Personal Handbook of Creative Thinking Nov. 2013 | Page 4

PROBLEM

REVERSAL

“The wise leader knows how to be creative. In order to lead, the leader learns to follow. In order to prosper,
the leader learns to live simply. In both cases, it is the interaction that is creative. All behaviour consists of
opposites...Learn to see things backwards, inside out, and upside down.”1
Lao-tzu wrote Tao-te Ching, which emphasizes that to be a successful leader, one must
also look at the opposites.
It many situations it is the definition of the problem that tends to restrict ones capacity to
develop new ideas and concepts. We become bound by the meaning of the problem and
our thought patterns beyond the problem itself becomes blocked.2
Charles Thompson introduced problem reversal in his book ‘What A Great Idea.’3 It is a
technique whereby the opposite of a problem is considered to change the direction of
thought, reverse assumptions and reflect on the problem with a new perspective. In our
world today, social reality is structured by assumptions. By reversing these assumptions,
the reality of expectations change and new consequences emerge.4
In many ways this principles is quite simple: think of a problem and then think of its direct
opposite. For example, “how do I gain more customers?” becomes “how do I drive
customers away?”5 This technique can be worked in a variety of ways from business
plans, to architectural design proposals, to simple everyday situations.
As described in Thompson’s book, this technique aims at looking for a more than one
right answer; by reversing the problem and revisiting your solutions, more ideas are
generated and more options become available to work with (see figure 4).6

Figure 3: The Key to Dreams, Rene Magritte (1935).

The vast applications of the problem reversal technique means that participants can
escape their normal thought patterns and focus on new ideas. This trigger
encourages people to think outside of the box. It is a fun and visionary technique that results in
“vigorous exchanges over the possibility of reversals.”7

THOUGHT

+

APPLICATION

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