Lateral Thinking for Every Day

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Transplant an idea

An important lateral thinking technique is to take an idea from one field and plant in a completely different one. It is something we saw in the workshop brainstorm method called Similes.

Jorge Odón is an Argentinian car mechanic who in 2006 invented a simple device which could save the lives of millions of mothers and babies. He was shown a YouTube video of a trick to remove a cork from inside a bottle. The secret is to insert a plastic bag into the bottle, inflate the bag around the cork and then pull it out. He had a brainwave – he could use the same principle that extracted the cork from the bottle to extract a baby during a difficult childbirth. He developed the idea and discussed it with people – most of whom thought ...