Thinking outside of the box is critical to any line of work, not just hacking. If you want to beat the competition in fashion, you try to think of something outside what people expect. In comedy, more specifically shock comedy, you say something that is completely not what people were expecting you to say.
The only reason computer-based thinking is any different is because it is more global, and therefore can affect more people. A comedian might shock 100,000-200,000 people (maybe more) if they are really lucky. A single computer hacker could affect far more people in good or bad ways.