DESIGN THINKING LAB – coordinated by Leticia Britos CavagnaroStanford University – on line course

The problem and 51 “solutions”

By Lucía Alvarez-CorvaiaAugust 12th, 2013

The Problem - redefined

A 33 year old man, unemployed, involved in a corruption case, mediatically treated, his public image very deteriorated; hopeless about his future; he feels guilty about his friend in jail, which keeps him from moving ahead to position himself in a more proactive attitude about recovering an active working life

51 “solutions”- a brain storm

• 1. Aaron goes to psychotherapy and confession with church

• 2. A. decides to migrate to another country to try fortune

• 3. A. applies for a job in different fields

• 4. A. goes back to college• 5. marries a rich woman• 6. starts robbing banks so he • gets put in jail and “pay” his

dues with society

7. A. decides to do a public campaign about corruption in the country

8. organizes a group of grafitiers to tell the truth of his case

9. Writes a novel based on his case

10. Writes a play based on his case

11. Decides to become a detective to

further investigate the case

12. A. seeks liaison with international

police investigation services

13. Aaron changes his face by surgery and gets new legal identity

14. Moves to his ant's and

helps her out with her farm

15. A. makes a public

confession pinpointing the various

ways he (anyone) could become

part of the corrupted system

16. A. looks for financial support to do a

public campaign

17. A. creates a private business selling electronic equipment

18. A. goes into politics launching his candidacy to local representative in the capital city

Public arena

19. Becomes a businessman and

uses his economic power to

denounce corruption in the country

20. Becomes a successful entrepreneur and

politician

21.Goes abroad and gets an MS

on Business Administration

22. A. begins to climb mountains and find peace of mind

23. A. explores the Brazilian Amazon jungle and lives among the indians for five years; learns their ways to heal many ailments and illness

24. A. Becomes a nature healer in Brazil

Revenge

25. He makes himself invisible and enters his former job's offices and moves things around so he provoques a lot of confusion and the boss decides out

26. He makes a call to the person who denounced him with the media and asks to be pardoned

Private life

27. A. becomes a street beggar until he dies

28. A. retires to Alaska and survives

29. A. gets a mental illness to escapes his somber reality

30. A. makes himself invisible and travels to India to heal

31. A. goes invisible into NASA and travels with next Mars trip

32. A. designs a plan for writing a novel and investigates the topic of corruption all over the world33. A. builds a high-top professional team to do the job indicated in 3234. At the end of the five-year period, A´s company publishes the research results as a technical

report on the web

35. At the end of the five-year period, A. publishes the research results as a novel; at same time A´s Ex-lover writes a novel 36. Ex.'s novel turns into a best seller in the U.S and later in Latin America37. A. gains the lottery and turns into a millionaire38. A. millionaire has lots of friends and collaborators and penetrates the foundation of government

offices39. A. gets cured and develops a fine personality helping others cure their spiritual illnesses, solving

thus his financial situation40. A. goes into a catholic seminary and purges his guilt41. A. goes to visit his friend-ex-lover in jail and assigns him a monthly allowance

42. A. is hired by International secret service organization to investigate other corruption cases in the country

43. A. discovers the main source of corruption in the country and decides to suborn them

44. A. gets his unclean money and begins a new life under covered45. A. and his collaborators decide to go public with the whole thing, risking

money, freedom and stability, even life – a “spill”46. A. and his collaborators plan doing the spill by stages and in different

realms of life: business, political arena, the arts, all using the social networking and the media

47. A. and his collaborators begin with a well written and staged play on corruption

48. A. and his collaborators design children's comics on the topic of corruption, setting up for values construction

49. A. and his collaborators find private and public sectors allies against corruption in the country and permeate their media 50. A. goes public and becomes a presidential candidate51. A. gets killed and with him the team dispersed and disappears from the country and the story goes on

A graphic: the problem with major solutions

Aaron´s life is like a spiral, he´s in the center, and different ways openning around, expanding

Aaron's guilt and shame

unemployment

Psychotherapy, healingConnectedness with positive energies

Back to graduate school, change careers, new identity

Art work, Writing,

Painting graffiti

Change inSelf-image

Face surgery

Going public:-Confession- news- publish novel-Denounces otherCorruption cases- Runs for politics

Going under-covered

-investigating further cases

- Become a beggar

Creates his own consulting firm and doesResearching on corruption at same time

Spiritual paths

The three selected solutions

• 1. Favorite: while working with ant's farm for survival, Aaron (and/or his ex-incarcerated friend) writes a novel on his experience

• 2. Practical: Aaron goes to live with ant, works with the family business while looks for psychological and spiritual support

• 3. Disruptive: going under covered, further investigating this and other cases and going to the media for publicity

Why these three?

• Favorite: It is a challenge and perhaps because it is my personal tendency, to be reflective over my own experiences. hopefully and with appropriate publicity, this would have an impact on public's opinion, understanding of the issue; it depends on Aaron's persistence and abilities to design and develop his literary work

• Practical: receiving support from relatives is the easier solution, and allows him time and survival money to grow and heal; it is the easy and self-supportive for the person at stake

• Disruptive: it is exciting and challenging and would impact society as a whole; it is the most complex of the three

- Carpe Diem -