Lateral Thinking for the Next Generation

Make Anything Thursday – AI Transformation (Part III of IV)

Last week, we ended on a simple truth. Children think laterally by instinct. Adults need to remember how.

[NOTE: This Make Anything Thursday nugget is being released on Wednesday, ahead of the US Thanksgiving holiday.]

So today — in Part III — we go all the way back to the source. Not to theory. Not to frameworks. To childhood.

Because if systems thinking is the map, and polymathy is the imagination, then kids are the raw, unfiltered version of both — before school, jobs, and adulthood sand down the edges.

Kids don’t try to think laterally. They just do. They misbehave with ideas. They twist assumptions. They change the rules because, why wouldn’t you? They’re explorers long before they’re experts.

Sarah Tucker knows this better than anyone.

Her work — especially her brilliant Size Six series — makes lateral thinking feel alive, funny, mischievous, and totally natural to kids. Her stories don’t “teach creativity.” They unlock it:

• “What if?” thinking (alternate realities)
• Playful mischief (pattern-breaking without fear)
• Humor as a thinking tool
• Curiosity as propulsion

These aren’t childish traits. They’re cognitive superpowers adults forget to use.

Edward de Bono built his entire life’s work on this gap — the gap between how children naturally think and how adults are trained to think. Sarah’s now carrying that torch into schools, universities, and, frankly, into a world that desperately needs it.

And the timing couldn’t be more perfect.

Because this week, Autodesk hit a milestone that says everything about the next generation and the future of making:

150 million students and educators have now learned using Autodesk software.

And incredibly —

100 million of them took their very first steps in 3D design using Tinkercad.

Let me explain what that truly means. Millions of children are entering the world of Design & Make through play, using their imagination and digital tools that reward curiosity rather than correctness. They aren’t learning CAD the way we did; they are developing creativity as a muscle. They understand that building something new isn’t frightening — it’s commonplace. They’re coming into the world already wired for lateral thinking.

Meanwhile, the adult world is wrestling with a skills gap.

Autodesk’s State of Design & Make report pulls no punches:

• 58% of organizations cite lack of skilled talent as a barrier to growth.
• 61% say finding new employees with the right technical skills is getting harder — up 16 points from last year.

Here’s the irony. The talent shortage isn’t just about skills. It’s about thinking. The world needs people who can reframe, not just perform. Who can connect systems, not just operate them. Who can see around corners, not just follow instructions.

Kids already do this. Adults can relearn it. And AI makes it non-negotiable.

Why Kids Are the Blueprint

When you watch a child solve a problem, they don’t follow steps. They leap . . . recombine . . . remix . . . go sideways when adults would go straight.

That’s lateral thinking in its purest form. It’s what de Bono dedicated his life to. It’s what Sarah Tucker is bringing back to the classroom. And it’s what the next generation of designers, engineers, builders, and makers are soaking in every time they open Tinkercad, Fusion, Revit, Maya — whatever tool invites them to explore.

AI doesn’t kill creativity. AI kills obedience. And rewards people who are willing to play again.

The Lesson for Adults (and Teams, and Leaders)

If you lead, build, design, or make anything of significance, here’s the uncomfortable truth. Kids aren’t the ones who need help thinking laterally. We are. They haven’t forgotten how to explore. We’ve forgotten how to follow them.

And the future of making belongs to the people — and the organizations — who are willing to rediscover that instinct.

Not childishness. Not chaos. But bold, curious, pattern-breaking imagination.

A mindset that refuses to stay inside the prescribed lines.

Where We Go Next

Next week, in Part IV, we take everything children already do — curiosity, exploration, rule-bending, unconventional leaps — and apply it to leaders and makers inside complex systems.

Because de Bono wasn’t training kids. He was training adults to think like kids on purpose. And in an AI-driven world, that might be the most grown-up skill of all.

Make Anything Thursday!