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t a fall 2019 event in Bloch Executive Hall, Jason Gaikowski asked the audience to think like a designer. A nationally recognized expert on brand building and human-centered design, Gaikowski is the global lead for brand and business design at YMLY&R. Among a standing-room-only crowd, he engaged participants to consider the effectiveness of traditional business problem solving methods. “Eighty-nine percent of companies say they compete on customer experience. Eight percent of customers say they get a good experience,” Gaikowski said. “Design thinking can solve that gap.” Bloch has been mindful of the value of design thinking as the school continues to evolve. For example, flexible classrooms and labs
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incorporate some of the physical aspects of design thinking, which encourage designing for innovation. In that spirit, the school is providing tools that incorporate design thinking to help individuals and companies through its undergraduate, graduate and executive curriculums.
Evolution by design
While it may be the current fad in business circles, design thinking is not new. IDEO, a global design company, began to formalize the process that originated in 1978 with its founder David Kelley. Two years later, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs asked IDEO to develop a mouse for a new computer. Rather than reworking the existing
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Faculty, staff and clients benefit from an innovative and proven process
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and expensive design, IDEO responded with a more easily manufactured device that kept the customer experience top of mind. The technology they developed is still used in most mouses produced today. With that, a culture and process of humancentered design was born and its design thinking methods began to spread. Gaikowski identified the elements of design thinking as defined by IDEO: empathizing, defining, ideating, prototyping and testing with end users in mind. This process creates a cycle of divergence and convergence through defining the problem, testing solutions, identifying opportunities and creating prototypes and solutions. The key is to resist being quick to define the solution — which can be a challenge for both people trying to take advantage of an opportunity and those who are more comfortable relying on known solutions. “Most companies approach problems in the same way,” he said. “Define the measurable objective, research the problem, make decisions and identify the most proven solution.” This process, notes Gaikowski, often creates a focus on what an organization has to lose. And aversion to loss does not drive innovation. “Everyone wants to be a leader,” he said. “But no one wants to go first.”
Risk and reward
Scott Helm, Ph.D., the director of the Executive MBA program who practices and teaches design thinking in Bloch’s Executive Education program, thinks the process is having a moment because of some of the work that is coming out of the Stanford d.School.
