Copyright Cultivar Consulting Limited 2010

The art of business design

an e-guide to authentic design thinking

Contents✤ introduction✤ significant moments in time✤ sustainability & CSR✤ the next step - authenticity✤ authentic leadership✤ a profound sense of purpose✤ thinking styles✤ design thinking✤ the design process✤ the art of business design

James RockChief Business Designer

Cultivar Consulting

the author

introduction ✤ this e-guide is designed to quickly stimulate your thoughts and encourage you to act further

✤ the booklet isn’t a how-to manual, but more of a summary of my philosophy of invention as it applies to designing innovative business models

✤ it introduces the concept of authenticity as a central core element of the business - a culture within a new type of business architecture

✤ it describes how creativity and innovation can be linked to business experience to invent new and more effective business models

✤ for established business leaders it explains why now is the time to re-think, re-design and re-build for the future

✤ for new start-ups it should stimulate you to think differently and freshly, to seek inspiration in designing a business that really fires your passion and helps you to be more successful

✤ its all about - The Art of Business Design

significant moments in time

✤ sometimes events occur that give us a shock!✤ if they didn’t happen our life would continue pretty

much as-is without the need to change - when they do arise it usually leads to initial disbelief, followed by realisation that the status-quo no longer applies

✤ 9/11 was one of those days... perceptions about managing public safety and transportation changed overnight, our world was turned upside down

✤ 2008 was one of those years... when consumerism driven by easy credit suddenly unravelled

✤ these events are often called “black swans” high-impact, hard-to-predict, and rare occurrences, and when these significant emotional events hit us we need to reframe our world...

✤ in 2009 there arose huge public distrust in capital markets after the banking sector crash, and in public institutions after the scandal of MP’s expenses

✤ most of us now realise that greed isn’t good, and that capitalism needs to be re-invented to provide both economic and social development

✤ we need to look at ourselves critically and determine if we need to change - we need to fundamentally address how we act in our life and in our business...

sustainability & CSR

✤ though it often seems like it, sustainability isn’t just about tree hugging environmentalists

✤ it has become a wide-ranging term that encompases taking a long-term perspective of our future

✤ in business this covers three principal areas - ✤ environmental sustainability✤ societal sustainability✤ economic sustainability

✤ this holy trinity of sustainability is usually grouped together to form a company’s corporate sociability responsibility (CSR) policy - many firms are doing this

✤ in the USA, CSR is often called the “Triple Bottom Line” i.e. its focus is about using CSR to impact on profitability and shareholder value - true capitalist thinking

✤ but isn’t focusing on bottom line profit inherently unsustainable? doesn’t taking short term profits often mean investment cutbacks? its well known that you can’t save your way to sustainable long-term prosperity

✤ now there is a new trend to something more genuine - a sustainable approach that works - the new term being used for this is Authenticity...

authenticity✤ authenticity isn’t just a new management buzz-word

✤ its a set of values that guide individuals and organisations in facing the many tensions, forces, pressures, and influences of everyday life with honesty and integrity

✤ there are growing movements across the world that are building knowledge and expertise in this field

✤ every day more individuals, organisations and businesses are adopting authenticity as their way of becoming truly sustainable

✤ authentic people, leaders and businesses display the following attributes: -

P - they have a profound purpose beyond profit, a purpose that is socially and/or environmentally positive

I - they display integrity between communication and actionR - they show respect for othersS - they display sensibility to exploitation of resources and customers; and they have

U - they have a distinct and unique business personality

✤ are you a truly authentic leader?

authentic leadership

✤ being a leader is a difficult role - it requires many qualities and skills

✤ we know the ones who inspire us

✤ they are full of life and passion

✤ they believe in the greater power of a team over an individual

✤ they are ethical and act with integrity

✤ they trust people to act responsibly

✤ they respect the needs of others

✤ they have the courage to follow their convictions

✤ above all, authentic leaders have a deep and true sense of purpose and deploy their energy in pursuit of it

✤ people are always willing to follow inspiring and authentic leaders

✤ so why not be the leader others choose to follow?

a profound sense of purpose ✤ do you know your own life purpose? it defines you

and helps you to know who you truly are

✤ for most of us there is a gap between the life we are leading and who we truly are - this gap causes stress and the bigger the gap the more stress there is

✤ when we know our life purpose and apply our talents in pursuit of it we feel engaged, fulfilled and much happier - we become passionate in our work

✤ and if a group of people with a shared purpose work together their energy rises dramatically - in a business this energy can deliver amazing results

✤ so do your employees know their purpose? do they share your purpose? is everyone aligned? are you all passionate about what you do?

✤ authentic businesses focus on this shared sense of profound purpose to constantly drive them forward in pursuit of their goals

✤ they usually outperform their peers too... resulting in growth and profitability far above average

thinking styles

✤ if you have decided that now is the time to re-think then is now the time to change the way you do this too?

✤ it is well known that the brain has two distinct halves - left brain and right brain - and thinking originates from either side

✤ left brain thinking is described as logical, sequential, rational, analytical, objective - it focuses on the parts

✤ right brain thinking is described as random, intuitive, holistic, synthesising, subjective - it focuses on the whole

✤ in business, people are predominantly left brain thinkers - they deal in reality, and are usually conventional and predictable - our education system is primarily designed to foster and help develop these left brain skills but doesn’t do enough to develop the right side of the brain

✤ but artists and designers are predominantly right brain people - they deal in creativity and innovation - often described as lateral thinking

✤ so why can’t these thinking styles can be combined?

✤ they can - and this is now being recognised...

design thinking

✤ leading business leaders have said we need to re-think, re-design and re-build - but in ways that look not at the past... but by embracing the future

✤ society is changing, technology is rapidly developing, competition is global and on-line

✤ the west can’t compete head-to-head with low-cost labour producers any longer, and is committed to creativity and innovation as a competitive response

✤ its recently been said that design schools are the new business schools - because it’s now apparent that old-school businesses are out of date and some lateral thinking is needed - Design Thinking

✤ so leading business schools are beginning to develop collaborative links with the best art schools

✤ and top-end design companies like IDEO are now being engaged in business and service design

✤ this is because creativity and innovation is needed to design the businesses of tomorrow - injecting a dose of right brain, abductive thinking - so start to ask yourself what might be?

✤ the design process can then be used to provide a framework that helps you design your business of the future...

the design process

✤ designers manage the process of design in different ways, but there are similarities in every approach, typically covered by four common phases :-

✤ discovery - the start of the project - beginning with an initial idea or inspiration in which user needs are identified

✤ define - in which interpretation and alignment of these needs to business objectives is achieved

✤ develop - where design-led solutions are developed, iterated and tested within the company

✤ deliver - where the resulting business model is finalised and launched in the relevant market

✤ but whilst other design processes can deliver innovative solutions, they don’t consider the crucial aspect of embedding authenticity as a central key element, nor the behavioural aspects of change that are required to deliver this

✤ so you need a design process that integrates the technical elements of change alongside those behavioural ones that are so critical for authenticity

✤ this ensures that everyone understands, buys-in and supports the business model as it is implemented...

the art of business design

✤ so we know business tensions will hit us from different directions, including economic cycles, changing customer needs, competition, and ever increasing shareholder expectations

✤ we understand that sometimes these tensions arise at different times, but very often they will occur simultaneously and require a bigger response

✤ so businesses need to be amorphous structures that will be flexible and responsive to change

✤ the authentic business architecture is a flexible and accommodating framework that interlinks the key elements of the business whilst retaining authenticity as the central culture at its heart

✤ any tensions cause the whole to flex together, but authentic values help every part to adjust accordingly without suffering a critical failure

✤ so while you are re-thinking, re-designing and re-building you can invent a business of the future that will cope with the tensions of tomorrow

✤ you can inject creativity and innovation to deliver excellence, engage your people, and display a passion that will truly excite your customers

✤ in short - The Art of Business Design

contact us now

✤ web: www.cultivar.co.uk

✤ telephone : 44 (0) 121 443 5524

✤ mobile : 44 (0) 7802 976806

✤ email : james.rock@cultivar.co.ukJames Rock