Design will save the world.

Intro.
What is happening with Design Thinking? Why design? Why thinking? What’s so special about it? Why
in Business? Can you design us a business card?

All these questions are going round in my head 24 hours a day, and I am trying to
find the answers, constructing a yellow brick road, which I believe will bring me
and the World to The Wizard of Creativity.

The criteria which define right or wrong answers are very individual, but I feel that with time I am
picking the right bricks and unconsciously I know what is at the end. But thus far I am afraid to give a
concrete answer, because the road is not as easy as it seems.

From where do I grasp my knowledge? It has been in the air since the 1960th, and it is very tangible if
you start thinking about it and looking for it. Books, science, education system, internet, TV-news and
business, are all full of essence of design thinking. For these reasons, the concept is going to blow up
soon, drastically change the way we think.

Part I. What’s happening?

Let’s start from business: what’s happening? Classical form of understanding the business is not enough
efficient any more. Why? Because it does not make company’s decisions original. People who are
working and leading the companies are following the same scenarios, same MBA program curricula,
which are developing the same three hundred thousand managers yearly. What do these managers do
when they get a job and and start to work? They follow the theories, which they were taught. What
moves do they make, what games do they play? All the same moves. This means that they have no more
concurrent advantage, than any other. The rules of the game are same, and the individual role of
particular manager in company becomes equal to zero.

What are the advantages of those, who are successful? Original thinking. Innovations are coming from
unconventionally ways of thinking. These managers are thinking more like artists. Their frame of
reference becomes wider. They use a creative approach in their work.

Why design?

Design provides constantly innovating and different methods for solving the challenges of business. It
approaches different dimensions of solving business challenges, 3-dimensional vision of things. And, as
we know, the more you have sights on challenge the better for you. Design thinking brings something
new, that outstanding something.
How?

While these skills can come naturally, more importantly, they can be developed. To develop these skills
you must use the techniques of design. Designers use classical approach, universal rules in their work,
but they always add something unique? They are always giving themselves question “What’s next?
What is the essence of this project? What is the irrational perception of what I am doing?”

For whom?

Design Thinking is needed not just for young people and graduates as they must first learn and practice
the classic concepts of business. Have the classic base and practice it in real life. Design Thinking is
needed for those people who are already in the business, for experienced managers. As with
impressionists, who were perfect in classical styles this mastery allowed them to make a breakthrough,
created new styles and approach in art.

Avoiding what must be learned from the classics and rushing to produce a result is why start-up projects
usually fail. A certain maturity and refinement must be developed in order to properly experiment and
push boundaries. To use a metaphor, you must be able walk before you can run.

Large successful companies need a fresh breath.

Part II. What to do?
A test

When looking at smart design solutions one may say, that’s very easy. I could do that. This seeming
simplicity is the greatest win of designer. Simplicity, straightest and shortest ways, all these are secrets
of a big success. To reach such a simplicity company must think outside of its own box. And it is also a
possibility to look on things from many angles, give diversified, objective and realistic analysis. But to do
such a work a non-designer must apply a lot of efforts. You must have creative skills to do so.

Try a simple test on creativity with non-designer: ask him what are your associations with Coca-Cola? He
will bring you standard examples of what he sees on ads (New Year, cool, etc.). Now give him the second
question: what is your association with Cola-Coca? This question demands creativity, it will be a trap for
standard thinker. Such a small change in name of famous brand, demands mastering of techniques of
diversity of associations, different way of thinking. That is where the creativity starts.

You must have the ability and freedom to imagine the change of standard things.

Example

Let’s take an example of an oil company. Employees often work at these companies for years, but how
often do they ask a question why? Why oil is drilled in this way and not in another? Why is it drilled and
not got extracted by other means? Is there any other way? People usually don’t give question in
business process, especially in basic questions like that one, they take them as constant.

Design thinking assumes that business process has to be seen and questioned in roots, not in details. But
this question giving is effective only on the level of top managers, not lower. Because on the lower levels
it has no meaning to be given.

Coaching vs. Design Thinking

Coaching practices are very popular today. HR coaching, team building, business leadership, innovation,
how to become successive, what is the goal of your life, etc. etc. But do they really work? The coaching
process is very close to psychoanalysis in that it aims to dig into a person’s brain. It is a strong tool and it
can change personal features, which can be even dangerous to person and to business. Not everybody
likes this. Besides, coaching is only giving a different vision, but is not giving the decisions. It is teaching
how to take optimal decisions out of what you know. It does not give you different approach.

Design thinking is not interested in how to make you personally better, it is giving you decisions.

Einstein said… “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
Part III. New Concept?
Now let’s go back to history and roots.

Physics and lyrics

In 1960th in the Soviet there was a popular movement called “Physics and Lyrics”. For information,
physics were a privileged cast in USSR, due to investigations in science and possible advantages for the
country during the cold war. At the same time, due to the USSR’s leader Nikita Khruschev, who was
giving a small breath of freedom at first period of his leading the country, there were numbers of
brilliant poets and writers, who were dissidents of the regime due to their obvious intelligence. So,
physics started to be very interested in lyrics. They created a huge movement, which was about to
change the regime, before it was completely prohibited in 1970’s. What were physics trying to achieve?
They were trying to change their thinking process with help of poetry. They were writing poems. And
some of them were even better than lyrics’ ones. But could the lyrics become physics? No. Physics can
become lyrics, but not the vice versa.

Business person can become more creative, but creative person can hardly become more business one.

World Today

The idea of Design Thinking is not new. It worries people’s mind for so many years but it doesn’t really
take a shape of a scientific knowledge or practical skill. Why? Because it was waiting for the right time.
The need in Design Thinking was rising with technical progress, but its critical mass was not enough for
boom. So, why should it “BOOM” now?

Information is the answer. Nowadays the informational field becomes extremely wide. So wide, that
people and their global activities cannot remain on the same level and work in the same way. Merging
of business, cultures, globalization all this makes soil for new type of informational processing and way
of thinking.
Other spheres vs Business.

If we look on the science and the way it is developing we will see jumping path and never consequent.

This “aha” moments are known for almost all the greatest scientific inventions. This is vivid witness of
unconscious processes, becoming conscious. Archimedes, Mendeleev, Newton and many other
scientists had good skills to work with their unconscious mind.

Let’s take fundamental physics. Before they knew there were some smaller parts than atoms, Einstein
already supposed that their existence. He gave a simple the question – why not? And he just imagined
them in his head. Even gave a name – “quant”. He couldn’t prove it but he made them.

In literature, for example, we can remember the science fiction writers. They represent a great example
of Design Thinking, when a person combines real knowledge with freedom of fantasy.

Business is very conservative. It felt behind in many years as compared to other spheres. Some
industries are more creative than others for example, in finance we can see so many techniques used
that we can definitely speak about creativity. The same is about computer industry and internet. But
even in these spheres there is a great need to change the thinking framework because of the following
reasons.

Worldwide progress.

If we continue to go only by classic – there will be no progress. The true role of design is not only doing
nice things – which should raise the sales levels. It has much more serious role in humanity progress.

Example

Let’s take for example cars industry. What is actually happening there now? Look at the most of the
recent cars models. All the cars look almost the same, averaged, without specific features. It is only the
advertisement activities which is bringing some difference (essence of brand), and some extra, usually,
unneeded functions. It is impossible to say which automobile is better nowadays, because they are all
more or less the same.

Trends and Protest Consumers

People started to understand that they have to change something, started to bring some features, but
fundamentally nothing is happening. Society is reacting on that. People switched to bicycles. It is a
choice of protest and not of the rationality. People are protesting, they are coming back to old means.
By this they are trying to find their own difference in the” same looking world”. They are cultivating and
starting to use old things because they cannot invent something new by themselves. Companies must
do it. Indeed, this is not a progress, but a regress. We are going back.

There is no place for a breakthrough in business any more.

So, what is Design Thinking?
Design Thinking is not creativity. It is the perfect knowledge without scare and boundaries.

Suppose your brain starts working in different way. Let’s say two MBA managers are not only classic
thinkers. They are both design thinkers. One of them makes something extremely different. What will
the other do? Because he is a Design Thinker he will invent something different, more effective without
copying rivals and following trends. They will be both satisfied and happy.

We believe that Design Thinking is a theory for everybody. We think it is possible to make this “natural-
born talent” a feasible learnable technique. To learn how to explore our brain more, make unconscious
thinking conscious. It has to bring the development not only in one company or field. And we believe, it
will develop our brains, bring humanity to more success, and bring a progress. Open new ways to
develop.

Victoria Arakelian, Pankaj Mathur, Aaron Hoffman

Hult International Business School, Design Thinking Club, Cambridge, MA

04.04.2011.