What is lateral thinking? And how is it done?

Answer 1

Lateral thinking is what a child does naturally. The more you are educated and/or trained the more difficult it is to think laterally.
That is, you tend to lose spontaneity. You over focus.

Lateral thinking requires, 'thinking outside the box', it is an instinctive response to problem solving.

A trained mind will try to solve a problem through logical steps. An untrained mind, using common sense, might be able to spot an immediate solution.

Generally speaking, that is why academics do not make very good business people. They tend to over analyse things.

You ask "how is it done"? You have to try and clear your mind of any preconceptions regarding the problem you are trying to solve. Try to approach it with an unfettered mind, let your imagination come more into play.

Answer 2

My advice is to stay away from this poison. It is dangerous and employers don't like it. Suggesting some new idea using a lateral thinking style can make you look and feel very stupid in the workplace - trust me, I've been there. Look into logical thinking instead and you'll get along just fine in life.

Answer 3

Lateral thinking is the mental process of eliminating the obvious, irrelevant and uinimportant elements of a problem to reach a solution that is different from a linear logical approach. Edward De Bono is the master of this, see

http://www.edwdebono.com/debono/lateral.htm

Answer 4

Lateral thinking is sideways reasoning... Like, I like peanut butter, peanut butter is a great treat for dogs, therefore, I must be a dog.

Answer 5

sideways