The designful company : how to build a culture of nonstop innovation : a whiteboard overview

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.

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.

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. 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 talentThe 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. Cover CONTENTS INTRODUCTION THE AGE OF WICKED PROBLEMS A ONE-TRACK MIND GO ASK ALICE DESIGN, DESIGN, WHERE ART THOU? BRAND AND DELIVER AGILITY TRUMPS OWNERSHIP NEXT, ECO-EVERYTHING TRADITIONAL BUSINESS IS DESIGN BLIND 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. ESTABLISH 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 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z ABOUT THE AUTHOR The complex business problems we face today cant be solved with the same thinking that created them, says author Marty Neumeier in this entertaining and original read. Instead, he says, we need to start from a place outside traditional business thinking. 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 forwardor risk ending up in the fossil layers of business history. This is the third in the authors bestselling series of whiteboard overviews. In his first, THE BRAND GAP, he addressed the gulf between business strategy and customer experience. In his second, ZAG, he explored the number-one strategy of high-performance brands. In the third, THE DESIGNFUL COMPANY, he shows how design thinking can build a culture of nonstop innovation. If you wanna innovate, he says, you gotta design. Excerpts from The Designful Company (Click images for larger versions) The DVD comprises three sections. Part 1 is "Brand Strategy," where you will learn what it takes to create a charismatic brand. Part 2 is "Design Thinking," where, if you want to innovate, you have got to design. In Part 3, "Non-Stop Innovation," you will learn how a culture of innovation can deliver sustainable profits