The Leader’s Guide to Lateral Thinking Skills, Paul Sloane

Kogan Page - £9.99

Buy it now from Blackwell Books


Just how creative are you?

Lateral thinking? Isn’t that a bit old hat? Well, as management fads go, it’s been around a long time. Never entirely out of fashion but perhaps in need of a Trinny and Susannah-type makeover? If so, Paul Sloane is your man.

Inspiration, innovation and creativity are what Paul promises. With his executive skills honed at the likes of IBM and Ashton Tate plus a string of top-name clients such as American Express, Shell and HP, his CV is impressive and his book revelatory.

There are 21 chapters plus a couple of appendices in just under 200 pages. So, at an average of less than 10 pages per section, even an attention span like mine can cope.

The book is replete with lateral thinking puzzles to amuse, bemuse and encourage new ways of approaching problems. There are also plenty of real-life examples to reassure you that this stuff does work.

But perhaps the most telling point made by Mr Sloane comes quite early in the book – around 20 pages in. At this point the author demonstrates, with the help of just four examples, his premise that innovation will beat efficiency pretty well every time. A very useful book – especially if you find yourself striving to improve efficiency!