Tim Brown on Change by Design

Summary

The speaker, a designer, emphasizes the importance of viewing the world from different perspectives to foster innovation. Using a mind map as an example, they illustrate how rethinking the structure of a book can lead to new ideas. The talk delves into design thinking as a process of converting needs into solutions, contrasting it with convergent thinking taught in business schools. It highlights the necessity of creating new choices to drive unique innovations, advocating for a balanced approach to innovation across short-term, medium-term, and breakthrough endeavors.

Takeaways

• 🔍 Viewing the world from different perspectives can lead to innovative ideas.
• 📚 The traditional way of looking at a book (front cover to contents) is just one perspective; a mind map can offer a new structural view.
• 💡 Design thinking is not just about aesthetics; it's fundamentally about converting needs into solutions.
• 🎓 Business school teaches convergent thinking, which is effective for optimizing existing solutions but not for creating new ones.
• 🚀 For innovation, it's crucial to create new choices that haven't been considered by others to achieve unique solutions.
• 🏢 Successful companies balance their innovation efforts across short-term incremental, medium-term, and long-term breakthrough innovations.
• 💼 The allocation of resources, including people and money, should be strategic and spread across the company's innovation portfolio.
• 🔄 Convergent thinking is about making the best choice from existing options, while divergent thinking is about generating new options.
• 🌐 Looking at the world differently can reveal new structures and relationships, as demonstrated by the mind map of the book's content.
• 📈 A balance of incremental and breakthrough innovations is key to a company's long-term success and relevance in the market.

Q & A

What is the speaker's approach to generating new ideas as a designer?

The speaker suggests looking at the world in different ways to generate new ideas, such as creating a mind map to visualize the structure of a book.

What is the purpose of the mind map behind the speaker?

The mind map represents the structure of the speaker's book 'Change by Design', showing every important piece of content linked together to help in storytelling.

How does the speaker define design thinking?

Design thinking is defined as the conversion of need into demand and then into a solution, focusing on creating new choices rather than just optimizing existing ones.

What is the difference between convergent thinking and the approach needed for innovation?

Convergent thinking involves analyzing a set of available choices and making the best one, while innovation requires the creation of new choices that haven't been considered by others.

What does the speaker suggest about the importance of looking at the same set of choices as everyone else?

The speaker implies that if you only look at the same set of choices as everyone else, you are likely to come up with similar innovations, rather than unique ones.

How does the speaker describe the process of successful company innovation?

Successful companies innovate across a portfolio, which includes short-term incremental innovation, medium-term innovation, and long-term breakthrough innovation.

What is the key to applying resources effectively in innovation according to the speaker?

The key is to distribute resources, including people and money, appropriately across the range of innovation efforts from short-term to long-term.

What misconception does the speaker address about the term 'design'?

The speaker addresses the misconception that design is only about aesthetics or style, clarifying that it's fundamentally about solving problems and meeting needs.

How does the speaker relate the structure of a book to the process of design thinking?

The speaker uses the example of a book's contents page and a mind map to illustrate how different views of the same structure can lead to new insights and ideas in design thinking.

What is the significance of creating new choices in the innovation process?

Creating new choices is significant because it allows for the potential of discovering innovative solutions that have not been previously considered or seen by others.

What does the speaker imply about the role of business school techniques in the context of design thinking?

The speaker implies that while business school techniques are effective for convergent thinking and optimizing the existing world, they may not be sufficient for creating new innovations without the addition of divergent thinking.