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Part manifesto, part handbook, THE DESIGNFUL COMPANY provides a lively overview of a growing trend in management—design thinking as a business competence. According to the author, traditional managers have relied on a two-step process to make decisions, which he calls “knowing” and “doing.” Yet in today’s innovation-driven marketplace, managers need to insert a middle step, called “making.” Making is a phase in which assumptions are questioned, futures are imagined, and prototypes are tested, producing a wide range of options that didn’t exist before. The reader is challenged to consider the author’s bold assertion: There can be no real innovation without design. Those who are new to Marty Neumeier’s “whiteboard” series may want to ramp up with the first two books, THE BRAND GAP and ZAG. Both are easy reads.
Covered in THE DESIGNFUL COMPANY:
- the top 10 “wicked problems” that only design can solve
- a new, broader definition of design
- why designing trumps deciding in an era of change
- how to harness the “organic drivetrain” of value creation
- how aesthetics add nuance to managing
- 16 levers to transform your company
- why you should bring design management inside
- how to assemble an innovation metateam
- how to recognize and reward talent
From the back cover:
The complex business problems we face today can’t be solved with the same thinking that created them. Instead, we need to start from a place outside traditional management. Forget total quality. Forget top-down strategy. In an era of fast-moving markets and leap-frogging innovations, we can no longer “decide” the way forward. Today we have to “design” the way forward—or risk ending up in the fossil layers of history. Marty Neumeier, author of THE BRAND GAP and ZAG, presents the new management engine that can transform your company into a powerhouse of nonstop innovation.
Levers for Change in the Designful Company: How to Build a Culture of Nonstop Innovation
INTRODUCTION
PART 1: THE POWER OF DESIGN
A NEW DEFINITION OF DESIGN
SIMON SAYS BE A DESIGNER
HOW IS CREATIVE THINKING DIFFERENT?
DESIGNING THE WAY FORWARD
KNOWING, MAKING, AND DOING
THE ORGANIC DRIVETRAIN
THE LADDER OF DESIGN LEVERAGE
PART 2: THE REBIRTH OF AESTHETICS
A LANGUAGE FOR THE SENSES
BEAUTY IN NATURE IS NEVER ARBITRARY
WHAT IS GOOD DESIGN?
DESIGNING IN DEPTH
PART 3: LEVERS FOR CHANGE
A FLYWHEEL OF INNOVATION
1. TAKE ON WICKED PROBLEMS
2. WEAVE A RICH STORY
3. BUILD AN INNOVATION CENTER
4. BRING DESIGN MANAGEMENT INSIDE
5. ASSEMBLE A METATEAM
6. COLLABORATE CONCERTINA-STYLE
7. INTRODUCE PARALLEL THINKING
8. BAN POWERPOINT
9. SANCTION SPITBALLING
10. THINK BIG, SPEND SMALL
11. DESIGN NEW METRICS
12. INSTITUTE BRANDED TRAINING
13. LEARN THROUGH ACQUISITION
14. ADD A SEAT TO THE TABLE
15. RECOGNIZE TALENT
16. REWARD WITH WICKED PROBLEMS
A SUFFICIENTLY ADVANCED CULTURE
TAKE-HOME LESSONS
WICKED SOLUTIONS
RECOMMENDED READING
ABOUT NEUTRON
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INDEX ABOUT THE AUTHOR