Innovation 101: My Top 5 MBA Lessons on Design Thinking
Context: Over two weekends, I took an Innovation & Design Thinking course. Having previously taken a design thinking course with IBM, this experience served as a powerful reminder of key principles and their relevance. After submitting my reflection paper, I wanted to share the top five lessons that stood out to me and how I plan to integrate them into my personal and professional growth
- It’s Always About the Customers
The most important lesson is that successful design starts and ends with addressing what customers actually need. This can only be achieved through empathy — truly immersing oneself in the user’s experience by walking multiple miles in their shoes, not just observing from a distance. Problem solvers (Consultants, Product managers, Designers etc) must engage directly with users, observe their behaviours in real contexts, and remove personal biases to uncover authentic insights. Implications: Businesses that prioritize customer-centricity will create solutions that resonate deeply with their audience, leading to higher customer satisfaction, loyalty, bottom line and long-term success
2. Understanding How Customer Needs Are Communicated
What customers say, do, and believe they do are often vastly different. This highlights the need for observational insights over verbal feedback. Customers tend to express desires based on their current experiences, unable to articulate future needs or usage patterns. Prototyping and observing how customers actually use a product offer more actionable insights than direct questioning. Implications: Managers must go beyond customer feedback surveys and prioritize real-world testing to uncover genuine usage patterns and needs.
3. The Power of Rapid Prototyping
Rapid prototyping emphasizes creating, testing, and iterating quickly with available resources. This cycle of feedback and improvement allows ideas to evolve closer to an optimal solution. Implications: Businesses that embrace rapid prototyping can accelerate innovation cycles, reduce time to market, and improve product-market fit by staying adaptable to user feedback.
4. The Design Thinking Process
The structured framework of design thinking — empathy, define, ideate, prototype, and test — is a proven method for creating innovative solutions. Each step builds on the last, ensuring that every aspect of the problem is thoroughly explored and addressed. Implications: Organizations that adopt this process will foster a culture of creativity and problem-solving, empowering teams to tackle challenges systematically while ensuring user-centric outcomes.
5. SCAMPER as a Tool for Innovation
SCAMPER is an acronym for Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to another Use, Eliminate, and Reverse. It serves as a structured framework for brainstorming and innovating by rethinking existing products, processes, or ideas in creative ways. It is a simple yet powerful technique for generating creative ideas by manipulating existing products or processes. By applying actions like substituting, combining, or modifying elements, businesses can uncover novel solutions. Implications: Managers can use SCAMPER to challenge assumptions, revamp stagnant products, and encourage creative thinking within teams, leading to continuous innovation and competitiveness.
These lessons underscore the importance of placing customers at the center of innovation, leveraging structured processes like design thinking and SCAMPER, and embracing iterative cycles for rapid progress. Businesses that integrate these principles will not only foster creativity but also deliver meaningful and impactful solutions.
As you reflect on your own work or projects, consider how these principles can help you approach challenges differently and create solutions that truly resonate. What steps can you take today to make innovation a core part of your process? Share your thoughts or experiences in the comments — I’d love to hear how you’re applying design thinking in your journey!
