A few weeks I wrote about “design thinking” and explained why they are crucial to any innovation effort. I received a dozen of emails asking me if “design thinking” is being adopted by large organizations. Unfortunately that is not the case, although it may change.
The bigger question is what processes are required to support innovation and how “design thinking” come into play? To use "design thinking" to inspire the exploratory process in the business strategy cycle is first big step. Many companies fail in their attempts to innovate because they lack the balance between business discipline and creativity + imagination. Generating creative and imaginative alternative futures require applying different frames and references; design thinking can help formulate that. It is drastically different from brainstorming. That’s why I am bringing my designers to senior executives meetings these days, not to design but to inspire and visualize. Roger Martin, dean of the Rotman School of Management was the first in redesigning his MBA program around the idea that "business people will have to become more 'masters of heuristics' than 'managers of algorithms,'" that "design skills and business skills are converging. He has the foresight.
Here I share with you a talk I’ve given a while back on “design thinking”, let me know what you think.
