Human endeavors on this planet changed forever on 20th July 1969. We set our small steps on Moon opening up giant possibilities for mankind. Last 50 years of disruptive innovation across every walks of life continues to challenge us to explore something new. Personally, I have been watching some of the recent amazing accomplishments in the area of space and astronomy — my favorite Event Horizon giving us first picture of Black Hole, first detection of Gravitational waves by LIGO or SpaceX’s drone ship Of Course I Still Love You catches the reusable rocket boosters! These were just few that excites me and I am sure it has kept all of us wondering what’s next?
With mega computers in our hands today that are a million times faster than what Neil Armstrong and others used during their Apollo missions, this new generation user expectations of outcomes from technology is far beyond imagination. This new breed of us, or our customers or our community will have to adapt to ever changing world enabled primarily by a digital revolution. It’s quite clear — we all want something new and better.
But the current generation’s population who have not experienced the past, demands a different experience focusing on outcomes and simplicity.
How many organizations have embraced this revolution thinking outside the box and nurturing the end-customers with disruptive innovation along with simplicity. We need to take a step back and ask the same fundamental question — how? How did they ask themselves a questions like — what is a car anyway? Why isn’t it a computer on wheels controlled by an app? Or what can be done to delight my customer? There could be many factors enabling companies to transform. If we dig deeper into those companies that stand out, changed our lives via disruptive innovation, I feel it could be attributed to adoption of Design Thinking principles! Apple, Tesla, Uber, AirBNB and many more who have embraced Design Thinking development and delivery. This is gradually becoming a norm and it will be very exciting to see what future holds when we see this in every company’s DNA.
The short time I spent at Stanford D-School, really enlightened the power of this. What is Design Thinking anyways? The simplest way to articulate is — a methodology that focuses on people as the source of inspiration of ideas, problem solving and innovation, it’s not just technology or business alone. How does this enable transformation of companies would be the follow up question? Aren’t the leaders of companies know what their customer wants, how to build it and sell it? Well, this is where the differentiation comes into play and Design Thinking drives a mind-set change which is the hardest. Skill set could always be upgraded but mind-set change is an uphill task.
The core tenant of Design Thinking is “Human Centered or User Centered”. What this means is the focus is to understand or empathize the needs of end user. Be in their shoes, uncover the problem statements that are not clearly said or expressed, ideate with them, and maintain this continues loop until the solutions transforms the user to whole new level of experience that had not envisioned themselves. This process seems straightforward and it is, but as I said, its mind-set changes that individuals or organization have to go through to embrace it fully. There are plenty resources out there which have articulated the value this methodology brings!
By adopting this methodology, personally one thing that stands out for me — “It immediately forces each and every individual in the organization embrace and align to the common “Why” or “Purpose” and have the mind-set to passionately contribute to the success. As this brings each one in defining “the Why”, enables each one to share their ideas, prototype the solution, collect feedback, refine “the Why” and be part of the journey to transform the user. This generation of users demands the previous generation to change because the newer generations needs have to viewed in a newer lens! Design Thinking principles has enabled to explore this.
In conclusion, it has become evident that many companies are not able to keep up with the new digital innovators of this day and age. This new world of digital transformation demands new ways of working and transformational mind.
The question I want to leave with is — How are you or your organization transforming to be disruptive innovators?
Does your team understand why it’s important to know “The Why” now than ever before ?