Design Thinking – Innovative Leadership

Design thinking requires a growth mindset, because, in essence, it is a journey of learning and experimentation Successful companies are always looking for new ways to compete in the marketplace. One approach, which has taken the corporate world by storm, is design thinking. Great design has that “wow” factor that makes products more desirable and services more appealing to users. Great design is an outcome of design thinking, a methodology used by designers to solve complex problems and find desirable solutions for customers. Entire corporations have adopted design thinking to re-invent the way they innovate. The focus of innovation has shifted from being engineering-driven to design-driven, from product-centric to customer-centric, and marketing-focused to user-experience-focused. Design thinking draws on logic, imagination, intuition and systemic reasoning to explore the possibilities of what could be and to create desired outcomes that benefit the end user (the customer). A design mindset is not problem-focused; it’s solution-focused and action-oriented. It involves both analysis and imagination. Design thinking is linked to an improved future and seeks to build ideas up—unlike critical thinking, which breaks them down. Design thinking minimizes the uncertainty and risk of innovation by engaging customers or users through a series of prototypes to learn, test and refine concepts. Design thinkers rely on customer insights gained from real-world experiments, not just historical data or market research. In Leadership You don’t have to be a designer to think like one. While learning to be a good designer takes years, you can think like a designer and design the way you lead, manage, create and innovate. Design begins by setting a strategic intention. If you are mapping out a strategy, you are designing. Design thinking requires a growth mindset, because, in essence, it is a journey of learning and experimentation.