That said, it's just as likely (from this perspective, not having read that book, or even heard of it) that it's just talking about thinking outside the box. Your boss gives you a box to think in - it's ok to think outside that box for a more holistic solution. I regularly do, and it seems to do me well.

Currently I'm so "lucky" that I don't have to work, and even when I did, it was not for a big corporation. But I thought that in those environments this famous lateral thinking was one of the big buzzwords managers use when they want to seem particularly smart, next to "synergy" and "proactive". So, do they want you to think lateral or in a box? (I know that people's mileage will vary!)