This document discusses key concepts from the book "Design Thinking for Strategic Innovation" by Idris Mootee. It provides 20 messages about applying design thinking in business. Some of the main points include: - Design thinking helps make sense of complex connections between people, places, objects, events and ideas. - It promotes empathy and puts users at the core. - Tools like storytelling, strategic foresight, sensemaking, and experience design can help with growth strategy, planning, managing change, and overcoming competition. - Humanizing customer touchpoints can balance standardization with innovation. - Rapid prototyping allows organizations to fail fast and learn early.

1. It's been a year since we were introduced to the concepts of Design Thinking by
the Stanford d. school faculty. Since then we have immersed ourselves in various
whitepapers, books and publications of global thought leaders.
I recently read this book called 'Design Thinking for Strategic Innovation' by
Idris Mootee, CEO at IDEA COUTURE which is refreshingly different from others
which are more prescriptive. This book leaves some very simple messages which I
thought, I would collate (my Top 20) here to keep firmly at the forefront, when
I engage with clients on Design Thinking in 2016.
Some of these are interpreted versions as I see it applicable.
Everything has changed, is changing and will continue to change
We want more, when we want it, how we want it, and at the price we want it
Design thinking helps us appreciate and make sense of the complex connections
between people, places, objects, events and ideas
A culture that fosters exploration and experimentation
Applied design thinking in business problem solving incorporates mental models,
tools, processes and techniques such as design, engineering, economics and
social sciences to address business challenges
Design thinking proposes a cross-disciplinary learning-by-doing approach to
problem solving
Design thinking is process is stepping out of conventional roles.. escaping
existing dogmas
It promotes empathy.. puts users at the core of everything
Design thinking is the most complementary practice that can be applied side by
side to Porter's competitive strategy
Design thinking tool for growth strategy formulation could be effective and
lucid storytelling... a narrative to help people understand and connect with the
company.. it's values, purpose etc. .. storytelling adds an emotional dimension
to business logic
Design thinking tool for business predictability .. that aids strategic planning
process .. is strategic foresight i.e ability to imagine what the future may
hold.. establishing well-informed future-oriented perspectives
Design thinking tool for managing change / uncertainty is.. sense making which
is continuous effort to understand and anticipate changes and determine business
responses
A plan is needed not just as a response to change, but also in anticipation of
change
Design thinking tool to help organizations / brands maintain relevance.. is
value re-definition which attempts to identify the forces that shape the way
people perceive and define value and keeps changing this over time. Here we ask
the question.. 'it would be game changing if...'
Design thinking tool to overcome extreme competition in the market and inability
to differentiate (products / services getting commoditized over the long run) ..
is experience design, which is a holistic approach to create meaningful contexts
among users and their products / services.. focus on the journey - not the
destination
Design thinking tool to overcome the challenge of balancing standardization
(efficiency) and innovation.. is humanization which looks at emotional aspects
of customer experience.. touchpoints of customers with products / service that
foster proud moments of association
Humanizing through language.. consider businesses are filled with people and not
machines.. and change the business narrative to be more personal
Design thinking approach of rapid prototyping allows organizations to attempt
iterations of development, fail fast, learn early and deliver... fosters a
culture of creativity and creative tolerance in organizations
You may never know what results come of your action, but if you do nothing,
there will be no result
Design thinking approach to solve need for radical changes in core business of
organizations (dire need to re-invent themselves due to radical internal /
external forces) .. is Business Model Design .. build a new model that makes the
existing model obsolete