Einstein famously said that today’s problems cannot be solved with the same level of thinking that created them, and history suggests he was right. Solving societal challenges through the centuries has typically relied on break-through technologies and break-out thinking. It has relied on imagining, or re-imagining, the world and then making that re-imagined world real. On creativity and innovation.
Design leadership illuminates pathways to a sustainable future. Extraordinary complexity calls for critical, holistic and systemic strategic thinking; the reframing of challenges as opportunities; and a systematic exploration of generating and exploring possible solutions. This is what designers are trained to do.
Moving from a digital age of two-dimensional interaction to a virtual age of three-dimensional immersion will impact everything from employee learning, development, engagement and collaboration, to customer experience and community building, to the design of innovative products, services and business models
The future begins and exists only in our imagination. You need the capability to recognize early signals, longer term patterns and harness diverse perspectives. And to mobilize your organisation, and those within your ecosystem, through creating and sharing stories of a future that speaks to your collective values.
The rise of platform business models and the shift to operating within new ecosystems of value rather than in linear value chains means that, for many organisations, their capability must evolve beyond designing and delivering a competitive customer experience, to designing and delivering a compelling experience for all ecosystem participants - consumers, producers and partners.