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Basing one's business decision on an approach that relies on experience may work sometimes. Experience is a useful part of the process, but it may also lock the decision maker into a method that cannot lead to an innovative solution. An alternative to this experience‐based (linear) way of problem solving is a certain skillful way of thinking known as lateral thinking. This paper aims to present a simple alternative approach to managerial decision making.

Here lateral thinking is defined as methods of thinking concerned with changing concepts and perception. Various tests are suggested that show how it might be measured. These tests were originally developed to identify creative thinking ability. One of these tests is used in an illustrative decision aid to reduce a common decision‐making “bias” labeled “hindsight bias”.

The simple decision aid reduced the hindsight effect for those decision makers who were deemed to be limited in their lateral thinking ability. Those who could already think laterally were not affected by the decision aid. The decision aid was decision‐making neutral for them.

Often, when attempting to improve decision making, the focus is on providing better information or models. Rarely is the cognitive ability of the manager specifically considered. Here, a simple decision aid has been suggested that appears to help managers adopt a different perception of the decision situation. For managers and organizations this is a low cost opportunity to achieve better results.

We are negotiating all the time: with customers, suppliers, trade unions, our family ‐ indeed, all with whom we come into contact. In business, in particular, negotiation needs management. There are said to be eight stages in negotiation: prepare, argue, signal, propose, present the package, bargain, close and agree. At the proposal stage one must be clear about what one must achieve, what one intends to achieve, and what one would like to achieve. The approach to constructive and competitive negotiation, the role of consultation, how to cope with deadlock and conflict, cross‐cultural negotiation, and the art of compromise are reviewed. The development and use of teams in negotiation is also an important factor, needing careful assessment. Negotiation will nearly always involve conflict, but steps must be taken to ensure that the participants remain on friendly terms.

Discusses the virtues of creativity as the first part of a process enabling companies to outperform their competitors. Considers five techniques for stimulating creativity, with examples of applications of each: lateral thinking, metaphoric thinking, positive thinking, association trigger, and capturing and interpreting dreams. Surmises that creative thinking relies on practice and the right environment as well as education in techniques.

This paper seeks to present an interview with Edward de Bono who is widely regarded as the father of lateral thinking and a leading authority in the direct teaching of thinking as a skill, describing how his medical background inspired his understanding of the brain as a self‐organizing system, enabling him to design practical tools for thinking.

The paper uses an interview to explain the development, application and impact of his ideas about thinking and creativity.

Discusses some cultural issues relating to uptake of his ideas, mentions his most recent book and emphasizes the difference between artistic and idea creativity.

Details some of the applications and resultant successes of his thinking skills work which has been introduced in companies and educational environments in many countries around the world. Discusses some cultural issues relating to uptake of his ideas, mentions his most recent book and emphasizes the difference between artistic and idea creativity.

Some of the newer techniques in managerial decision making are examined, with particular reference to those based on statistical and mathematical principles and the use of management information systems. The creativity approach in its modern form, described as lateral thinking, is reviewed. It is argued that creativity is a skill that can be learnt, like any other skill, and a process of managerial decision thinking is advocated.

Reviews the advances in creative thinking since De Bono′s Lateral Thinking, including work on brain hemispheres, with particular reference to practical techniques that can be applied in business. Outlines a general approach, largely concerned with how the creative right brain is best harnessed, and drawing, inter alia, on current research among top British business leaders. Describes a number of specific techniques, including what are termed Chunking, Sleight of Mouth, Reversals, Metaphors, the Meta Model, and different forms of Visualization. Some of these have been developed within Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP). A new technique, Chunked Reversals, has been developed by the author. These techniques allow, typically, hundreds of ideas to be generated and applied to strategic or operational business objectives, in a more focused way than traditional brainstorming or lateral thinking.

To provide a practical overview of strategic thinking concepts and practices for marketing and other managers that can help them improve their strategy making.

The raw materials of strategic thinking are illustrated by case studies and examples from a range of industries to aid managers in their successful application. The principles and techniques are presented in four categories: thinking strategies, strategic decision making, strategic competencies and visualizing strategy.

Offers marketers an approach for moving beyond the automatic application of traditional strategic frameworks to identify and to achieve breakthrough strategies. Recognizes the real power of strategic thinking as a source of competitive advantage.

The principles and practices proposed represent a practical system for enhancing strategic promise and performance, as well as for reducing the risks of strategic failure.

The marketing discipline is long overdue in applying the same attention and rigor to strategic thinking that it applies to strategic planning and this paper offers managers practical help in identifying and developing strategic thinking competencies.

Introduction The management of a business enterprise invariably requires meetings and group deliberations ranging from board meetings to first line supervisor meetings throughout the financial year. For the effective use of such group decision‐making situations, management must go beyond the assumptions and rational decision models of accountants and economists. While rationality, decision process steps, programmable decisions and statistical approaches can be most usefully considered, also important are the role of personal values in the decision‐making process, occupational identification, bias in thinking, rationalisation instead of rationality, the role of independent critical thinking, the problems of “group think”, lateral versus vertical thinking and the required conditions for group creativity.

Analytics technologies are profoundly changing the way in which organizations generate economic and social value from data. Consequently, the professional roles of data scientists and data analysts are in high demand in the labor market. Although the technical competencies expected for these roles are well known, their behavioral competencies have not been thoroughly investigated. Drawing on the competency-based theoretical framework, this study aims to address this gap, providing evidence of the emotional, social and cognitive competencies that data scientists and data analysts most frequently demonstrate when they effectively perform their jobs, and identifying those competencies that distinguish them.

This study is exploratory in nature and adopts the competency-based methodology through the analysis of in-depth behavioral event interviews collected from a sample of 24 Italian data scientists and data analysts.

The findings empirically enrich the extant literature on the intangible dimensions of human capital that are relevant in analytics roles. Specifically, the results show that, in comparison to data analysts, data scientists more frequently use certain competencies related to self-awareness, teamwork, networking, flexibility, system thinking and lateral thinking.

The study was conducted in a small sample and in a specific geographical area, and this may reduce the analytic generalizability of the findings.

The skills shortages that characterize these roles need to be addressed in a way that also considers the intangible dimensions of human capital. Educational institutions can design better curricula for entry-level data scientists and analysts who encompass the development of behavioral competencies. Organizations can effectively orient the recruitment and the training processes toward the most relevant competencies for those analytics roles.

This exploratory study advances our understanding of the competencies required by professionals who mostly contribute to the performance of data science teams. This article proposes a competency framework that can be adopted to assess a broader portfolio of the behaviors of big data professionals.

Brainstorming, lateral thinking and force‐field analysis can throw up new ideas, but then what happens to them? “Mapping” is a technique employed for turning ideas to practical use.