The Leader's Guide to Lateral Thinking Skills: Powerful Problem-Solving Techniques to Ignite Your Team's Potential [Paperback]

Paul Sloane (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0749440023 | ISBN-13: 978-0749440022 | Publication Date: June 2003

* Do you want to unlock the creative potential of your team?

Editorial Reviews

Review

"If you are only going to read one business book this year, this is the one. No modern business leader should be unaware of these insights." -- Brian Mcbride, VP Northern Europe, Dell Computer Corporation

About the Author

Paul Sloane is the leading expert on lateral thinking puzzles, and an independent consultant who advises on lateral thinking and creativity in business. He is renowned for holding interactive workshops designed to create a climate of creativity and innovation within organizations of all kinds. His extensive client list includes IBM, Barclays Bank, BT Glaxo Smith Kline, Vodafone and Philip Morris. A well known motivational speaker, he is also the author of many books on lateral thinking.

Product Details

• Paperback: 186 pages
• Publisher: Kogan Page Business Books (June 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0749440023
• ISBN-13: 978-0749440022
• Product Dimensions: 0.8 x 5.8 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,561,745 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Insightful!, December 1, 2004

By 

Rolf Dobelli "getAbstract" (Switzerland) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Leader's Guide to Lateral Thinking Skills: Powerful Problem-Solving Techniques to Ignite Your Team's Potential (Paperback)

Obviously, innovation, creativity and new ideas are important in business. Author Paul Sloane offers a number of techniques and practices to encourage the generation and development of new ideas. He says little startlingly new, but he offers leaders a handy, practical guide to the well-trodden paths of brainstorming, tolerance of failure and leadership by example. The most enjoyable part of the book is the long list of utterly dunderheaded quotations from experts in various fields declaring that such innovations as submarines, nuclear power, railroads and steamships are impossible. We recommend this book because it will encourage you to question your assumptions and to look for places where conventional wisdom is probably wrong - there's certainly no harm, and a great deal of good, in that.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Chance Discovery, January 19, 2006

By 

Gitanjali Venkatraman (India) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Leader's Guide to Lateral Thinking Skills: Powerful Problem-Solving Techniques to Ignite Your Team's Potential (Paperback)

Quite by chance, I read The Leader's Guide To Lateral Thinking by Paul Sloane over the weekend. What stood out in that book for me is - you won't find anything new if you look hard in the same direction.

I thought the examples used in it were quite powerful, since I still remember them. One is the fish bowl example (separating the small fish from the one large fish that eats them with a glass partition) - that the brain becomes complacent after a while and stops questioning. The other one was that of Henry Ford - who fired a senior manager who salted his soup before tasting it. Ooh ! That was apparently because he "prejudged situations" and Ford didn't want someone like that. IMHO, it was very unfair - I might have also probably salted my soup, if I was familiar with the restaurant :-) but then, run the risk of being fired by someone like Ford!

There was also plenty of quotes from people that made me stop and think how the world has evolved and living has become more comfortable, just by the sheer brilliance of the human brain!

That book put me (back) on a higher frequency and I am all excited about reading books again. And i'd heartily recommend this as a reading for anyone, not just for use in workplace, but also for everyday situations.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intelligent, practical and readable, August 10, 2003

By 

Roger Jeynes (London, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Leader's Guide to Lateral Thinking Skills: Powerful Problem-Solving Techniques to Ignite Your Team's Potential (Paperback)

This is a delightfully fresh approach to a very well-worn subject: how to enable innovation and creativity in business. Paul Sloane sets out the vital importance of innovation in modern business, using a very wide range of stimulating examples and case studies. He also offers a number of very practical methods businesses can use to encourage and foster a climate of innovation. You won't find all the techniques useful, but there's such a broad spread there's bound to be a few which work for any particular business.

The writing is intelligent but very readable, so it works on two levels: as a light, thought-provoking read and as a practical manual for taking action with a particular business.