How can we use design and systems thinking to create sustainable businesses in today's global economy?
Design thinking is "the ability to combine empathy for the context of a problem, creativity in the generation of insights and solutions, and rationality to analyze and fit solutions to the context." Wikipedia.
I believe that many of the complexities that are emerging in business today and will increase in the future, can be solved with greater levels of design thinking.
Creating meaningful solutions for people begins with an understanding of their needs. With greater knowledge of context, we can begin to build and apply creativity to solve increasing complexity.
Much of this will depend on working with other people, each of whom will bring their own unique creative abilities and skill-sets to the table to eventually arrive at formulated systems designed for greater relevance to context.
For design thinking to be effective it needs to be expansive and not defined by any set of constraints. Out of its expansive nature will emerge ideas and solutions that are best suited to solve challenges.
Creativity is only one part of what is needed to solve increasing levels of complexity. It is part of a more integrally woven whole. We still require rational frameworks to position whatever we create into more holistic webs.
Therefore design thinking cannot be seen as separate from systems thinking.
"Systems thinking is the process of understanding how things influence one another within a whole. In organizations systems consist of people, structures, and processes that work together to make organizations healthy or unhealthy." Wikipedia.
When we use design thinking: our ability to observe and understand context and how to use creativity to master challenges we are essentially plugging a design thinking framework into a systems framework that influences relationships with other systems.
When there's a weakness in a part of an overall whole, a part that no longer benefits the health of that whole, then the system is compromised. This can lead to eventual systemic collapse.
Design thinking can remedy weakening parts of overarching wholes. Parts that limit growth, development and the health of a system need to either be replaced with more robust and systemically sustainable parts, or the entire system needs to be dissolved for an altogether more relevant framework.
While we dissolve old modes of production, we can use design thinking to create new and expansive ways of production in alignment with personal and systemic needs of current and future contexts.
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