Resilience (forging ahead) - Imbibing lateral thinking
Anger, anxiety and sadness have engulfed our entire nation. We are bleeding and battered but we must nevertheless remain unbowed. On one point both the Chief of Staff to the President and the National Security Adviser do not hold divergent views – our situation is precarious and our mood is volatile.
That is precisely why the retired partners of KPMG who are still awaiting their gratuity and pension have been putting pressure on Resilience Television not to jeopardize their investment in the venture until they have thoroughly verified all the statements attributed to Professor Ibrahim Gambari; Major-general Babagana Monguno (Rtd), Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Lt.-general T.Y. Danjuma and others.
Indeed, before the documentary is aired, it must be vetted by first-class lawyers like Chief Ladi Williams SAN, Mr Kayode Sofola SAN, Senator Dipo Odujirin SAN, Prince Yemi Adefulu, Mr Asue Ighodalo, Mr Yemi Adeola and the newly elected President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr Olumide Akpata. All of them were in Payne’s House while Akpata’s father, Dr Henry Akpata was in Hyde Johnson’s House.
What is at stake is not just our investment (and our bequest to the next generation) but a unique opportunity to validate the philosophy of Professor Edward De Bono (of University of Cambridge), the architect of Lateral Thinking: “Always ask why. Question everything. Nothing is sacred.”
He is a physician, author, inventor, and consultant from Malta and is regarded as the world’s leading authority on conceptual thinking as the driver of organizational innovation, strategic leadership, and individual creativity. He is known as the father of Lateral thinking, a brain training pioneer. He is the author of “Six Thinking Hats” and is a proponent of the teaching of thinking as a subject in schools.
He says lateral thinking is the generation of new ideas using insight, creativity and humour, by virtue of its freshness, it’s likely to succeed where old-fashioned linear methods fail. The idea of lateral thinking is to find entirely new ways of thinking and acting, to break out of set patterns that are going nowhere. It is both constructive and positive, it is not passive. Humour and enjoyment are vital as with any process, what you don’t do is as vital in lateral thinking as what you do.
Think of consolidating your own position rather than attacking someone else’s. Negativity allows mediocrity to prevail that’s why lateral thinking is always positive. It’s not hard to find something good about other people, you can at least try asking, “What can she/he do? How can she/he help me? What is good about her/him? How can we all pull together on this? What is the thing I’m best at? What do I enjoy doing best?
In dealing with problems, Professor de Bono is emphatic: “A problem is only the difference between what you have and what you want. To solve it, don’t go battering blindly or dig in your heels, put your hands over your ears and mutter Shan’t”
Instead, you should ask yourself what you do want to do and go with that. That is the use of “water logic” rather than “rock logic”. Water logic flows round obstacles, adapts itself to the prevailing contours of the landscape, and finds its own level. Rock logic remains hard and unadaptable and may become an obstacle in itself:
Linear (unlike lateral) thinking moves in one direction – step by logical step. On the other hand, lateral thinking being ready to explore possibilities, does not go down just one route. On the contrary, it releases talents and abilities we do not realise we have. It involves risk and daring.
The first technique is to search for alternatives. Instead of thinking: “This is the way it’s done” or even worse, “This is the way its always been done”, ask yourself, “How else could I do this?”
Lateral thinking improves with practice. Solving problems is enormously self-reinforcing. The renewed confidence that comes from these feelings of wellbeing strengthens your ability to deal with future problems.
We have been duly cautioned:
“So, don’t think “obstacles” – which can’t be got round – think “problems”, because they have solutions.
The powerful message and profound conclusion are that the purpose of lateral thinking is not to be right but to be effective. You can only be effective if you learn to sift the crucial factors in any situation from the confining structures.
Professor Anya Oko Anya, a renowned Professor of Biology and currently the President of the Nigerian Prize for Leadership has entered the fray with his warning: “failure to bridge gap between rich and poor could be precursor to chaos”
It was Richard Nixon, the late President of the United States of America who observed that no leader can afford to haughtily declare that he cannot suffer fools because in any population, fools may be in the overwhelming majority and those we regard as fools may not be fools at all.
At the recent burial of Congressman John Lewis, the legend of civil rights movement in America, former President Bill Clinton delivered a spell binding eulogy which reminded the global audience that: we are poor not because there is not enough to feed the poor but there is not enough to satisfy the rich, he thought the open hand was better than the clenched fist.
He lived by the faith and promise of St. Paul: Let us not grow weary in doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not lose heart. He never lost heart. He fought the good fight, he kept the faith, but we got our last letter today on the pages of the New York Times. Keep moving. It is so fitting on the day of his service, he leaves us our marching orders: Keep moving.
lateral thinking is the generation of new ideas using insight, creativity and humour, by virtue of its freshness, it’s likely to succeed where oldfashioned linear methods fail.
J.K. Randle is a former President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and former Chairman of KPMG Nigeria and Africa Region. He is currently the Chairman, J.K. Randle Professional Services.
Email: jkrandleintuk@gmail.com