Extremes
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People often confuse problem solving with creative thinking. Problem solving uses logic to derive a solution where as creative thinking does not necessarily have any logical basis. To innovate and invent you need to be able to think creatively and not just join the logical dots.
“Edward de Bono”:http://www.edwdebono.com/ is an authority on creative thinking and teaching thinking as a skill. One of his famous techniques is the “Six Thinking Hats.”:http://www.valuebasedmanagement.net/methods_bono_six_thinking_hats.html The idea of the six thinking hats is that you look at your problem from six different perspectives in an attempt to widen your vision and consider perspectives outside your usual consideration.
I do not use the six thinking hats but I do something similar where I look at a problem from all the extreme points of view. To an entreprenuer this may mean that you look at the best and worst case scenario of a potential strategy, or perhaps what you stand to gain versus what you stand to lose. VIewing the potential future from these perspectives provide you with a greater awareness of what could happen. Extremes act as a guide in the future that would otherwise leave you in an abyss of uncertainty.
In terms of thinking creatively, extreme points of view give you a straight forward way to view your problem from a different perspective. You can still remain logical in projecting your extremes based on what you know now, but you can also *push the limits of reality and find the potential in anything*.
