WEBVTT 00:00:02.880 --> 00:00:07.120 You've probably all heard that phrase  "thinking out of the box"; everybody tells you, 00:00:07.120 --> 00:00:12.259 "Think out of the box." And it sounds so easy, and yet it's so difficult. 00:00:17.600 --> 00:00:21.508 If we're talking about theory and creativity, then 00:00:21.508 --> 00:00:24.585 we've got to think about de Bono and lateral thinking. 00:00:24.585 --> 00:00:28.628 So, if you're thinking out of the box, then  lateral thinking is... 00:00:28.628 --> 00:00:34.200 well, almost – not quite, but almost the same thing in different words. 00:00:34.200 --> 00:00:40.471 And this idea of doing things that are breaking the mold, that are not following a line 00:00:40.511 --> 00:00:43.960 obviously covers a lot of creativity techniques, 00:00:43.963 --> 00:00:47.280 but particularly lateral thinking, de Bono's lateral thinking. 00:00:47.280 --> 00:00:52.298 The idea there is, wherever you are, you've  got your problem, you've got your start point. 00:00:52.872 --> 00:00:56.813 Linear thinking, in de Bono's terms, is very much about 00:00:56.813 --> 00:00:59.480 trying to follow the standard path, going along. 00:00:59.497 --> 00:01:04.080 So, if you're doing mathematics, you  might pull the standard techniques off the shelf; 00:01:04.080 --> 00:01:09.184 if you're writing a poem, you might be thinking line by line and 00:01:09.184 --> 00:01:12.741 you're thinking how each line fits and rhymes with the one before 00:01:12.741 --> 00:01:15.200 – if you're doing rhyming poetry, that is. 00:01:15.220 --> 00:01:18.716 So, it's all about following the same path of reasoning, going on and on. 00:01:18.716 --> 00:01:23.656 *Lateral thinking is about trying to expand*; so, instead of following the same path of reasoning, 00:01:23.656 --> 00:01:27.317 are there different places to start? 00:01:27.317 --> 00:01:31.645 Are there different ways of thinking  from the way, where you are? 00:01:31.645 --> 00:01:35.822 So, it's about trying to expand your idea of where you are *outwards*. 00:01:35.822 --> 00:01:39.469 So, that might be thinking of different solution strategies. 00:01:39.469 --> 00:01:43.266 So, it might be thinking of different ways to start. 00:01:45.040 --> 00:01:48.743 Crucially, though, if you want to see out of the box 00:01:48.743 --> 00:01:51.840 – or get out of the box, you actually often need to see the box. 00:01:51.840 --> 00:01:55.360 If you're literally in a cardboard box, you know you're in it, but... 00:01:55.360 --> 00:01:58.931 *mental boxes* – you don't actually know you're in them. 00:01:58.931 --> 00:02:02.354 It's not that there's a cardboard wall and you don't go beyond it; 00:02:02.354 --> 00:02:07.040 it's more like a hall of mirrors, so you never realize there's anything 00:02:07.040 --> 00:02:09.600 outside at all. 00:02:10.206 --> 00:02:14.043 Sometimes *unusual examples* can help you see that. 00:02:14.043 --> 00:02:18.000 And that's, again, part of the reason  for the Bad Ideas method, like Random Metaphors; 00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:21.937 things that – as soon as you've got something that isn't in the box, 00:02:21.937 --> 00:02:24.400 even if it's not a very good thing, 00:02:24.427 --> 00:02:28.732 it helps you to realize – you can say, "Well, *why* isn't this a good solution? 00:02:28.732 --> 00:02:31.497 Why doesn't it work as a solution?" 00:02:31.497 --> 00:02:37.040 And as you answer that question about why, what you're doing is you're *naming* that cardboard wall. 00:02:37.040 --> 00:02:40.020 And once you've named the cardboard wall and you know it's there, 00:02:40.020 --> 00:02:45.160 you can start to think of what might be outside of that box but perhaps is a better solution. 00:02:45.160 --> 00:02:48.760 If you think about some of the analytic methods combining those, those are about 00:02:48.760 --> 00:02:52.712 building a map of the territory, which is very much about naming the box, 00:02:52.712 --> 00:02:55.776 naming the walls, naming the boundaries. 00:02:55.840 --> 00:03:00.217 And by naming them, by seeing from a distance what is there, 00:03:00.217 --> 00:03:05.344 being able to then think of alternative solutions that are completely different. 00:03:05.344 --> 00:03:11.345 So, both alternative solutions help you to see the territory, help you to see the box; 00:03:11.345 --> 00:03:15.999 of course, by seeing the box, that gives you the potential to have alternative solutions, 00:03:15.999 --> 00:03:20.555 and actually you can iterate back and forth between those and hopefully build 00:03:20.555 --> 00:03:24.581 a better understanding of what is there and what is constraining you. 00:03:24.581 --> 00:03:30.301 If you understand what's constraining you, then  you can start to break those constraints.