Since graduating business school in 2005, I’ve been fascinated by the application of design thinking and concepts to business strategy, operations and products. My fascination, which began as an exploration of how brands are built and communicated, is now all the rage. Design Thinking, Design of Business, Change by Design- you name it and design is on the tip of everyone’s tongues when it comes to solving future business problems. Suffice it to say, while this attention will bring a lot of talent to the field and business investments, most businesses and organizations are unlikely to find the success they aspire to attain. There are a lot of reasons for this soon to be discovered disconnect between design and performance, none of which are the topic of this blog but briefly I will touch on one.

Design is the New “Strategy”

No one knows what design is. More specifically, few know what design is or how to attain it. In short, design is the new “strategy”. In my observations many individuals think they are designers because their job titles label them so, further many individuals think they are “designers” by way of education. According to these subconsciously held beliefs, simply applying the ‘design’ tools of Illustrator, Photoshop, Axure RP or User Centered Design tools such as user interviews and usability studies makes someone a designer. Just as any genius with a copy of ‘Competitive Advantage’ by Michael Porter fancies herself a strategist. This dilution and ambiguity that surrounds these disciplines creates a fog that prevents the untrained from identifying what makes some organizations experience design success where others fail.

A New Definition

My favorite definition of design is “to design something”. If you are not designing, you are not a designer. Further, there is a distinction between ‘designing’ and ‘polishing’ – ‘designing’ and ‘styling’. The act of deliberately designing, learning, and redesigning everything from pixels to processes pushes individuals and organizations further. Overtime the acquired institutional knowledge, processes, culture, and rules of thumb result in a successful design organization. There is no path to success but through flirting with failure and expirimenting with the unknown. And if you don’t fail, you’re not designing you are applying design patterns. (This is not to say that your failures should make it to market.)

Design is Research

Further to design, is to research. Design is the act of building and creating solutions to new problems. Not every challenge is a design challenge, but you can turn every challenge into one. For example the decision process of a building is likely never to be completely automated, but as community developers have shown, it can be codified into a heuristic. But one can take the same piece of land and turn it into a design challenge– turn this ground into a contemporary castle. This act of designing requires research exploration to successfully deliver the desired outcome. Imputed within the challenge are questions that would make Socrates smile “what is a castle?” — “what do we mean by contemporary?” It’s here where the true definition of design surfaces, Design = Doing + Researching = To Design Something.

Back to Work

I’m firmly of the belief that Doing + Researching is the last formula for sustained competitive advantadge. And the organizations that succeed will prove to be better at balancing the equation than their industry peers. Accordingly, individuals need to begin to take on the challenge to design their work (not to mention their workday). This year I will spend more time mentoring and developing individuals who have identified the mix of doing + researching that pushes their discipline and personal performance to new levels. My first work related activity of the new year was spent documenting my personal formula for how I will push my personal efficacy and disciplines (business + design) to new frontiers. My professional aim is to apply my professional expertise towards challenges that benefit humanity.