"Tale of Two Pebbles"- A lesson in Lateral Thinking

Many years ago in a small Indian village, a farmer had the misfortune of owing a large sum of money to a village moneylender. The moneylender, who was old and ugly, fancied the farmer's beautiful daughter. So he proposed a bargain. He said he would forgo the farmer's debt if he could marry his daughter. Both the farmer and his daughter were horrified by the proposal. So the cunning money-lender suggested that they let providence decide the matter. He told them that he would put a black pebble and a white pebble into an empty money bag. Then the girl would have to pick one pebble from the bag.

1) If she picked the black pebble, she would become his wife and her father's debt would be forgiven.

2) If she picked the white pebble she need not marry him and her father's debt would still be forgiven.

3) If she refused to pick a pebble, her father would be thrown into jail.They were standing on a pebble strewn path in the farmer's field.

As they talked, the moneylender bent over to pick up two pebbles. As he picked them up, the sharp-eyed girl noticed that he had picked up two black pebbles and put them into the bag. He then asked the girl to pick a pebble from the bag.

Now, imagine that you were standing in the field. What would you have done if you were the girl? If you had to advise her, what would you have told her?Careful analysis would produce three possibilities:

1. The girl should refuse to take a pebble.
2. The girl should know that there were two black pebbles in the bag and expose the money-lender as a cheat.
3. The girl should pick a black pebble and sacrifice herself in order to save her father from his debt and imprisonment.

Take a moment to ponder over the story. The above story is used with the hope that it will make us appreciate the difference between lateral and logical thinking. The girl's dilemma cannot be solved with traditional logical thinking. Think of the consequences if she chooses the above logical answers.

What would you recommend that the girl do? Click here to find out what she did....

“Innovation Must Go Beyond Lip Service”- by Edward de Bono

Many organizations today pay lip service to the idea of 'innovation'. But it is not enough to say that you are in favor of innovation and then do nothing about it. Many organizations have told me that they already have too many new ideas. I do not see how you can have too many ideas. You just pick the best. Too many corporations still believe that nothing can be done about creativity. There are people who are creative and there are people who are not creative. You just have to hope and wait for the creative people to have new ideas. This is an extremely old-fashioned view. The deliberate and formal skills of lateral thinking can be taught, learned and practiced in as deliberate a manner as we learn and use mathematics. Creativity is not just a natural talent. Brainstorming doesn't go far enough. One afternoon a group of workshops, using one of the formal tools of lateral thinking, generated 21,000 ideas for a steel company. It took the company nine months to sort through the ideas generated in that afternoon. This goes way beyond what brainstorming will do for you. The first step is to give someone senior the responsibility of doing something about innovation. This person will be required to report periodically on what he or she has done. The person does need to be senior. The next step is to make the senior levels in an organization aware of the importance of creativity and what can be done about it. This could be achieved in the form of a lecture or seminar. Some structure needs to be put in place to encourage, channel and examine new ideas. Eventually a Centre for Innovation and Creativity may be set up. A sufficient group of people need to be trained formally in the deliberate creative methods of lateral thinking. This does need to be done formally, using certified instructors, and so on. Messing around has no value. At all times the chief executive must emphasize the importance of creativity to the organization and also indicate to people that new thinking will be noticed, rewarded and acted upon. Expectations need to be set. A formal Creative Hit List might be constructed and made available to all. This is a focus list of areas that seem to need new ideas. Employees at all levels are invited to have ideas around these listed areas. Creativity and innovation should be seen as everyone's responsibility.