Dan Kraemer: Growth Through Design and Business Strategy.

Summary

The speaker emphasizes the convergence of design and business thinking to drive innovation and growth. They discuss the importance of understanding unarticulated customer needs and behaviors through user-centered design research, which informs the creation of new business strategies. Examples include Allstate's shift into digital identity protection and a pharmaceutical company's move towards precision medicine. The talk highlights how combining design thinking with business acumen can lead to the development of new businesses and market opportunities.

Takeaways

• 🔗 The convergence of design and business thinking is essential for creating new growth strategies and building new businesses.
• 👥 Diverse teams including researchers, designers, business strategists, engineers, and architects collaborate to uncover new behaviors and needs through user-centered design research.
• 🚀 Growth is a top agenda for CEOs and senior leadership across industries due to its impact on attracting top talent and shareholder value.
• 📈 The stock price of a company is essentially the net present value of all expected future returns, making growth a key driver for shareholder satisfaction.
• 🆕 Creating new businesses is challenging and requires going beyond the core business, taking risks, and dealing with uncertainty.
• 🎯 Design thinking is crucial for its human-centered approach, prototyping to learn, and translating unmet needs into future demand.
• 💼 Business thinking is necessary for understanding market dynamics, aligning leadership, building cohesive business models, and allocating capital effectively.
• 🏆 Companies like Allstate are transforming by leveraging design and business thinking to move into new markets, such as digital identity protection.
• 🛠️ Prototypes are used to create data from the future, allowing companies to test and learn from new products or services before full-scale launch.
• 💡 The combination of design thinking and business thinking allows companies to answer key growth questions: where to play, how to win, what to build, and when to act.

Q & A

What is the primary focus of the convergence of design and business thinking?

The primary focus is to create new growth strategies, uncover new behaviors, and build new businesses by integrating design thinking and business thinking.

How does user-centered design-led research contribute to innovation?

User-centered design-led research contributes to innovation by uncovering unarticulated needs, motivations, and unsupported behaviors through observational research, which are opportunities for innovation.

What are the two main reasons why companies are obsessed with growth?

Companies are obsessed with growth because top performers are attracted to growing companies for exciting projects and advancement opportunities, and shareholders want growth as it influences stock price and future returns.

How does the concept of creating new businesses relate to delivering superior long-term results?

Creating new businesses allows for delivering superior long-term results by introducing new opportunities that analysts are not aware of, as they don't exist yet, thus exceeding expectations beyond current market analysis.

Why is design thinking important in the context of creating new businesses?

Design thinking is important because it is human-centered, focusing on unmet needs and translating current activities into future demand. It also allows for prototyping to learn and create data from the future, which is crucial for new and untested ideas.

What is the significance of business thinking in the process of creating new growth?

Business thinking is significant as it helps in understanding market dynamics, aligning leadership, building cohesive business models, and carefully allocating capital, which are essential for the successful growth of new businesses.

Can you explain the shift Allstate is making from an actuarial company to a technology company?

Allstate is shifting from an actuarial company focused on traditional insurance to a technology company that builds digital products aimed at protecting customers' digital identities, reflecting a future where digital assets are considered the most valuable.

What is the role of the MVP app created by Allstate Digital Ventures?

The MVP app created by Allstate Digital Ventures discovers and visualizes a customer's digital footprint by scanning the internet for all accounts the customer has interacted with, enabling them to see, know, and control their digital identity.

How does the convergence of design and business thinking help in creating new growth?

The convergence helps by identifying opportunities through design thinking and leveraging business thinking to strategize, build models, and allocate resources effectively, thus reducing risks and increasing chances for successful growth.

What is the significance of the framework that connects design thinking and business thinking?

The framework is significant as it provides a structured approach to repeatedly uncover new behaviors, create growth strategies, and build new businesses by connecting the tools and methodologies of both design and business thinking.

How does the example of a major pharmaceutical company leverage design and business thinking for growth?

The pharmaceutical company is leveraging design and business thinking to transition from traditional drug creation to precision medicine, which involves optimizing treatment based on an individual's genetic profile, aiming to improve patient outcomes and create new business opportunities.