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Just skimmed the brochure from one of the most prestigious conferences I know of: “Leaders in London”...
...which bills itself as “The International Leadership Summit.” The conference will take place in London, November 29-30, 2006.
What caught my eye as the principal of a design consultancy was the presentation being given by noted speaker, author and former White House speech writer Daniel Pink. Title: “Identifying & Leading the New Breed of Workers: How & Why the Right-Brained Will Be Critical to Future Business Success”. Wow—that’s a mouthful. But a meaningful mouthful.
This caps a notable trend in new business thought and one well worth exploring. Business has sought out left brainers -- i.e., MBA’s schooled in analytics, metrics and use of logic -- for so long, that’s it elating for those of us who are right brainers -- i.e., innovators and creative problem solvers -- to witness this evolution in thinking that finally seems to endorse and appreciate our skill sets.
BusinessWeek’s editor-in-chief, Steven J. Adler, has referred to this new corporate trend as the “rise of the Creativity Economy.” The gist: current design and business leaders need to embrace this new “creativity economy” as it unfolds.
My take: the corporate and design sectors should work to integrate their analytical and creative problem-solving with true design solutions as never before. The integration of right brain (creative, innovative and design) and left brain (analytical, business metrics) is powerful stuff.
Several of the nation’s leading B-schools -- Harvard, Georgetown and Northwestern among them -- have offered single elective courses in product design, product innovation or the management of the design process in their curricula to MBA candidates. New programs are also being pioneered in some MBA programs. Stanford is establishing a new Institute of Design to teach design strategy to both business and design students. The University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management is taking a leadership role in developing a new B-school program in innovation and design strategy.
This is just the beginning of a new trend to imbue future design and business leaders in design thinking and strategy. The premise: if our business leaders are expected to become creative thinkers, problem solvers and innovators to keep their companies ahead of ever-intensifying global competition, won’t an understanding of design (problem solving) processes serve them well?
In his abstract for “Leaders in London,” Pink goes even further:
“The era of ‘left-brain’ dominance, and the Information Age that it engendered, are now giving way to a new world in which ‘right brain’ qualities—inventiveness, empathy, meaning—predominate. Indeed, we are moving from an era when the MBA was the most treasured recruit to the (MFA) Master of Fine Arts graduate who can provide a broadened approach.”
Whether or not Pink’s prophecy comes true, we can all agree that collaboration will yield dividends in the way of achieving better and better customer experiences in what must become a more consumer-centric focus on the part of business. That is where we will realize the full potential of brand loyalty and brand equity.
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Comments
Ted,
Nice piece. It's interesting to see how you go out of your way to elaborate on design as "creative problem solving, etc".
I've had to do the same. Some traditionalists still view design in a limited way--mainly driven by the aesthetic. But thanks to individuals like Pink and a host of others, this is beginning to change rapidly.
As you have pointed out, the reality is that business and brands need an authentic collaboration model between right and left brain thinkers. Left brainers need to start thinking like right brainers and vice-versa.
A blend of logic+emotion is what will help fuel the creativity and innovation needed in order to thrive in the evolving business climate.
Posted by: David Armano | 05.30.06
The recognition of the importance of the emotional dimension both within the people delivering the service or product and in the way that we look and interact with our customers isn't confined to the business world. Increasingly the importance of emotion is being recognised in effective segmentation techniques and is beginning to underpin training in some police forces within the UK.
The delivery of a more citizen focused style of policing will require a change in the skills of police service leaders, they will not only need more collaborative and entreprenurial skills, but a greater understanding of emotion and more right brained skills.
Posted by: Mike Alderson | 05.30.06
Excellent article Ted. I wish design courses would have been offered in my b-school. There is a definite lack of creative strategy education in b-schools.
We can definitely see technology companies beginning to embrace creative thinking right brainers but I do not see mainstream integration any time soon.
I just wrote a post about left and right design that is similar although geared more to web companies.
http://getanewbrowser.com/2006/05/left-and-right-design/
Posted by: Andy Brudtkuhl | 05.30.06
Thanks for all of your input, guys. It's great to see that some of these concepts are creeping into biz thought and action. To your point, Andy, you're right. It takes time for new ideas to take root in a big way, but my hope is that with companies like P&G leading the way on this, and getting lots of press about it on the way, it'll happen sooner than later!
Posted by: Ted Mininni | 05.30.06
Excellent post, Ted. It amazes me how neglected the right brain is in the majority of American schools. Lets hope that this information filters down to the grassroots teachers soon!
Posted by: Dennis Charles | 10.10.06
Hi Dennis,
Thanks for weighing in on this increasingly discussed issue. Fear not! The smart business and design schools have been doing something about this. If you go to this link on the Human Capital Institute’s web site, you can sign up to listen to a special web cast: “Creativity that Runs Deep: The Design of Business”. It’s free of charge and takes place on Mon, Oct 30 / 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM ET
http://www.humancapitalinstitute.org/hci/events_masters_webcast.guid?_trainingID=553
Taken from the web cast description:
“Roger Martin, Dean of the Rotman School of Management in Toronto, will deliver his expert insights on the new capital for the 21st century, DESIGN. "We are on the cusp of a design revolution in business," he argues. "Competing is no longer about creating dominance in scale-intensive industries; it's about producing elegant, refined products and services in imagination-intensive industries." As a result, he believes, business people don't just need to understand designers better - they need to become designers.”
Stay tuned!
Posted by: Ted Mininni | 10.10.06