The Business Book

88

T H E W A Y F O R W A R D

M A Y N O T B E T O

G O F O R W A R D

THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX

T

he competitive pressures

that businesses face are

constantly in flux: new ideas

and disruptive technologies emerge,

the economic power of countries

shifts, and market dynamics

change. Yet business history is

littered with companies that

ignored change and pushed forward

with flawed strategies based on the

old environment. To avoid this, the

idea of “thinking outside the box”

is used to challenge precepts and

assumptions—to consider that

sometimes, the way to move

forward is not to move forward at all.

The idea of thinking outside the

box emerged in the 1960s and is

based on the nine-dots puzzle, a

game that was used by management

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

Innovation

KEY DATES

1914 The nine-dots puzzle

is published in Sam Loyd’s

Cyclopedia of Puzzles.

1967 Edward de Bono coins

the term “lateral thinking” to

describe the process of the

“horizontal imagination,”

which has a broad sweep but

is unconcerned with detail.

1970s There is a surge of

management consultants

encouraging creativity.

Strategic thinking is said

to embrace retrenchment

and retreat.

2012 Jeff Bezos of Amazon

claims that ”if you’re inventing

and pioneering, you have to be

willing to be misunderstood

for long periods of time.”

Sometimes the way

to move forward

is not to move

forward at all.

Thinking outside the box

is a leadership tool that

encourages creative

responses to problems.

Markets are dynamic;

technologies and competitive

pressures change.

For businesses to survive,

leaders must motivate staff

to avoid fixed thinking.