Lateral Thinking
Deliberately cut across established mental patterns to generate genuinely new ideas
Lateral thinking is a systematic approach to crossing from the main pattern of thought to a side-track that would be inaccessible by moving forward along the main track. It is grounded in the asymmetric nature of patterns in self-organizing neural networks: the path from A to B is not the same as the path from B to A. Every valuable creative idea is logical in hindsight but inaccessible by foresight through normal logic. Specific tools—provocation (po), random entry, and movement—allow deliberate pattern-crossing rather than waiting for chance insight.
- Patterns in self-organizing systems are asymmetric: the path from A to B differs from B to A
- Every valuable creative idea is logical in hindsight but inaccessible by normal forward logic
- Provocation is a mathematical necessity in patterning systems—IBM researchers confirmed this in 1982
- Movement is a mental operation distinct from judgement: use an idea to move forward, not to evaluate
- A random entry point provides access to tracks you could never reach from the centre
- Insight arises when you happen to enter a pattern at a point that immediately reveals the short path back
- Define the focus areaState clearly the domain or problem where a new idea is needed. The focus area is the starting point from which existing patterns dominate.Pro tipBe specific: 'new approaches to reducing hospital waiting times' is a better focus than 'healthcare improvement'.
- Use Provocation (Po)Generate a deliberately absurd, impossible, or contrary statement about the focus area, prefixed with 'po' to signal its role as a stepping stone, not a proposal. For example, 'po cars have square wheels' or 'po the factory is downstream of itself'.Pro tipThe provocation does not have to be plausible. Its job is to get you off the main track, not to be the answer.WarningWithout the 'po' signal, provocations will be dismissed immediately as nonsense, killing the process before it starts.
- Apply MovementFrom the provocation, move forward—not backwards to judge. Ask: 'What useful idea does this lead to? What principle is hidden here? What would have to be true for this to work?' Use the provocation as a stepping stone.Pro tipThe 'po cars have square wheels' provocation led to active suspension that adjusts to road surface—a concept now in production.WarningMovement is not the same as brainstorming. Do not evaluate; extract and extend.
- Use Random EntryOpen a dictionary to a random page, take the fifth word down to the first noun, then hold that word in juxtaposition to the focus area. Let the patterns activated by the random word intersect with the focus area to generate new ideas.Pro tipRandom word 'traffic lights' + focus 'cigarette' = cigarette with a red danger-zone band. The technique is deceptively simple and highly effective.WarningIn table-top (rock logic) thinking, a random word has no connection to the focus by definition, so this looks like nonsense. It only works—and only makes sense—in a self-organizing patterning system.
- Harvest and evaluate in hindsightOnce a new idea has been reached by lateral movement, step back and evaluate it normally. The idea will be logical in hindsight even though it was unreachable by logic in foresight.Pro tipThe harvesting step is where normal critical thinking finally has its place—but only after the creative crossing, never before.
Provocation: 'po the factory is downstream of itself.' This impossible idea leads directly to a logical policy: require that the factory's water intake be downstream of its own effluent outlet, making it the first victim of its own pollution.
Peter Ueberroth applied lateral thinking tools learned from de Bono at a 1975 seminar to invent new financial and organizational concepts for the Olympic Games, at a time when no city wanted to host due to financial losses.
De Bono coined 'lateral thinking' as a precise term for what happens in both humour and creativity—moving sideways across patterns. The word now appears in the Oxford English Dictionary. In this book de Bono traces its mathematical necessity back to the asymmetric behaviour of self-organizing patterning systems, showing it is not a soft creative exercise but a logical necessity. Peter Ueberroth credited de Bono's lateral thinking techniques with generating the new financial concepts that saved the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games.