Lateral Thinking Looks Like Applied Systems Thinking to Me
If you consider the
systems thinking iceberg model, then lateral thinking seems to be looking at something at a particular level and then
delving deeper into the lower layers and questioning your assumptions before coming out and re-examining the situation from a new perspective. The new perspective comes from changing the assumptions and other "filters" that we see the world through.
The
ability to identify and suspend the assumptions that we have (from the lower levels of the iceberg) seems to be a key requirement to thinking laterally to me.