Although the truism '
Great minds think alike.' is often inappropriately used, there is
truth to it.
No matter how
exceptional or
unique your mind is, there are a very limited number of
practical solutions to most real world problems. While it is true that great minds do not think alike in an
environment without
restrictions, they will arrive at the same solution when given a problem with
limited scope.
The truism is perfectly appropriate in a
situation where two or more people are faced with a problem that has a limited number of solutions, (like "How can we carry all this
heavy stuff from here to there?"), and two people generate similar
solutions that are
ingenious -- not "Pick it up and carry it," but something that would not occur to most people (those without ‘
great minds’).
It is not appropriate when someone says "What flavor of
ice cream should I order?" and two people reply "
vanilla".