Tag: IDEO

May 29, 2015 / Articles We Like / Strategy

On “Are You Solving the Right Business Problem? Here Are 5 Ways to Get to Your Question Zero”

Are you solving the right problem for your customers? The most strategic leaders we know understand the importance of surfacing their customers’ core issues, and offering the right solutions to address them. That’s why we share this article on a technique practiced by IDEO: question zero.

Leaders can use the question zero technique to understand what the problem is, why it is the problem, and how you can mobilize resources to solve it. Check out the Fast Company article, written by Ana Andjelic, SVP, Global Strategy Director at Havas LuxHub, Are You Solving the Right Business Problem? Here are 5 Ways to Get to Your Question Zero, for tips on using question zero to get closer to the essence of the core challenge your customers face.

What other strategic thinking techniques do you use to get to your customers’ core issues?

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May 29th, 2015|Categories: Articles We Like, Strategy|Tags: customer experience, customer focus, Fast Company, IDEO, problem-solving, question zero, strategic thinking|

Book Review | Design Thinking for Strategic Innovation

Design Thinking for Strategic Innovation: What They Can’t Teach You at Business or Design School
By Idris Mootee

Head: (5 out of 5)
Heart: (3 out of 5)
Leadership Applicability: (5 out of 5)

Executives today will agree that the complexities of doing business have grown exponentially. Our global world is smaller due to technology that connects us all at the speed of light, driving customer expectations high. The world’s population consumes natural resources faster than we can replace them, if at all. Competition in the market is fierce. Despite all this, most executives have been operating with an outdated management model, one designed for an outdated world. That’s why this book is a timely and important read for leaders.

Design thinking can be used to make sense of all of this complexity. It connects the dots and drives innovation by allowing us to experiment in the midst of chaos and complexity. Creative solutions can emerge for complex problems.

This book, written by management guru Idris Mootee, defines design thinking and introduces readers to the applications of it. As a framework, the author links the application of design thinking tools to eight key challenges most businesses encounter: growth, predictability, change, relevance, extreme competition, standardization, creative culture and strategy and organization. Each chapter offers tips and thinking points.

Executives interested in a guide for applying design thinking will want to read this book. Buy it now.

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June 26th, 2014|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: book review, customer experience, design thinking, IDEO, idris mootee, innovation, Mariposa Leadership|

Why Innovative HR Leaders Prototype

Prototyping is not just for product design. Prototyping can also be used for intangible services or experiences, including human resource initiatives. Redesigning your high potential development program? That can be prototyped. Got an idea for branding your talent recruiting experience? A prototype can be done for that as well.

Why prototype instead of using PowerPoint to present your ideas? Tim Brown of IDEO often refers to prototyping as “building to think.” By making the intangible tangible through 3D modeling, ideas are bridged with innovation by using the right brain to liven up the solution, creating space for fresh thinking. The 3D models then become a symbol that can be tested with your employees to gather feedback through interviews and observation. Prototyping also offers a quick and cheap way to “fail fast,” one of the key principles of design thinking. In “failing fast,” more feedback can be gathered upfront and used to refine your idea before investments are made in HR program pilots.

For an experience with prototyping your human resource or talent management ideas, join us in our NEW Using Design Thinking in HR & Talent Management workshop or download our Executive Guide to Design Thinking for prototyping tips.

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January 2nd, 2014|Categories: Design Thinking / Creativity / Innovation|Tags: 3D models, breakthrough model, breakthrough workshop, design thinking, HR, HR program, human resources, IDEO, prototype, talent management, talent recruiting, Tim Brown|