Think Oblique

Several of the books I've been reading lately have got me thinking about problem solving.  Two of those that come immediately to mind are Decisive by Dan and Chip Heath and David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell.  Although I don't remember either of these books mentioning this precise term, the concept is there. 

By Thinking Oblique, I mean that when faced with a challenge, instead of following the normal and expected road to the solution, head off at an angle.  Some might call this "thinking outside the box" but for me that isn't quite right.  I respect that concept, but when I say Think Oblique, I have a slightly different context in mind.

An oblique angle in geometry is any angle which is not 90 degrees.  Acute angles are less than 90 degrees and obtuse angles are more than 90 degrees.  In actuality my focus on Think Oblique is really focused on the acute angle.  The idea goes like this:  If linear thinking is hitting a dead end or a barrier, then take a different track, one which may require re-conceptualizing the problem as


well as what the solution "should" look like.  Try to remove the constraints of the linear and Think Oblique.