In the emerging digital economy, there is a need for new models of what organizations can be, new ideas of how value can be created in business and society, and new images for leadership. We believe that design thinking is central to providing these new models, ideas and images. Beginning with this workshop, the Weatherhead School of Management will lead a movement in education and research to make the act of designing and the critical evaluation of design recognized as two of the most important abilities a manager can develop.

We believe in the power of design as a source of human betterment and we hope to redirect the future of management education and research by bringing design thinking to its center stage. Today, managers are not only shaping global commercial enterprises, but are also playing a leading role in reforming social institutions ranging from education, to government agencies, to healthcare. By bringing a design focus to management education and research, we hope to broaden the judgments of human, intellectual and economic value used in shaping organizations of the future. As the pace of world change accelerates, it becomes increasingly important to develop a vocabulary that gives voice to this hidden face of managers and allows for critical reflection on their design practice.

The Need for a New Vocabulary

Because design requires both rational analysis and aesthetic judgment, a design vocabulary will help us approach the field of management with an appreciation for the full scope of a manager’s action and responsibility. The Lewis Building is a profoundly moving aesthetic experience, but its construction is only made possible with the software calculations of three dimensional modeling. Frank Gehry brought the leading edge of computer modeling into the design process to achieve complex geometries and techniques of steel construction which could not have otherwise been possible. He also collaborated with contractors to push the envelope of construction methods. The combination of aesthetic judgment, rational calculation and organizational invention evident in the Lewis building is indicative on a grand scale of the design principles which the best managers display in their daily lives.

The digital economy highlights the need for attention to design as perhaps no time in recent history has done. As computing, communication and media converge into an integrated digital environment, we can expect to see the invention of new organizational forms and new processes of communication at an increased pace. Every aspect of the firm, its environment and its products and processes will be affected by the new media with an explosion of design activity. Organizational learning, knowledge management, virtual teams and other frontiers of improved organizational performance will advance to the extent that new designs enable them.

Design will also serve as a much needed antidote to the specialization and fragmentation that marks our intellectual life today. The specialization which enables each of us to develop our disciplines and establish ourselves as leaders in our fields, also serves to separate us from each other. Our specialization brings with it unique vocabularies and mental models that enable communication with other specialists but constrain communication between groups. The recognition that all of our specialties involve designing and evaluating designs will help us to overcome our fragmentation and strengthen our conversation as colleagues.