No. 329 · Fixing problems · General Thinking
Lateral Thinking
When digging harder gets you nowhere, the answer is often to dig somewhere else.
In the Almanac
“De Bono’s sideways step”, 1967 · “Burger King”, 2018
Both stories in full, three ways to use it and where it misleads.
Get the AlmanacQuestions
What is Lateral Thinking?
Lateral Thinking, a term coined by Edward de Bono in 1967, means stepping off the usual track of logic to look at a problem from a new direction. Instead of digging the same hole deeper, it asks whether to dig somewhere else.
How do you use Lateral Thinking?
Use it when obvious solutions keep failing. Reverse the problem, force a connection with a random word, or change the question itself. Then test the sideways ideas with careful logic before acting on them.
When does Lateral Thinking matter?
Lateral Thinking is one of the 40 mental models for fixing problems, the situations where you ask: Why does this keep going wrong, and how do I fix it for good? Within that, it belongs to “Finding the real cause”, alongside Black Box, First Principles Thinking and Inversion.
What is an example of Lateral Thinking?
Two stories show it at work: De Bono’s sideways step (1967) and Burger King (2018). Both are told in full in The Mental Models Daily Almanac, which has two stories for each of its 365 models.
Which mental models are related to Lateral Thinking?
Divergent Thinking vs Convergent Thinking, Framing and Idea Maze. Lateral Thinking itself comes from general thinking.