everyday examples of lateral thinking - critical thinking secrets

The history of art, science, politics, warfare and business are full of examples of lateral thinking.

Nelson’s famous victory at the Battle of Trafalgar; the German army going around the Maginot line to cut off French defences in WWII; Jeff Bezos circumventing the way we buy and sell online; Uber subversively overturning the taxi industry, and Airbnb doing the same for hotels and lodging.

All of these are examples of solutions to problems that were done ‘laterally‘ as opposed to ‘vertically‘ (and we’ll discuss exactly what those terms mean in a moment).

But these are pretty hefty examples. What about lateral thinking in our everyday life, in the real world?

That’s what we’re going to discuss here and see some of the ways real-world problems get solved with lateral thinking.

Contents

1 What is lateral thinking anyway?

1.1 Vertical thinking

1.2 Lateral thinking

2 A quick example of real-world lateral thinking

2.1 Unsticking a frozen car door

3 More examples of everyday lateral thinking

3.1 State Street Global Advisors

3.2 Vulfpeck’s silent album

4 Using lateral thinking in your everyday life

5 References

What is lateral thinking anyway?

Invented by the Maltese philosopher Edward do Bono in 1967, lateral thinking is often opposed to vertical thinking.

In fact, explaining vertical thinking makes it a little easier to see what lateral thinking is, so let’s define what vertical thinking is first.

Vertical thinking

Vertical thinking is maintaining your current, linear approach to any given problem.

In short, if you are thinking vertically, you are being rigid, processual, and sticking to the ‘rules.’

Now, many tasks can benefit from vertical thinking. But sometimes, this rigidity can lead to stumbling blocks. These stumblings blocks come when we encounter problems with no obvious solutions.

That’s where lateral thinking comes in.

Lateral thinking

It is important to note that lateral thinking does not oppose vertical thinking. It does, however, contrast with it.

Lateral thinking is meant to complement vertical thinking, not replace it.

Lateral thinking employs creative reasoning that is not immediately obvious. In lateral thinking, we are encouraged to take risks, use our intuition, access our imagination and conscious/subconscious processes.

In effect, lateral thinking is simply creative problem solving: the breaking out of established moulds, sequences, and analyses to achieve a result otherwise thought impossible or impractical.

A quick example of real-world lateral thinking

Here’s a quick example that illustrates the difference between lateral and vertical thinking and provides us with an ‘everyday’ problem lateral thinking can provide a solution for.

Unsticking a frozen car door

If you live in a cold climate, chances are you’ve come out to your car in the winter and found it frozen, unable to turn.

Linear thinking isn’t going to help you in a situation like this. It’s time to think outside the box. Heating the key is an obvious solution, but that doesn’t always work.

A lateral thinker can draw from a wide range of resources and knowledge to solve problems others wouldn’t. Rubbing alcohol, for example, can also unfreeze locks.

A lateral thinker would also realize that hand sanitizers, which we all now carry thanks to COVID-19, contain a high amount of alcohol. Squirt some onto both sides of your car key, inserting the car key, and within a few turns, you’ll have an unlocked car.

But you wouldn’t have gotten there unless you were thinking a little bit outside the box and drawing on a well of knowledge.

More examples of everyday lateral thinking

Here are two more examples of lateral thinking from in the real world. In both cases below, lateral thinking is used to resolve a marketing problem.

State Street Global Advisors

In 2017 State Street Global Advisors needed a new way to advertise their index fund, so they came up with an ingenious idea that illustrates lateral thinking beautifully.

Instead of going the usual route and buying ads in newspapers, TV, or social media, they commissioned a statue of a four-foot-tall girl and installed it in the New York financial district.

Instead of making a linear decision and advertising with the usual method, State Stree chose a lateral way and got free advertising by placing a permanent structure in a busy, public location.

Estimates suggest that State Street receives millions in dollars in free advertising from Fearless Girl alone.

The statue has been accused of being an advertising trick, with State Street taking advantage of the surge in women’s rights movements at the time. But it certainly paid off and achieved State Street’s goal.

Vulfpeck’s silent album

Vulfpeck is a Michigan-based funk band that made waves about seven years ago with their ingenious marketing ploy.

Vulfpeck wanted to raise money for their band’s latest tour. Instead of doing the linear or vertical thinking route and marketing their tour in the traditional way, the band decided to employ a little lateral thinking.

Instead of asking their fans for money or advertising their tour with a regular album, they released a five-minute album of silence on Spotify. Then they asked fans to stream that album overnight, again and again, to generate revenue for the band.

Well, it appears this little loophole worked. In fact, you’ll find that many people who see “loopholes” to systems or rules do so because they are engaging in lateral thinking.

And Vulfpeck’s silent album is a perfect example of someone using lateral thinking in marketing, but also lateral thinking in terms of taking advantage of Spotify’s rules.

Using lateral thinking in your everyday life

The above examples come from real-life business problems. But chances are you employ lateral thinking in your life often without even realizing it, and to some extent, we are all lateral thinkers.

Children especially are natural ‘lateral thinkers’ simply because they are free of many of the presumptions most adults are conditioned to have. Those presumptions often serve as roadblocks to our creativity and problem-solving. Therefore, learning to open your mind up as a child does is a great way to get into lateral thinking mode.

Lateral thinking offers so many benefits. Examples of lateral thinking and opportunities to implement them in our everyday life are abundant. Lateral thinking is the ultimate transferable cognitive skill with seemingly endless applications in every part of your life. It can both enrich and change the way you encounter the world.