following exercises to teach attention shifting:

1) Find missing information in a story: Present students with a brief story and have them identify what information is missing. For example, consider the classic children’s rhyme about Humpty Dumpty: “Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall; all the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put Humpty together again.” Students may note the following omissions: Why was Humpty Dumpty sitting on a wall? Was he supposed to be there? Why does it matter that he fell? Why were the king’s horses and men trying to put him back together? This trains students to pay attention to things they might otherwise take for granted.

2) Find missing information in a picture: Give one student a photograph and have them describe it to the whole class. Based on the description, the other students draw what they think the image looks like. The details in the photograph that don’t make it into any of the students’ drawings will show what details the describer didn’t pay attention to.

3) Solving a mystery: Present students with a mystery story that has enough clues to be solvable, but not enough to be obvious. Have the students try to solve the mystery. Then have them write their own mystery stories with the same guidelines; read those in front of the class and have everyone try to solve the mystery. This helps students notice how paying attention to some clues over others can aid or hinder their thinking process.

Information Literacy and Information Adequacy

You can carry these exercises a step further to help students gain information literacy skills and learn about things like persuasion and propaganda. For example, you could take a real-world story and compare different media outlets’ coverage of it, asking students to identify information that may have been left out deliberately and why it may have been left out. They can analyze what reasons someone might have for omitting information or framing a story in a certain way, allowing them to better assess the credibility of sources and understand the purpose of propaganda.

These exercises can also help students avoid the illusion of information adequacy, in which we assume we have enough information to understand something or make a decision even when we don’t. By identifying what information is or may be missing, students can learn to avoid making judgments based on inadequate information.

Technique 5: Using Analogies

De Bono explains that an analogy is a concrete, familiar idea or story that serves as a comparison for another idea. It features some type of change, relationship, or activity that can be applied to something else. You can create an analogy for something you’re thinking about, advance the analogy to its conclusion, and then compare it to the topic you started with. The analogy doesn’t have to fit perfectly; in fact, imperfect analogies can be more valuable because the challenge of connecting them to the problem can generate new insights.

For example, say you’re a manager struggling to get your team to work together on an important project. You analogize your situation to an orchestra that can’t get their starting note right. As you follow through on the analogy, you imagine the conductor investigating by looking at the musicians’ sheet music—they find that there’s an error on some of the sheets that instructs the musicians to play at the wrong time. Returning to your own situation, you may consider that you’ve miscommunicated your expectations for what each person should be doing (even though it’s not a perfect analogy). Clarifying your expectations may then solve your problem.

De Bono distinguishes between using analogies for lateral thinking versus using them for argumentation. In argumentation, the goal of an analogy is to demonstrate that an occurrence or phenomenon in the analogy is reflected in the situation it’s being compared to—for example, because A led to B in the analogy, A (or whatever it represents) must also lead to B (or what it represents) in the real situation. However, in lateral thinking, analogies serve as idea generators rather than proof mechanisms: The goal isn’t to prove a similarity between the analogy and the situation, but instead to provoke new perspectives on the problem.

Analogical Reasoning and Distance

Using analogies to think is known as analogical reasoning, and it’s considered a fundamental feature of human cognition. (Some animals, such as primates and crows, also demonstrate analogical reasoning). Near analogies, or within-domain analogies, are more obvious and relate things in the same field (for example, “a driver is to a bus as a pilot is to a plane”). Far analogies, or cross-domain analogies, are less obvious and more difficult to connect (for example, “a driver is to a bus as an author is to a book”). Research shows these far examples are more cognitively demanding, which supports de Bono’s argument that imperfect analogies can be more useful in lateral thinking (since lateral thinking is about challenging the brain).

On the other hand, arguing by analogy can be risky because it assumes that since the subjects in question are similar in one respect, they must be similar in other respects. If there are flaws in the analogy, this can result in the fallacy of false analogy. Far analogies may be more prone to this fallacy, as they compare things with fewer similarities. In argumentation, which lacks the suspended judgment of lateral thinking, this can lead to faulty thinking. If you’re using an analogy for an argument, make sure it’s valid by evaluating factors like truth (Is the identified similarity actually present?) and relevance (Is the identified similarity relevant to the argument?).

Technique 6: Random Stimulation

De Bono also recommends using random stimulation to encourage lateral thinking. This involves intentionally bringing in other ideas or information to provoke new ones. This practice is distinct from vertical thinking: While vertical thinking focuses on selecting only pertinent information, random stimulation deliberately incorporates irrelevant information to spark new patterns of thought. Random stimulation works because of the brain’s pattern-making processes. When you hold two different pieces of information in your mind at once, the brain naturally works to form associations between them, which can alter or even completely restructure its existing patterns.

(Shortform note: The reason random stimulation provokes new ideas may relate to the associative nature of our thinking: When you activate a part of the brain linked to a certain idea, other parts linked to associated ideas also activate. The more closely related the idea, the more likely it is that that brain area will activate. However, introducing random stimulation can prompt the brain to create new associations and activate different parts of the brain, potentially leading to novel ideas or insights.)

De Bono writes that there are many ways to provide your brain with random inputs to spur lateral thinking. You can deliberately expose yourself to others’ ideas through brainstorming, or you can explore subjects unrelated to your topic (often referred to as “cross-disciplinary fertilization”).

(Shortform note: Despite the benefits of cross-disciplinary fertilization, experts have noted a growing divide in academia between certain types of subjects—namely, STEM and the humanities. They suggest this may result from society’s emphasis on the economic value of STEM fields. Others observe that this divide exists even at liberal arts institutions, which supposedly value all subjects equally. They contend that STEM education relies on skills taught by the humanities, that a lack of humanities education can result in a lack of the empathy that’s necessary for the proper use of scientific knowledge, and that a focus only on STEM can actually harm the economy by reducing literacy rates.)

De Bono says another way you can access random stimulation is to put yourself in environments that provide random inputs, such as a museum or a fair. It’s important not to go into these environments with the intention of looking for or finding anything in particular, as that predisposes you to a fixed idea of what’s pertinent and can make you overlook useful stimuli. Instead, let your attention wander and don’t dismiss anything as useless.

(Shortform note: In Steal Like an Artist, Austin Kleon recommends filling your environment with art, ideas, objects, and people that inspire you to be more creative. While this isn’t random, it can provide the same type of stimulation de Bono describes, especially if you use things unrelated to your current topic. Experts also agree that letting your mind wander prompts greater insights. They recommend taking time to not think about your problem and instead occupy yourself with an easy, repetitive task so your brain can relax and work on the problem in the background.)

However, since our brains naturally look for relevant information, these techniques won’t produce truly random inputs. While it may seem counterintuitive, to access true randomness, you’ll need a more structured approach. One method is to take in random inputs from sources like dictionaries or encyclopedias: Simply open to a random page and choose the first word or entry you see. Alternatively, you can roll some dice and choose the entry that corresponds to the number you roll (for example, if you roll a five, open a reference book to a random page and choose the fifth entry).

For example, a thought process relating the problem of “how to increase worldwide literacy rates” with the random word “bell” might look like this: “bell–Belle–fairy tales–storybooks.” This could lead to the idea for a program that distributes storybooks for free in areas with lower literacy rates. Another possible sequence would be: “bell–ring–band–party–celebration.” This could suggest that seeking ways to celebrate literacy across cultures might help propagate it. As with all lateral thinking practices, most associations probably won’t lead to a solution to the problem, but they’ll still provide helpful stimulation for challenging your mental patterns.

Can Humans Be Truly Random?

Research supports the idea that unstructured approaches to random stimulation won’t produce true randomness. One study suggests that when trying to generate random numbers, humans remember previous choices they’ve made and then try to avoid order in their continued choices—which means their choices aren’t random but instead guided by an inclination to avoid certain sequences. Additionally, humans have trouble perceiving randomness: Our pattern-making tendencies work against us here, making us assign meaning to random inputs and conclude they’re not random at all. Even computers may not give us random outputs, as they rely on predictable algorithms for what they generate.

Whether there’s any way to access (or even any such thing as) true randomness is up for debate. Nevertheless, the stimulation provided by seemingly random inputs can still prompt creative and lateral thinking.

Exercises to Teach Random Stimulation

Here are some exercises for teaching random stimulation. You may have to choose inputs deliberately for the sake of instruction, but they will still serve as random stimulation for the students.

1) Relating problems to a random word: Present students with an open-ended problem and a random word from the dictionary. Students then suggest different ways to connect the random word to the problem. Have them succinctly explain the connection.

2) Relating problems to a random object: Present students with an open-ended problem, then assign them a random object. As with the previous exercise, have the students suggest ways to connect the object to the problem, concisely explaining their reasoning.

(Shortform note: If you find that choosing a word from a dictionary still doesn’t provide you with a random enough stimulus, you can also use digital tools like an online word generator or a random object generator. These tools can eliminate any bias you may have that makes the selection less random.)