New (though not necessary good) and Old (though not necessary bad) Methods of Business Thinking.
It's important in business we distinguish what is actually required and what we want it to be required.
When I first came to know the concept of design thinking, more than 15 years ago, derived from Stanford University combining the business thinking and designer's creativity, I was so thrilled. I remember thinking this will be the new black, the silver bullet to be carried by every stylish business person. Even just the sound of it was appealing to me. Design thinking. Think like a designer, approach issues as designers do, use design to develop creative potentials. For someone coming from art background it was almost magical, I thought we finally get to see the light out of a tunnel, there's a chance even for artist types to succeed in the world of business.
Years passed. Not only design thinking never came to be used as a standard method, let alone anybody in my previous industry was interested in knowing, it never quite became considered to be an option for solving issues. I'm talking only in my previous industry I belonged in the past.
My take away from this was that whether those new methods be used or not depends on types of industry and their corporate achievements within. Old industries, especially successful ones, are content with the current usual methods, the good old familiar methods that always brought them successes. Why use a new tactic when you are happy with SWOT or PDCA?
My other lesson was that at first I speculated if those companies didn't apply such new methods they would eventually get stuck strategically, and one day they would cry out and ask for help to such new ways of thinking as the business environments are continually changing and all...
But in reality, sometimes the new ways are just not required in the first place. They are just as fine without them. For some old industries, how it has been, is now, and will be is in line with one old traditional method and they are successful just as that, contrary to what is taught at business schools. New is not necessary good and the old is not necessary bad.
Come to think of it, it is not the method that comes first but the aim of applying such methods should come first. Know what we want and need first and then we get to think about the methods. If your organization is doing great with they old school style, then there is a reason why it is working. Understanding why is more important than blindingly jumping onto new and cool thinking.
(Though I have to admit new ones are always cooler, and are a lot of times, therefore my preference... 😎)
When I first came to know the concept of design thinking, more than 15 years ago, derived from Stanford University combining the business thinking and designer's creativity, I was so thrilled. I remember thinking this will be the new black, the silver bullet to be carried by every stylish business person. Even just the sound of it was appealing to me. Design thinking. Think like a designer, approach issues as designers do, use design to develop creative potentials. For someone coming from art background it was almost magical, I thought we finally get to see the light out of a tunnel, there's a chance even for artist types to succeed in the world of business.
Years passed. Not only design thinking never came to be used as a standard method, let alone anybody in my previous industry was interested in knowing, it never quite became considered to be an option for solving issues. I'm talking only in my previous industry I belonged in the past.
My take away from this was that whether those new methods be used or not depends on types of industry and their corporate achievements within. Old industries, especially successful ones, are content with the current usual methods, the good old familiar methods that always brought them successes. Why use a new tactic when you are happy with SWOT or PDCA?
My other lesson was that at first I speculated if those companies didn't apply such new methods they would eventually get stuck strategically, and one day they would cry out and ask for help to such new ways of thinking as the business environments are continually changing and all...
But in reality, sometimes the new ways are just not required in the first place. They are just as fine without them. For some old industries, how it has been, is now, and will be is in line with one old traditional method and they are successful just as that, contrary to what is taught at business schools. New is not necessary good and the old is not necessary bad.
Come to think of it, it is not the method that comes first but the aim of applying such methods should come first. Know what we want and need first and then we get to think about the methods. If your organization is doing great with they old school style, then there is a reason why it is working. Understanding why is more important than blindingly jumping onto new and cool thinking.
(Though I have to admit new ones are always cooler, and are a lot of times, therefore my preference... 😎)
