Thinking outside the box

Posted by Bob on December 26, 2000

In Reply to: Thinking outside the box posted by ESC on December 26, 2000

: : Maybe I missed it in the archives, but I could not find an explanation for the phrase "Out of the box"? Was it created by a cruel busness person or is there a better explanation?

: : Thanks, Ned

: There a fairly new business cliche in the U.S. -- "thinking outside the box," meaning thinking beyond usual ways of doing things. I'm sure someone else will have more details. All I know is the phrase comes up at every business meeting/seminar I've attended in the past couple of years.

There is that classic logic puzzle: the one that looks like nine dots arranged in equally spaced rows and columns, 3 x 3. The challenge is to take a pencil, and without removing it from the page, or doubling back, draw four connected straight lines that connect the dots. (For those who have never seen this old chestnut, go ahead and work on it for a while. We'll provide the answer later.)