Outside the box is a metaphor that means to think differently, unconventionally, or from a new perspective. It refers to creativity that requires some lateral thinking and more to looking further than the obvious. This phrase can also be found commonly in dancing as an encouragement to move creatively. Creative thinking acknowledges and rejects the accepted paradigm to come up with new ideas.

Take this in the context of the race for US presidency.

Americans have called Donald Trump a psychopath, ‘the man behind the mouth’ and everything else for his often outrageous and outlandish ideas. He wants to build a great, great wall on the southern border, and will make Mexico pay for it.

He said, “I would treat Vladimir Putin firmly but there’s nothing that I can think of that I’d rather do than have Russia friendly... so that we can go and knock out IS together...” Wouldn’t it be nice if we actually got along with people?”

Americans could not accept the above. Foreign policy experts are left ‘slack-jawed’ by his statements.

But aren’t these thinking outside the box?

He has foresight. America is broke and Russians have lots of money.

Home ownership, once regarded as a cornerstone of the American dream, continued to decline throughout the Obama presidency. A recent Harvard University study found home ownership among the Generation X age cohort had fallen to a level “not seen since the 1960s”. Russian investments may lift the gloom. The friendship could also save Americans from defence or ‘policing’ spendings that do not really give tangible returns.

Even the stock market’s bull run does not reflect investors’ confidence of the state of the economy. Its current size is thanks to the artificial boost from the Federal Reserve’s decision to buy tens of billions in bonds to depress interest rates and prop up the value of financial assets. It helped make the rich richer. Lately US stocks have been trading about 24 times their average earnings over the past decade, compared to an historical average of about 16 times.

By the way, Vladimir Putin has endorsed Donald Trump for president.

Talking about psychopaths running for president, how about George W Bush. The Bush administration manipulated or exaggerated the threat and evidence of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction capabilities. Bush later admitted that there were strategic mistakes made in regards to the stability of Iraq.

Paul Wolfowitz, an architect of the Iraq war, said he will likely vote for Hillary Clinton. And Clinton, as a senator representing New York, voted in 2002 to go to war in Iraq.

There are talks and faint rumblings of a Hillary Clinton landslide and Donald Trump is moving downwards as it gets nearer to D-Day. Interestingly, there are also overwhelmingly negative opinions about both candidates.

We may never know...

Remember the English Premier League? Ladbrokes were offering odds of 5,000/1 on Leicester City to win the Premier League. They even offered shorter odds for Hugh Hefner to admit he’s a virgin - 1,000/1. It cost the bookmakers millions.

Who knows, Trump may be dancing in 2017.

Thinking outside the box is more than just a business cliché. So Americans, please make an effort to push your thinking capabilities.