Dean Datar on Design Thinking and Innovative Problem Solving

16 Sep 2021

Dean Datar on Design Thinking and Innovative Problem Solving

Re: Patrick McGinnis (MBA 2004); Srikant M. Datar (George F. Baker Professor of Administration Dean of the Faculty)

Topics: Innovation-Innovation Strategy Planning-Problems and Challenges Operations-Product Design

Photo by Webb Chappell

Courtesy Patrick McGinnis

Dean Srikant Datar recently spoke to author, podcast host, and venture capitalist Patrick McGinnis (MBA 2004) about design thinking and innovative problem solving as part of a TEDxGateway event.

“To make truly transformative innovation, you must empathize with users and discover needs that they might not be able to articulate,” says Datar. From there, he outlines a framework for identifying the problems and then ideating solutions—using design principles to combat “cognitive fixedness.” “Cognitive fixedness is a state of mind,” says Datar. “It causes us to approach problems using earlier, traditional approaches. In an innovation context, however, cognitive fixedness prevents us from imagining new possibilities.”

After an overview, McGinnis leads a Q-and-A about Datar’s ideas. “I think we can all agree the world is slightly uncertain these days, and when we discuss innovation, it is often in the context of uncertainty,” says McGinnis. “How does this approach to innovation make leaders feel more confident about strategy in today’s world?” Datar says that the design thinking mindset is particularly valuable in an uncertain world, because it refocuses the organization’s efforts on the customer. “I think interestingly—and perhaps counterintuitively—what design thinking does in a world like that is provide a focus on a set of opportunities that are likely to have the best probability of success.”

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Featured Alumni

Patrick McGinnis

MBA 2004

Featured Alumni

Patrick McGinnis

MBA 2004

Featured Faculty

Srikant M. Datar

George F. Baker Professor of Administration
Dean of the Faculty

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