Most teams don’t get stuck because they’re not working hard. They get stuck because they’re too deep in the problem to see it clearly.
I’ve seen it happen over and over, and I’ve been part of the problem before. Growth slows, and the default response is to spend more, hire more, and double down on what already feels familiar. But when a strategy stops working, doing more of it rarely solves anything.
The real unlock usually isn’t deeper execution. It’s a different perspective.
The best breakthroughs I’ve been part of didn’t come from pushing harder. They came from stepping back, asking better questions, and pulling ideas from places that had nothing to do with the original problem.
That’s lateral thinking. And in complex environments, it’s one of the most valuable tools a founder can use.
Depth Doesn’t Always Fix the Problem
In one of my favorite books; Range, David Epstein shows that generalists often outperform specialists in uncertain, fast-changing fields. The reason is simple. Generalists see patterns across disciplines. They bring fresh mental models. They ask better questions.
It’s not about being scattered. It’s about having range.
If you’ve only worked in SaaS, you will tend to solve SaaS problems with SaaS playbooks. That works until it doesn’t. Then you end up stuck, applying the same tactics with diminishing returns.
Lateral thinkers don’t default to digging deeper. They pause. They zoom out. Then they look around.
Strategy Starts With Framing
Most teams waste time trying to optimize a bad frame. They define the problem wrong, then chase the wrong solution.
You’re not losing customers because your pricing is too high. You’re losing them because they don’t trust the outcome.
You’re not struggling to grow because you need more features. You’re struggling because no one understands the value of the ones you already have.
You’re not stuck because of your competitors. You’re stuck because your positioning sounds just like them.
Lateral thinking helps you reframe. And once the frame changes, the solution usually gets simpler.
Borrow From the Outside
Netflix didn’t beat Blockbuster by offering cheaper DVDs. They reimagined the business as a subscription, modeled after gyms. That shift created recurring revenue and changed the economics of customer retention.
Airbnb didn’t solve for growth by offering better prices. They built trust through professional photography and peer reviews. The insight wasn’t in the booking model. It was in reducing perceived risk.
Canva didn’t teach people how to design. They removed the need to learn. They took inspiration from games and mobile UX to turn design into a drag-and-drop experience.
And sometimes the best ideas don’t come from any company at all.
NASA spent months trying to solve a problem around solar particle storms using its internal experts. When nothing worked, they posted the problem to InnoCentive now called Wazoku, a platform that invites problem solvers from outside fields. The winning solution came from a retired telecommunications engineer. He used signal detection methods from cell towers to solve a space science challenge.
The insiders were too close. The outsider had no bias. That’s the unlock. It's Brilliant!
Nature Has Been Solving Problems Longer Than We Have
One of the best examples of lateral thinking doesn’t come from business. It comes from nature.
Biomimicry is the practice of studying how nature solves problems and applying those solutions to the real world. Shark skin, for example, has a microscopic texture that naturally repels bacteria. Engineers replicated that pattern to create antimicrobial wallpaper for hospitals. No chemicals. Just better thinking.
Velcro came from burrs. Self-cleaning paint came from lotus leaves. Japan's bullet trains were redesigned after the beak of a kingfisher. None of these breakthroughs came from experts digging deeper into the same problem. They came from looking outside the category.
That’s lateral thinking at its core. You stop searching inside the problem. You ask where else the pattern already exists. Then you adapt it.
It’s not inspiration. It’s applied strategy.
Why Teams Get Stuck
The longer you and your team work inside the same space, the harder it is to see alternatives. You get good at execution, but bad at perspective. You rely on what’s worked before, even when it starts working less.
That’s how companies get stale. Not from laziness. From tunnel vision.
Lateral thinking creates contrast. It gives you permission to borrow from outside your industry and apply what works in unexpected ways. Not as inspiration. As strategy.
How to Apply It
You don’t need to become a generalist to benefit from lateral thinking. You just need to step out of your lane on purpose. Here's where to start:
1. Study analogues, not competitors.
If you sell software, look at how service businesses create loyalty. If you run ecomm, study how finance brands earn trust. Don’t just benchmark. Cross-train.
2. Ask different questions.
Instead of asking how to optimize the current strategy, ask what the real constraint is. Better questions lead to better framing.
3. Bring in fresh eyes.
Someone from outside your industry might not know your norms, but they’ll see what you’ve stopped questioning. That’s often what you need most.
Final Thought
The best solutions are often simple. But simplicity is only visible when the framing is right. You don’t always need to push harder. Sometimes you need to look from a different angle. That’s what lateral thinking gives you. It’s not about being clever. It’s about seeing clearly.
If your current strategy is hitting a wall, the answer might not be to go deeper. It might be to look sideways.
