Kelley on Innovation...Do you get the Ideo?

Source: http://www.fastcompany.com/design/2005/design-mentors-extra.html?partner=rss

Coloring and underlining by this blogger.

David Kelley - Founder and chairman, Ideo, Palo Alto, California

"Let's say you have an idea. In a traditional company, given the chance to present the idea to a senior vice president, you're going to knock yourself out to dot all the "I's" and cross all the "T's." The goal is to make it perfect. There's a focus on one solution. We say the better approach is to go and see that person with nine half-baked ideas. Design thinking is iterative. It's okay to be approximate in the beginning and then narrow and narrow. But in companies today the present way of thinking doesn't really allow that to happen. Design thinking is also empathic. Being sensitive and responsive to people at different levels and disciplines will lead to a different kind of thinking. It embraces being intuitive. No self-respecting business thinker takes a creative leap of faith. Everything has to be evidenced based. That's not a bad idea, but creative leaps of faith are part of how innovation happens. So design thinking is fundamentally optimistic. Instead of pulling things down, it challenges everybody to rise up and break through barriers."

In 1991, Kelley launched Ideo, the groundbreaking design shop, to help change the way companies like Apple and Cisco innovate. Now, as head of Stanford University's new d.school, he's helping to shape the next generation of designers -- as well as thinkers from other disciplines.