“Lateral Thinking”, usually said to mean something vague like “thinking outside the box” or “being creative”. That’s not wrong, exactly. But it doesn’t tell you what to actually do differently.
Lateral Thinking is a structured approach to generating alternatives and finding different ways forward. The term was coined by Edward de Bono in 1967 and describes a set of techniques that anyone can learn and apply. It isn’t a personality trait, and you don’t have to be naturally “creative” to use it.
This guide explains what Lateral Thinking actually is, how it differs from conventional problem-solving, and where it fits alongside other structured thinking tools such as Six Thinking Hats®.
What is Lateral Thinking?
Lateral Thinking is a way of deliberately moving beyond the obvious way of looking at a problem.
Most problem-solving follows a logical, sequential path. You start with what you know, build on it step by step and work towards a conclusion. That’s useful for many situations.
But when a team keeps approaching a problem in the same way, it can also keep producing the same kinds of answers. Lateral Thinking introduces techniques designed to disrupt that familiar pattern.
Instead of simply asking: “What’s the logical answer?”
You might ask: “What assumption are we making?”
“What if we approached this completely differently?”
“What other starting point could we use?”
The aim isn’t to abandon logic. It’s to deliberately generate alternatives that conventional, sequential thinking may not readily produce and then use judgement to decide which ideas are worth developing.
Crucially, Lateral Thinking isn’t about waiting for inspiration to strike. It’s a method that you can learn.
Lateral Thinking isn’t just “thinking outside the box”
“Think outside the box” is a useful phrase, but it’s not a method. It tells people they should find a different idea without telling them how to find one. That’s the important distinction. Lateral Thinking provides specific techniques for deliberately changing the way a problem is approached, challenging assumptions and generating alternatives.
So instead of telling a team: “Let’s think outside the box.”
You can give them a Lateral Thinking technique that changes the way they think about the problem. The difference is between being told to think differently and knowing how to do it.
What does Lateral Thinking actually involve?
Lateral Thinking includes specific, named techniques such as challenging assumptions, provocation, random entry and generating alternatives.
You don’t need to master every technique to understand the principle behind them. Each is designed to help a team break away from its usual route through a problem and generate alternatives deliberately.
- Challenging assumptions surfaces the unstated “rules” a team has been treating as fixed. Once those assumptions are visible, the team can question whether they actually need to remain in place.
- Provocation deliberately disrupts the normal pattern of thinking, creating a starting point that would not normally arise from a straightforward discussion.
- Random entry introduces an unrelated word, object or concept to create new associations and connections with the problem.
- Alternatives encourage the team to approach the problem from a different starting position, rather than automatically using the same route every time.
The common thread is simple: Don’t wait for a different idea to appear. Use a technique to deliberately generate one.
Can Lateral Thinking be taught?
Yes. That’s one of the fundamental ideas behind the approach. Lateral Thinking isn’t presented as an innate ability that some people have and others don’t. It is a set of techniques that can be learned, practised and applied to real problems.
That makes it particularly useful in organisations. Rather than hoping the right person happens to have the right idea at the right moment, teams can develop a shared approach to generating alternatives. You don’t have to be naturally creative to think laterally, you need to know how.
If your team doesn’t use AIWithout AI in the mix, businesses have always faced the same problem: the first workable idea often becomes the final one.
The team may never discover whether there was a better alternative because nobody deliberately looked for one. Idea generation can also become concentrated in the hands of the people who are most confident, most senior or most comfortable speaking up. Lateral Thinking changes that by giving everyone a repeatable way to generate alternatives. It means teams don’t have to rely entirely on inspiration, confidence or whoever happens to have an idea first. |
If your team does use AIWith AI in the mix, the risk changes shape rather than disappearing. AI can produce a plausible-sounding answer in seconds. That’s incredibly useful, but it also makes it easier to stop thinking once something usable appears on screen. The team still ends up settling for the first workable idea. Lateral Thinking provides a way to treat an AI-generated answer as a starting point rather than a finished one. The team can challenge the assumptions behind it, explore alternative directions and deliberately develop something that is better suited to the actual problem. AI can generate possibilities. |
The underlying issue is the same whether the first idea comes from a person or a machine: If you don’t deliberately look beyond the first answer, you may never find the better one.
Where does Six Thinking Hats® fit in?
Lateral Thinking and Six Thinking Hats® are often mentioned together because both were developed by Edward de Bono, but they do different jobs.
- Lateral Thinking is primarily about opening up new perceptions and generating alternatives most teams wouldn’t otherwise reach.
- Six Thinking Hats® can provide a structured way to examine an idea from different perspectives. Those perspectives include facts, feelings, risks, benefits and possibilities, alongside managing the overall thinking process.
The distinction matters.
Generating more ideas doesn’t automatically mean making better decisions. Teams also need to examine ideas properly, identify what they may have missed and consider the implications before deciding what to do.
The two approaches are complementary rather than competing. One can help a team move beyond the obvious. The other can help them examine what they have before deciding how to proceed.
Lateral Thinking, creative thinking and critical thinking
Lateral Thinking is closely related to creative thinking, but the terms aren’t interchangeable, and it isn’t fully separate from critical thinking either.
Creative thinking is the broader concept: generating new or useful ideas and possibilities. Lateral Thinking is a defined set of techniques that sits within it: a specific, deliberate way of generating alternatives and moving beyond established patterns of thinking.
Critical thinking is concerned with examining, questioning and evaluating information, assumptions and conclusions. Lateral Thinking is mostly about generating rather than evaluating. But a Lateral Thinking technique like challenging assumptions is really doing both at once: it generates a new direction by questioning something the team has been treating as fixed. Lateral Thinking even has its own techniques for this: Treatment and Assessment are used to shape, strengthen and conduct a preliminary evaluation of an idea before it goes any further, effectively an early pass at what Six Thinking Hats® does in full. The two aren’t as neatly separable as the labels suggest.
In practice, a team typically moves between them: using Lateral Thinking to generate alternatives, then Six Thinking Hats® to challenge and evaluate what’s been generated — with a fair amount of overlap between the two along the way.
This is particularly relevant when AI is involved. AI can make it easier to generate a plausible answer, but people still need to decide whether that answer is appropriate, what it may have missed and what other possibilities are worth considering.
Who uses Lateral Thinking?
Despite the name, Lateral Thinking isn’t a niche technique for creative industries.
It can be applied anywhere a team needs to generate options, solve problems, challenge assumptions or find a different way forward.
That includes:
- Strategy
- Marketing
- Product development
- Operations
- Customer service
- Leadership
- Project and change management
- Process improvement
- Innovation
- Sales and business development
And because Lateral Thinking is based on techniques rather than personality, it isn’t reserved for people who consider themselves “creative”. You don’t have to be naturally creative to think laterally.
Learn Lateral Thinking in practice
Understanding what Lateral Thinking is only takes you so far.
The value comes from being able to use the techniques when you’re faced with a real problem, challenge or opportunity – particularly when the obvious answer isn’t good enough. Our Lateral Thinking workshop teaches the techniques directly, giving participants the opportunity to apply them to real problems and challenges.
Get in touch to talk about bringing Lateral Thinking to your team, or view upcoming public workshop dates.
ABOUT INDIGO AND EDWARD DE BONO
Indigo Business Services is the exclusive UK distributor for Edward de Bono Limited. We run the full suite of de Bono creative thinking workshops, including Lateral Thinking, Six Thinking Hats® and Course in Creativity™, helping teams generate better ideas and make stronger decisions.
Frequently asked questions
Who invented Lateral Thinking?
The term “Lateral Thinking” was coined by Edward de Bono in 1967. He subsequently developed the concept into a broader set of techniques and thinking tools.
Is Lateral Thinking the same as creative thinking?
They overlap, but they aren’t exactly the same. Creative thinking is a broad term covering the generation of new or useful ideas. Lateral Thinking is more specific: it refers to a defined set of techniques for deliberately generating alternatives and moving beyond established patterns of thinking.
Can Lateral Thinking be taught?
Yes. Lateral Thinking is based on learnable techniques rather than an innate personality trait. The techniques can be taught, practised and applied to real business problems.
How is Lateral Thinking different from Six Thinking Hats®?
- Lateral Thinking focuses primarily on generating alternatives and finding different ways to approach a problem.
- Six Thinking Hats® can provide a structured way to examine an idea or situation from different perspectives, including facts, feelings, risks, benefits and possibilities.
The two approaches are complementary and can support different parts of the thinking process.
