Design Thinking

Kyron Accelerator

What is Design Thinking?

A way of looking at and solving problems Another form of systems thinking Effectual logic is a form of design thinking

Design Thinking & Creativity

Creativity is evidenced by novelty Creativity often involves combining well-known particulars in a new way Creativity usually occurs only after hard work or lengthy preparation Creativity often produces unusable or worthless outcomes Creativity can come from anyone and anywhere in the organization Creativity is often more likely under duress, stress, or scarcity Creativity can involve luck and non-predictable contingencies

Creativity and Novelty

Absolute novelty is not necessary
New to the world innovation is rare

Sustainable competitive advantage is old

Continuous creative advantage is needed today

Your creativity is being duplicated somewhere else

Deliberate speed is required

Creativity Leverages Existing Technologies

Writing uses the same words, but arranges them in new ways Technology entrepreneurs use existing technologies in new ways Agricultural Bank of China created new market
Developed transfer telephones to enable rural electronic transaction processing Multi-billion dollar industry

Big data leverages existing databases

Correlation now pre-empts causation Google can determine disease clusters faster than health ministries

Creativity Requires Hard Work

Creativity requires hard work, discipline, practice Deliberate practice is required of expertise
Can take 10 years or more to develop expertise via deliberate practice

Creativity is often painful, unrewarding in the short term

Creativity and Hard Work

Neither does the creative genius drive immediate gratification from his creative activities. Creating is for him agony and torment, a ceaseless excruciating struggle against internal and external obstacles; it consumes and crushes him Such agonies are phenomena which have nothing in common with connotations generally attached to the notions of work and labor, production and success, breadwinning and enjoyment of life The genius does not deliver to order. Men cannot improve the natural and social conditions which bring about the creator and his creation But, of course, one can organize society in such a way that no room is left for pioneers and their path-breaking.[i]
[i] Von Mises, L. (1949). Human Action: A Treatise on Economics. (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, p. 139-140).

Creativity can Come from Anyone

Dont fall prey to the NIH syndrome
NIH = Not invented here

Encourage everyone to think different CEOs must not assume they have all answers
Still, CEO must be decisive

17 year old kid just sold Summly to Yahoo for $30M

Creativity More Likely Under Stress

Stressful and urgent situations often bring out creative solutions Ventures should be run from a paranoid perspective
Constant sense of urgency, sense of someone gaining on you

Distinguish between stress and eustress

Too much stress stifles creativity Just enough enhances it

Creativity Involves Luck and Non-Predictable Control

Luck occurs to those in the game Preparation and perspiration increases chances of luck Non-predictive control means pushing for future without knowing precisely what it will bring

Creativity Requires Humility

Design Thinking Tips

Idea time Risk taking Challenge
Flow

Freedom Conflict

Design Thinking Tips

Debates Playfulness/humor Trust/openness Dynamism/liveliness Positive sum thinking

Effectual Logic