Quotes on the Challenges of Design Thinking, Business Thinking and Management
What are the difference between business people and designers? What are the differences between a “business mindset” and a “design mindset”? These are a few questions that I have been researching and thinking about recently and which I will try to answer in more detail in my Ph.D. thesis.
In this process I have collected different statements that summarize some of the differences, challenges and approaches to overcome the gap between managers and designers.
A.G. Lafley, CEO Procter & Gamble, found in "P&G Changes Its Game, BusinessWeek"
Business schools tend to focus on inductive thinking (based on directly observable facts) and deductive thinking (logic and analysis, typically based on past evidence). Design schools emphasize abductive thinking—imagining what could be possible. This new thinking approach helps us challenge assumed constraints and add to ideas, versus discouraging them.
Roger Martin, Dean, Rotman School of Management, found in "Design Thinking and How It Will Change Management Education: And Interview and Discussion"
A traditional manager would take the options that have been presented and analyze them based on deductive reasoning. You typically get those options on the basis of what you have seen before—that is, inductive logic. You then select the one that has highest net present value. Whereas a designer uses abductive reasoning to say, “What is something completely new that would be lovely if it existed but doesn’t now?”
Tim Brown, CEO IDEO, found in "Lessons from innovation’s front lines: An interview with IDEO’s CEO"
The innovation process is a series of divergent and then convergent activities – a very simple concept but one that a lot of leaders used to managing efficient processes in their businesses struggle with. By „divergence,“ I mean a willingness to explore things that seem far away from where you think your business is today. The discomfort that a lot of business leader have with innovation is with divergence. They think that it’s divergent forever and that they’ll never be able to focus on something that makes business sense. I think that’s where some business leaders, historically, have had a bit of problem with their internal innovation units: the leaders have a sense that these units are endlessly divergent. If you understand that convergence follows divergence, and that it‘s really hard to converge without first diverging, maybe that‘s a bit comforting.
If you are doing research in this field or if you are confronted with questions and challenges at the intersection of business and design, please don’t hesitate to send me an email at bernhard@customer-experience-labs.com. I am interested in sharing experience and exchanging ideas.
