Lateral Thinking

Have you ever been surprised by a really funny punch line to a joke or riddle? The joke leads you to think one way and then takes a sharp turn. That’s essentially what lateral thinking is.

Outside of making jokes, lateral thinking is a more creative way to solve problems. For example, when most racing boat designers are thinking about how to make a boat that slice through the water better, a lateral thinker might ask a question like, “What if the boat wasn’t in the water?” That then leads to an idea to have a boat that mostly flies through the air, using the water only for stability. It is a difficult concept to fully define or explain, but it starts with thinking outside of the normal assumptions being made.