How to Nurture Future Leaders

In the article "How to Nurture Future Leaders", Venessa Wong illuminates how the business world is thinking more creatively by incorporating design thinking into typical business practices.

Nowadays, it's scary to be a new graduate out of master's programs but while some may feel challenged entering the market, others are more optimistic about it. A lot of school programs are now integrating design, technology and business together coining the new trendy term "design thinking". While it may sound like just a new trendy term, it is actually a technique that designers and executives hope will provide a solution to some of the world's serious challenges. The only problem with it is people are not reaching a consensus on how to teach it. They can't figure out if the design schools should create more business-focused programs or if business schools should foster more creative thinking. Despite different approaches, the programs have a similar aim: to merge design, business and technology together. While I am not a business major, something of this nature could be useful to me later on in life. If I ever got tired of teaching the elementary levels, I could go to school for business and have an advantage of being "creative". Students who considered to be the best students are ones that are competent in both creative confidence and analytic ability.

Roger Martin, dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, argues that, "Every corporation needs a design-thinking type." This would include industries that people wouldn't normally think of such as banks and law firms. A number of corporations have begun to integrate design thinking across areas of operations. Even more companies that you wouldn't think of that some people would dream of working for. While Procter & Gamble, Samsung and Steelcase sound like they would be logical choices, Harley-Davidson has even hired graduates who were gradually promoted to all levels of management such as product development, marketing, finance and global manufacturing strategy. Not exactly a company people would think of when thinking of the business world off the tops of their heads. This then shows that all varieties of companies are adapting this approach and will ultimately be making a very strong, stable and productive company.

However, there are some corporations that haven't jumped on the "design thinking" bandwagon yet. They skeptical about its theories of how it actually fits into the business world. They also don't know what it is in general or how to apply it to their business. Some people that have been in the business world for a very long time see it as a dilution of an industry and discipline they worked so hard to study for. Others argue that the new graduates from the "design thinking" areas lack grounding so companies may just hire designers and then train them in business skills as necessary. While this is only a small stepping stone into the idea of "design thinking", there are hopes that this technique will provide new insight and enhance innovation in a time that desperately needs both. Later on down the road, if this technique proves to be an effective measure, then these graduates might just redefine the way the world does business.

While I do like this new approach to business, I have to worry about the people that have been at their jobs for many years whether they'll just simply get pushed out by these new graduates simply because they have different training. My father has been at his company for over 25 years. While my dad went to college and earned his degree, he's not going to adapt to this style of business well and I worry something will happen to his job before he is able to retire. I think that there can be advantages and disadvantages to this new area of thinking. We'll just have to wait and see where it takes us.