Design Thinking vs. Simple Wisdom

Oh my God!

Every time I read one of these complex academic debates over the definition of some new concept in business and management philosophy I want to tear my hair out!

And for me- it’s way too late for that!!!

Tim Brown, author of “Change by Design” quoted his own definition of design thinking and posed two questions for his blog readers.

Here’s the definition:

“Design thinking can be described as a discipline that uses the designer’s sensibility and methods to match people’s needs with what is technologically feasible and what a viable business strategy can convert into customer value and market opportunity.”

And his questions:

1. Is there a general definition of design thinking?
2. Is it useful to have one?

After reading half of the 51 comments responding to these questions, my forehead is bloody from banging my head on my desk. If you want to repeat my exercise, click here.

I find myself crushed under the sheer intellectual weight of the arguments.

In the best spirit of Black Belt philosophy- why not simplify the whole mess?

Whatever happened to good, old fashioned wisdom? (We’ll get to that in a couple of minutes…)

For the general reader or anyone new to the concept of design thinking, Bill Storage offers several definitions on his blog at TheMultidisciplinarian.com.

Here’s a good one:

“Design thinking’ is defined as ‘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.’”

He also cites a Fast Company article that identifies four steps that define the process of design thinking:

1: Define the problem


2: Create and consider many options


3: Refine selected directions


3.5 Repeat (optional)


4: Pick the winner, execute

OK- now THINK Like a BLACK BELT…

The ancient masters were known for their ability to reduce complex problems to the bare essentials and propose simple, actionable solutions.

It seems to me that the whole semantic debate about design thinking can be resolved by simply replacing the term with the Black Belt Mindset Characteristic of WISDOM.

Wisdom isn’t just the purview of long lost, long bearded Chinese philosophers. It’s actually a mindset accessible to anyone willing to put in a little time and effort. Wisdom is the combined product of:

• Knowledge
• Experience
• Awareness

Wisdom is your capacity to stand back and analyze a problem with an open minded awareness of current conditions, needs and circumstances- informed, but not limited by prior knowledge and experience.

This type of thinking should permeate every level of your organization. Wisdom shouldn’t be some treasure hoarded by executives, management or a creative team.

You already have wisdom at every level of your organization!

Wisdom as a characteristic can be trained, cultivated and developed- especially through intentional mentoring. Most of all, it can and should be encouraged where it already exists.

Quick example-

A need arises for a budget cut in the maintenance department. A manager could dictate the use of less expensive cleaning supplies and that would solve the problem- at least on paper.

A month later management notices that the floors are not as bright and shining as they once were. People start to complain.

The veteran custodian, however- given the same problem could draw on his knowledge, experience and awareness to solve the problem in a different way. Working with management, the custodian is presented with the problem- you’ve got to save some money. The rising costs of cleaning supplies have been outpacing the budget.

He might know about a less expensive option. He might know that while the directive was to apply wax every week, you could achieve great results alternating weeks and re-buffing the floors in between waxes. He might simply know, from his perspective on the front lines, that you can keep your floors bright and shiny with less wax. He might have learned a “secret” formula from a past assignment that will do the job with far less cost.

He could have any number of solutions based on his wisdom that the management team simply wouldn’t be aware of.

And he can, through mentoring, share that wisdom and style of thinking with the next generation of custodians.

We really need a lot less debate over semantics and a lot more consideration of the challenges we face in business and society…and the will to take action.

Call it design thinking or simply call it wisdom- you have the capacity to observe, empathize and think creatively. With enough will, you can access the resources you need to produce possible solutions, test them and in business- bring them to market.

Just don’t get lost in the thinking!

“An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson