Lateral Thinking

by Edward de Bono

  Why should PO work? PO could never work in a linear system like a computer because the arrangement of information in such a system is always the best possible one according to the programme. But in a self-maximizing system or a system with humour the arrangement of information into patterns depends very heavily on the sequence of arrival of information. Thus A followed by B, followed by C, followed by D, would give a different pattern to B followed by D, followed by A, followed by C But if A, B, C and D were all to arrive together then the best arrangement of them would be different from either of the other two arrangements. There is a tremendous continuity in this type of system and this means that it is easy to add to patterns or combine them but very difficult to restructure them.* There are also the inherited patterns which are acquired ready made from other minds.

  Because of this tendency to establish patterns and for them to become ever more rigid one needs a means for disrupting the patterns in order to let the information come together in new ways,PO is that means as it is the tool of lateral thinking. PO is needed because of the behaviour of a self-maximizing memory system and PO works because of the nature of such a system. Within such a system some sort of pattern has to form. If the old pattern is sufficiently dislocated then a new pattern is formed and the process is insight restructuring.

  PO is used to disrupt patterns, PO is used to dislocate patterns. PO is used as a catalyst to bring together information in a certain way. From that point on it is the natural behaviour of the mind that snaps the new pattern together. Without such behaviour PO would be useless.

  The bigger the change from the old pattern the more likely is a new pattern to snap together. ‘Reasonable’ arrangements of information are too closely similar to the old arrangements to give new patterns. That is why PO works outside of reason, PO is concerned not with the reason for using information in a certain way but for the effect it will have. Once the new pattern has come about it must of course be judged in the usual way.

  In emptying a bucket by a siphon the water must first be sucked upwards in the tube. This is an unnatural direction for water to travel. Once the water has reached a certain position then the siphon forms and the water will continue to flow naturally out of the bucket until it is empty. In the same way an unnatural use of information may be necessary to provoke a rearrangement that is itself perfectly natural

  Grammatical use of PO

  PO can be used in any way that seems natural The most important point is that anything covered by PO should be clearly seen to be covered by PO. The two main functions of PO are first to protect an arrangement of information from judgement and to indicate that it is being used provocatively and second to challenge a particular arrangement of information such as an idea, a concept or a way of putting things. In the second case the material being challenged would be repeated and PO would be added to it In the other case PO would cover new material

  1. PO as interjection

  Here PO would be used by itself as a reply or even as an inteiruption much as no is used. It would imply that a particular way of looking at things was being challenged.

  e g. The purpose of sport is to encourage the competitive spirit and the will to win.’

  ‘Po!’

  2. PO as preface

  Here PO is used before a sentence or a phrase or a word that it is meant to qualify. The qualification may take the form of a challenge or it may take the form of introducing provocative material,

  e g. ‘An organization can only function efficiently if all its members show absolute obethence.’

  ‘Po function efficiently.’

  or ‘Po clockwork with the cogwheels made of rubber.’

  3. PO as a juxtaposition

  When two words are going to be juxtaposed for no reason at all PO is used to indicate this relationship between them. This same use of PO is involved in the introduction of a random word into a discussion.

  e g. ‘Travel po ink.’

  or ‘Po kangaroos.’

  4. PO in the same positions as NO or NOT

  PO can be used in any position in which no or not could be used. In such a position PO would qualify exactly the same things as no or NOT would qualify.

  e g. ‘Wednesday is po a holiday’

  In practice it is probably best to try to use PO always at the beginning of a sentence or phrase or right in front of the word to be qualified, PO does not have to be written in capital letters but I until one is well used to it capital letters are preferable If one is using PO and the other person does not understand its use then this can be most simply explained as follows:

  1. Challenge function

  PO means you may very well be right but let’s try and look at it in another way.

  2. Provocative function

  PO means I am just saying that to see what it sets off in your mind, to see whether that way of putting things can stimulate any new ideas.

  3. Anti-arrogance function

  PO means don’t be so arrogant, so dogmatic. Don’t have such a closed mind.

  4. Overreaction

  PO simply means, let’s cool it. There is no point in getting upset about this.

  Practice

  PO is the language tool of lateral thinking. The concept and function of lateral thinking is crystallized in the use of PO. If one acquires skill in the use of PO then one has skill in the use of lateral thinking. For this reason practice in the use of PO is extremely important. Learning how to use PO is similar to learning how to use NO. Learning how to use NO is however a gradual process spread over many years. With PO one tries to achieve the same effect in a shorter time. It is much better to go slowly and carefully than to rush ahead and teach only a limited or even incorrect use of PO.

  In teaching the use of PO it is far better to suggest the general concept of PO than to define rigidly the situations in which it can be used. Nevertheless one needs to show the practical use of PO in language and not just the theory behind it.

  Since PO is the tool of lateral thinking any of the previous practice sessions could be reused with PO as the operative device. It is more useful however to devise special situations which indicate the function of PO more specifically.

  In this section several aspects of the function of PO have been listed. These aspects can be mentioned in the course of explaining the nature of PO and as one mentions them one can give and ask for further examples. For the actual practice session it is better to group the functions of PO into a few broad uses than to confuse with the detail of each particular use.

  The function of PO involves two basic aspects:

  The use of PO.

  The response to PO.

  The response to

  It is far better to learn the response to PO before the use of PO. The reason for this apparently paradoxical arrangement is that by learning how to respond to PO one actually learns the reason for using it. In addition by learning the response first one can then practise the use of PO in a more realistic way since it will not only be used but also responded to.

  The points about the response to PO are as follows:

  1. PO is never a judgement. This means that when PO is used to challenge something that you have said this does not imply disagreement or even doubt. PO is never met with a defence of what has been said. Nor is PO met with an exasperated. ‘How else could it be put — how would you put it?’ Furthermore PO is not an indication that the person saying it has a better alternative or even an alternative at all. What PO implies is, ‘Without disagreeing with what you say let us — both of us — try and put things together in a different way. It is not me against you but a joint search for an alternative structuring.’ It is important to stress this aspect of the joint search. It is important to stress that PO is not part of the antagonism of an argument. So one responds to PO by trying to generate alternatives not by irritation or by defending the original way of putting things.

  2. PO may involve the provocative use of information. This means that information may be pu
t together in a fantastic and completely unjustified way which is covered by PO. In responding to this use of PO one does not argue that the arrangement of in formation is unacceptable. One does not demand the reason for putting things together in this way. Nor does one sit back and imply, ‘Very well, if you want to put things like that you go ahead and show that it can be useful.’ The provocative use of PO is to provide a stimulus which is to be used cooperatively by both parties. It implies: ‘If we use this arrangement of information as a stimulus what can we both come up with?’ So the response to the provocative use of PO is neither condemnation nor indifference but active cooperation.

  3. PO may be used as a protection. This means that PO may be used to hold off judgement or to temporarily override a judgement that has resulted in a rejection. The response to this use of PO is not to show that the judgement is necessary and should be applied at once. Nor is the response one of exasperation, ‘If you won’t accept the ordinary uses of right and wrong how can we ever proceed?’ Nor is the response one of superior indifference, ‘If you want to say that black is white and to play around with that idea for a while I shall just wait until you are through.’ As before the proper response is a cooperative exploration of the new situation.

  4. PO may be a relaxation. This means that when a situation has become tense through the development of rigid points of view and possibly overreactions, PO is suggested as a smile to relax the tension and to relax the rigid points of view. Here the only appropriate response is to respond with PO (with a mental shrug and a smile) and to relax the rigidity of the situation.

  5. PO may be used ambiguously. There are times when it is not clear how PO is being used or what concept is being challenged. In such cases one simply asks for the person using PO either to be more specific or to agree that he really wants to use it in a general way.

  In summary one may say that the most important aspect of the response to PO is to realize that it is not directed against anything but is a suggestion for cooperative attempts to restructure a situation. If one feels competitive then one can express this by using PO more effectively than the person suggesting it: that is to say one goes on to generate more alternatives than he does. PO may be an invitation to a race but never an invitation to a conflict.

  The use of PO

  For convenience the many uses of PO may be divided into three broad classes:

  1. The generation of alternatives. Anti-arrogance. Relaxation. Reexamination of a concept. Rethinking. Restructuring. Indicating an awareness of the possibility of clichés or a rigid point of view.

  2. Provocation. The use of arrangements of information as stimuli Juxtapositions. Introduction of random words. Abolition of concept divisions. The use of fantasy and nonsense.

  3. Protection and rescue. Holding off judgement Temporarily reversing judgement. Removal of the NO label.

  The generation of alternatives

  PO is used to point out that a particular way of looking at a situation is only one view among many. PO is used to point out that a particular point of view appears to be held with an unjustified arrogance. The first level is merely to suggest that there may be other ways of looking at the situation. This is especially so when one uses PO as an anti-arrogance device.

  The next level is to invite restructuring of the situation. Here one asks for alternatives and goes on to supply them oneself.

  PO may be applied to a whole idea, a whole sentence, a phrase, a concept or just a word.

  Practice

  1. The teacher asks a student (a particular student or a volunteer) to talk on some subject The subject could be something like the following:

  What is the use of space travel?

  Should all medical aid be free?

  Are straight roads better than winding ones?

  In the course of the student’s talk the teacher interrupts with PO. The interruption repeats part of what the student has said and prefaces it with PO. The student is not expected to respond to PO at this stage. This is explained to him. He just pauses while the teacher interrupts and then carries on.

  2. The teacher talks about a subject and this time the students are invited to interrupt with PO in the same way as the teacher had done in the preceding practice session. Subjects for discussion might include:

  The usefulness of different languages.

  Whether large organizations work better than small ones.

  Was it easier to work alone or in a group?

  Each time a student interrupts with PO the teacher responds by generating alternative ways of putting things and the students are encouraged to do the same. For example, a discussion might go something like this:

  TEACHER: Different languages are useful because they allow the development of different cultures and so provide more interest.

  STUDENT: PO provide more interest.

  TEACHER: Different cultures mean different ways of looking at life, different habits and ways of behaving, different art etc. All these are things one can learn about and find out about and compare to one’s own. New patterns to be explored. Something to be done.

  STUDENT: Different ways of expressing the same thing — they could be useful, they could be a waste of time.

  TEACHER: Because of the different language communication is poor and so distinctness emerges instead of a general uniformity.

  STUDENT: PO communication is poor.

  TEACHER: People cannot talk easily to people with another language or read their books. People cannot influence each other so much.

  STUDENT: People cannot influence each other. That may be a bad thing because from such interaction might come better understanding.

  TEACHER: PO understanding.

  STUDENT: They would know what the other person meant what he was up to, what he wanted, what his values were.

  3. It is quite likely that a discussion of this sort would very quickly become a two way discussion. If not then the teacher can deliberately arrange for a debate type discussion between two students. Each of them is allowed to use PO and so is the teacher who can interrupt with PO but is not allowed to take part in the discussion otherwise.

  Comment

  In this type of discussion it may become obvious that PO is being used mainly as a focusing device to indicate: ‘explain what you mean by…’ or, ‘define that…’ or, ‘elaborate that point…’ If In this seems to be the case then the teacher points out that the function of PO is to ask for a restructuring, to ask for alternative ways of putting things. When PO is next used the teacher calls I for a pause and then invites the entire class to list different ways of putting whatever has been qualified by PO. For instance ‘Po understanding’ from the example given above might rise to the following:

  Supposing that the other person reacts hi the same way as you.

  Things mean the same to the other person as to you

  Lessen the possibility of misunderstanding.

  Full sympathy.

  Communication without interpreters or intermediaries.

  Ability to listen and respond.

  None of these are complete or even very good definitions of ‘understanding’ but they are different ways of putting things. Perhaps the best of them is ‘lessen the possibility of misunderstanding’. This may seem a tautology but from an information point of view it says a great deal.

  4. Picture interpretation. This is similar to the picture interpretation that was practised hi an earlier session. The caption is removed from a photograph and a student (or students if there are enough copies of the photograph or other means for making it visible to all) is asked to interpret it He offers an interpretation and then the teacher replies, ‘Po’. This simply means, ‘Very well. Go on. Generate another alternative. What else could it mean?’

  This is a very simple use of PO but it is helpful to practise it since it indicates the use of PO in a much clearer manner than do the other situations.

  Provocation

  This second use of PO simply indicates that the ar
rangement of information has no justification except the possibility that it might set off new lines of thought. Such an arrangement of information may be as fantastic or unreasonable as anyone can make it. The arrangement is not examined in itself but only in terms of what it sets off.

  5. Juxtaposition. This is the simplest provocative arrangement of information. Two words are put together with PO inserted be tween them to indicate why they are put together. The pairs of words are then offered to the class one at a time. The session may be conducted in an open class with students volunteering suggestions which are listed by the teacher on a blackboard or else by some student who is asked to take notes. Alternatively the students can list their own ideas and these are collected and compared at the end.

  Possible pairs of words might include:

  Ice cream po electric light.

  Horse po caterpillar.

  Book po policeman.

  Rain po Wednesday.

  Stars po football.

  Stars po decision.

  Shoe po food.

  The students are not specifically asked to relate the words, or to find some connection between the two or to show what the two words have in common. Any sort of ideas at all that arise are accepted. There is no question of directing the sort of ideas that the students ought to be having. If on reading through the results one cannot see the connection then one asks how it came about, one asks for the missing links. One does not care what the idea is but one does want to know how it came about.

  6. Random word. This technique has been discussed in a previous chapter. It consists of introducing into the consideration of a subject a word which has no connection with the subject at all. The idea is to see what the random word triggers off. In this case PO would be used to introduce the random word. An alternative way of doing it would be to take some word which appeared to be vital in the discussion and couple it in juxtaposition with a random word by means of PO.