Have you ever wondered if corporate culture can be organized onto types? I have. In a tiny nutshell, here are what is generally accepted in the HR world as the three types of corporate culture. Expertise cultures. In an expertise culture, the key motivation of employees is for the employee to become an expert, building […]
Read MoreA kick start to designing cultures of innovation
To transform a corporate culture requires the changing of individual and collective behavior. One of the greatest values of design thinking is how it does both. The power of the collective imagination of employees, coupled with the Pull Factor and design thinking at scale is simply amazing. It can have a great impact on an […]
Read MoreThe need for Curious Confrontation
Since design thinking is a way of leading with creativity, it encourages embracing ambiguity, uncertainty and curiosity. One of the greatest challenges any organization or team will face lies in how it effectively manages competing interests, differing views, disagreement and conflict, all of which are natural contributors to innovation. One of the key advantages design […]
Read MoreDesign thinking at scale
I’ve just completed a major research project with leadership psychologist Edgar Papke. We’ve synthesized our findings in a new book, Innovation by Design. The cool thing is that it is about the benefits of design thinking at scale – we looked into the intersection of design thinking, innovation and corporate culture. We went into our […]
Read MoreThe Fifth Order of Design
The evolution of design that has unfolded over the past century is likely best explained by Richard Buchanan’s Four Orders of Design. Buchanan, a professor of design, management, and information systems, suggests that as an organization matures in its use of design, it tends to move from visual design and graphic communication, to industrial design […]
Read MoreHow to multiply creativity
This post is based on an analysis of some of the most extensive and advanced use design thinking on the planet. My research partner Edgar Papke and I reached out to a select group of organizations and looked under their hoods – to understand to what level they were using design thinking, how they were […]
Read MoreCEO’s want innovation and transformation, design thinking at scale will get them there
It’s a given, most CEO’s want to transform their organizations, and they know they need innovation to get them there. What is changing, is that the transformations needed are not just from the scientific methods of the past, but by building corporate cultures of innovation; ones that empower employee creativity to solve the right problems. […]
Read MoreWhat do design leaders lead?
Of course design leaders lead design. But there can be sooooooo much more. A good leader provides inspiration, influence, direction, guidance, control and management, a good design leader even more. Given the right context and cultural environment, design leaders can do amazing things for any company; here is a snapshot of what the best design […]
Read MoreWhat do UX leaders lead?
Given the right context and corporate culture, User Experience leaders can do amazing things for any company. Much like Design Leaders, here is a snapshot of what the best UX leaders lead, and it goes far beyond usability. Process UX is about making new experiences, services and products, and this requires process discipline and methods […]
Read MoreTen characteristics of great design leaders
After interviewing hundreds of design leaders in my recruiting business for the last three and a half years, sitting thru about 350 speeches by design leaders whilst running DMI for six years, reading about 350 articles by design leaders as the publisher of the DMI Review and the DMI Journal, and co-editing/writing four anthology books […]
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