Designing for Growth: A Design Thinking Tool Kit for Managers (Columbia Business School Publishing)
This intelligent how-to follow-up to the first wave of popular design books will serve as a useful guide to going through a design project from start to finish.The best designers seem to have an almost magical gift for finding creative solutions to problems we didn't even know existed. This book teaches how to capture that magic and turn it into a problem-solving process that can create a better future for your customers and yourself.(Daniel H. Pink, author ofDriveandA Whole New Mind)Designing for Growthis for leaders who wish their organizations could grow faster but don't know how to do things differently. It translates what might seem an unexplainable 'creative' process into an accessible language and set of tools. There is no substitute for seeing and touching a tangible example of innovation -- and then discovering if people will buy it!(Lauri Kien Kotcher, chief marketing officer, Godiva Chocolatier)This book is a magic hat for managers. Reach inside and pull out value creation and inspiration for a process that used to be reserved for magicians of design and white rabbits.(Scott Williams, Founder & CEO, Hitchcock Partners)One trait that sets leaders apart is their ability to turn vision into ideas and ideas into action. This utterly refreshing book zeroes in on the iterative dance between ideas and action—sometimes called design thinking—using simple language and clear examples. If you feel like you've been stuck in your left-brain or not utilizing your creative edge to full capacity, consider this book your roadmap to creative nirvana!(Brendon Burchard, founder, Experts Academy, and author ofLife's Golden Ticket: An Inspirational Novel)Designing for Growthis a well-crafted fusion of an inspired point of view and a coherent framework for understanding how practitioners can more effectively step up the innovation intensity for service and product development. It does so with an engaging voice and a light touch, rich in practical anecdotes and guidelines, yet avoids the drudgery of an academic methodology, by design.(R. Lemuel Lasher, CSC, president, Global Business Solutions Group (GBS), and chief innovation officer)It's time to demystify design and safely place design thinking alongside other tools used by successful practicing managers. As the authors so rightly conclude, 'Find a leader of innovation... and he or she has likely been practicing design thinking all along.' Add the stories and tools found inDesigning for Growth(a very compelling read) to your leadership kit to insure innovation and organization renewal become part of your leadership portfolio.(Stanley S. Gryskiewicz, founder and board chair, Association for Managers of Innovation, and senior fellow, Center for Creative Leadership)This book slices through the design thinking fog to provide practical ways to use design methods to generate value for your organization.(Ryan Armbruster, vice president of innovation, UnitedHealth Group)The most powerful message in this book is its underlying premise: that business is ultimately a social activity performed by humans. With that framework, the authors build a compelling case for user empathy to improve ROI, and they deliver the tools to get you started.(Greg Littleton, COO, Smart Design)Jeanne Liedtka and Tim Ogilvie wonderfully illuminate the kind of thinking that twenty-first-century organizations need to solve problems, innovate, and grow. And they give managers a wealth of hands-on tips and tools they can put to work right away. Penetrating insight, practical applications—a terrific combination.(David Wickenden, executive vice president and senior partner, Fleishman-Hillard)This isn't a book of answers. It is a book of questions, of how to choose the best ones, and how to get customers and partners to answer them. That's the crux of design thinking. The simple organizing framework—What is? What if? What wows? What works?—is my new mantra for innovation and growth.(Mark Stein, managing director, Kaiser Associates, and author ofSuccessful Onboarding: Strategies to Unlock Hidden Value Within Your Organization)This is an eye-opening book that will reveal the action-based approach to design thinking, the seriesof inaccurate assumptions made in most business thinking, and how to become better at recognizingand strategizing around opportunities that exist within not only our core business, but other avenues as well.(800-CEO-Read)[This] book is rich with information on each tool, taking you through the elements clearly and crisply. If design thinking intrigues you, this would be a good place to start.(Harvey SchachterGlobe & Mail)Anyone wishing to get up to speed on design thinking by actually test-driving the methodology on their own will find great value in this tutorial-in-a-book(Matthew MayAMEX OPEN Forum)A fine survey of a hot business trend.... Highly recommended.(The Midwest Book Review)