We -- specifically the humans among us -- are a very uncreative bunch.

While we excel at refining existing ideas and solutions, we're extraordinarily poor at creative, original thought.

And I'm not just talking about business, scientific or engineering creativity: Even in the realm of the creative arts (writing, art, music), many practitioners are simply absorbing (being "inspired by") what others are doing and then making it their own.

In a way we're all unintentional, subconscious plagiarists, and while we often don't even realize it, many of our "original" ideas are nothing more than refinements (or degradations) of those that we've come across elsewhere at some point in our time on this Earth.

Other times it's completely accidental.

Many of the great inventions in science, mathematics, medicine, and healthcare, for instance, weren't scientifically pursued with an engineering discipline, but were rather accidental discoveries (usually stumbled upon while searching for a slightly better way of building a different mousetrap).

And sometimes confused communications yields innovation.

Many of my best ideas weren't the result of quiet time in deep contemplation -- in fact I've found intentional, focused thought to be terribly unproductive -- but rather were the wonderful benefit of the bad habit of not paying complete attention to presentations or media.

Quite a few times I've glanced over an article or casually listened to a presentation while distracted; drawing inferences and conclusions based upon what I think is being presented to me. As my mind casts it into a workable solution, I've often found that what I visualized bears little correlation with what was actually described.  A few inputs, and the presumption that it's a logical solution, fooled my brain into creating new solutions out of nowhere, in a way that I could never have done otherwise.

This, I suppose, is the foundation for brainstorming sessions. It's the reason why it's often productive to randomize all sorts of product or business ideas and them merge them into seemingly bizarre combinations (I created this "How Will You Get Rich?" tool as a joke, but was surprized to find me actually stopping on some of the supposedly joke suggestions, imaginary scenarios where they would work).

How do you innovate? How do you engage the lateral thinking part of your brain, thinking up creative and novel solutions to problems?