www. Increase Brain Power .com

Some Lateral Thinking Examples

Here are some lateral thinking examples based on a realistic scenario. We'll not only look at some possible solutions to the following problem, but we'll look at how to arrive at "lateral" possibilities. This will help us better understand what the expression means and how to actually think more creatively.

Six friends were on a large sail boat far out to sea. They had the usual safety gear on board, including an inflatable life raft and personal flotation vests (life jackets). They decided to go for a swim in the calm waters, and one by one jumped over the edge. One had a plastic float toy, another a diving mask, and only one was wearing a life jacket. One man was wearing denim shorts with a knife on the belt, and the rest simply had on their swim suits. You may recognize this as a movie which was supposedly based on a true story.

They realized too late that nobody had put the ladder down. The sides of the boat were smooth polished fiberglass and sloped out over their heads. It was at least six feet up to the railing. They tried jumping high enough, but soon they were tired and cold. A breeze blew a jacket to the edge above, and a sleeve hung low enough that one of the men was able to grab it and pull the nylon jacket into the water with them. There was no land in sight. What could they do to save themselves?

The More Obvious Solutions

As mentioned, they tried jumping out of the water to reach the railing. As I recall, a couple of them even tried lifting another up, but they sunk into the water as they lifted her. Those, and swimming around the boat to see if there was anything hanging down to climb up on, were what I would consider the expected responses.

A bit more creative, although still a fairly "linear" solution, was to use their swim suits, and the jacket tie to create a "rope" that could be thrown up to the railing. Once tangled or caught on the railing, it could then be climbed. In the movie, it took them hours to think of this, and after one attempt during which the clothing broke halfway through the climb, they gave up, as people strangely do in movies.

The More "Lateral Thinking" Examples

Lateral thinking, remember, is moving away from the usual logic and linear line of reasoning. For example, it is logical to think about jumping up to reach the railing, and to help a person do that. A more creative or lateral approach would be to question the logic of using people as "muscle" for this attempt. What else could they be? Flotation.

One man could have leaned over and held his hands on his knees to provide a platform (his back) for another to climb on. Meanwhile, the others could each take a deep breath and swum down under the first to provide more flotation. They could have held the inflatable toy and life jacket under there as well. This might have kept the "platform" man floating high enough for the climber to stand on and reach the railing.

Lateral thinking, then, is sometimes about using what you have in unexpected ways. The knife, for example, might be used more conventionally to cut strips from the clothing and webbing from the life jacket to make a rope - not a bad idea either. But a more "lateral" though is for a man to pound it into the hull of the boat and use it to hang from while the lightest woman climbs over him to the railing.

But to think in lateral or non-linear ways also means to challenge the whole line of thought that the pursuit of a solution is based on. In this case, that line of thought is that they had to get back on the boat. Of course it is natural to think that is the only way to survive, but what if it wasn't? What if they don't actually need the boat?

Those kind of questions can sometimes lead to the most creative solutions. In this case, for example, had they challenged their assumption that the boat was so important, this lateral thinking may have lead to a very creative solution: Use the knife to cut a hole in the hull and sink the boat. As the boat got lower, they could have scrambled aboard and retrieved the life raft and supplies before it sank completely.

In the movie the knife is lost, and eventually four of the six died. The remaining two are saved using a broken piece of the face of the diving mask. This is jammed into a crack where the mechanical ladder normally opens, and the man hangs on it while the woman climbs over him and reaches the railing. Of course, since I did not mention the crack, this wouldn't be one of your solutions. But it is one of the better lateral thinking examples in this realistic scenario.

Note:

For more lateral thinking examples, be sure to visit the page Real Life Lateral Thinking Problems.