Thinking outside the box

Thinking outside the box (sometimes erroneously called "thinking out of the box" or
"thinking outside the square") is to think differently, unconventionally or from a new
perspective. This phrase often refers to novel, creative and smart thinking.

This is sometimes called a process of lateral thought. The catchphrase, or cliché, has
become widely used in business environments, especially by management consultants
and executive coaches, and has spawned a number of advertising slogans. To think
outside the box is to look further and try not to think of the obvious things, but try and
think beyond that.

The "nine dots" puzzle. The goal of the puzzle is to link all 9 dots using four straight lines
or less, without lifting the pen. One solution appears below.

Analogy

A simplified definition for paradigm is a habit of reasoning or a conceptual framework.

A simplified analogy is "the box" in the commonly used phrase "thinking outside the
box". What is encompassed by the words "inside the box" becomes analogous with what
we know or what we assume.

Conservationist Lawrence Anthony acknowledges and rejects the paradigm analogy. He

argues "I have never understood the saying 'To think outside the box.' Why would anyone
sit inside of a box and then think outside of it. Rather just get out of the box."[citation needed]
Nine dots puzzle

One of many solutions to the puzzle at the beginning of this article is to go beyond the
boundaries to link all dots in 4 straight lines.

The notion of something outside a perceived "box" is related to a traditional

topographical puzzle called the nine dots puzzle.[1]

The origins of phrase "thinking outside the box" are obscure; but it was popularized in
part because of a nine-dot puzzle, which John Adair claims to have introduced in 1969.[2].
Management consultant Mike Vance has claimed that the use of the nine-dot puzzle in
consultancy circles stems from the corporate culture of the Walt Disney Company, where
the puzzle was used in-house.[3]

The puzzle proposed an intellectual challenge—to connect the dots by drawing four
straight, continuous lines that pass through each of the nine dots, and never lifting the
pencil from the paper. The conundrum is easily resolved, but only if you draw the lines
outside the confines of the square area defined by the nine dots themselves. The phrase
"thinking outside the box" is a restatement of the solution strategy. The puzzle only
seems difficult because we imagine a boundary around the edge of the dot array.[4] The
heart of the matter is the unspecified barrier which is typically perceived.

Christopher Columbus's Egg Puzzle as it appeared in Sam Loyd's Cyclopedia of Puzzles.

The nine dots puzzle is much older than the slogan. It appears in Sam Loyd's 1914
Cyclopedia of Puzzles.[5] In the 1951 compilation The Puzzle-Mine: Puzzles Collected
from the Works of the Late Henry Ernest Dudeney, the puzzle is attributed to Dudeney
himself.[6] Sam Loyd's original formulation of the puzzle[7] entitled it as "Christopher
Columbus's egg puzzle." This was an allusion to the story of Egg of Columbus.

[edit] Metaphor of a "box” is real

"The "box" in the phrase "outside the box" is not only a metaphor—it is real, measurable.
Speculating beyond its restrictive confines the box can be both:

(a) positive— fostering creative leaps as in generating wild ideas (the

conventional use of the term);[8] and
(b) negative— penetrating through to the "bottom of the box." This could result in
a frank and insightful re-appraisal of a situation, oneself, the organization, etc.[9]

On the other hand, the process of thinking "inside the box" isn't always a bad thing. It is
crucial for accurately parsing and executing a variety of tasks — making decisions,
analyzing data, and managing the progress of standard operating procedures, etc.[9]

Hollywood screenwriter Ira Steven Behr appropriated this concept to inform plot and
character in the context of a television series. Behr imagined a core character:

He is going to be "thinking outside the box,", you know, and usually when we use
that cliche, we think outside the box means a new thought. So we can situate
ourselves back in the box, but in a somewhat better position[10]

Behr also speculated about what happens next in a multi-stage design thinking process.