I’m relatively new to the business world, so the apparent “new wave” of design thinking infiltrating business just seems natural and native to me. But the old-timers seem to be variously enthralled and irate with the influx of process-centric aesthetes that seem to be occupying boardrooms more and more these days. So what is this newfangled stuff, and does design thinking really matter, or is it just a passing trend?

Design thinking is an approach to solution-generation best suited for problems that are ill-defined in contexts that are dynamic and complex. Its a way to find fascinating patterns in the mundane, and inject human creativity and empathy into any experience. Translation: design thinking is magic. There are a million different frameworks, 5-step iterative processes and other lenses through which to engage design thinking.

Innovation, it is said, is no longer a strategic option but an operational necessity. So the Monty Burns of the world are left with no recourse but to hire designers to turn a pad of sticky notes into a wad of cash. POOF! VOILA! And so begins the hype:

  • Count BusinessWeek among the enthralled. They did a special report a few years back, glorifying the design process with excited claims like, “…design activity such as design-related employee training boosted a company’s revenue on average by 40%….”
  • Apple is oft-cited as proof that good design can lead to breakaway business performance.
  • Oprah is also down for the cause. She did a raving interview with Daniel Pink, author of “A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future” Obviously, Mr. Pink thinks that creative thinking is here to stay.
  • Fast Company actually has an entire web brand, Co.Design, devoted to design for business innovation.
  • School of Visual Arts in New York is even starting up a Design for Social Innovation masters program, on the heels of Standford’s d.school that just opened in 2005.

But not everyone is so quick to join the bandwagon. Peter Merholz wrote a cautionary article a few years back over at Harvard Business Review, warning companies not to outsource innovation to design consultancies. FastCo.Design has also done quite a few articles about this very subject, discussing the challenges of managers who expect to buy breakthroughs when their companies really need to bake creativity into their culture.

So why has design thinking become so attractive and popular? Well, perhaps it is the complexity of doing business that has accelerating for the past 20-some-odd years. Although some business leaders are trying to embrace this complexity, many may also seek refuge in design as a way to find the simplicity on the other side of complexity.

Regardless of how the role of design thinking might change in business, I find it useful because it feels like play. And I’ve noticed that I get my best work done when I’m playing- that is, in a state of creative flow, embracing adventure rather than dreading the unknown.
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My own little contribution to design thinking in business has been this card deck that I co-created with Alan Rosenblith as part of the Symbionomics project. Each card has a generalized pattern that can be applied to your current business context to generate new ideas- sort of a Tarot deck for business. Here are a few for your viewing pleasure: