The term "design thinking" has become quite popular over the past few years, but what does it really mean? It has been popularized through books such as Tim Brown's Change by Design that show how the processes and tools used by creative professionals can be applied to solving real-world problems and developing better products, services, organizations and societies.
But the potential benefits of this approach can't be fully realized as long as it's viewed as nothing more than a toolset for making things. In fact, it represents a whole different way of looking at the world than the one most people are used to and have been used to for the past four hundred years. It's a more natural, complete and realistic way that I've called Whole-Brained Thinking.
This course will introduce you to the origins of our mental operating system, examine its shortcomings and then lay out a plan to upgrade our individual and collective thinking to give us the tools to function effectively in a world that has become defined by change, uncertainty and chaos but also innovation, freedom and transformation. Managing these factors in our lives and societies requires the sort of up-to-date intelligence made possible by Whole-Brained Thinking.
Over 2 hours of video content. This course includes a downloadable resource that puts the most common tools of design thinking right in your hands, as well as extensive reading lists to help you find your way through this vast and fascinating landscape.
Your Instructor
Russell Giesbrecht is a multi-faceted creative professional with experience in management consulting, advertising, film making and music. It is from this foundation that he has spent the past twenty five years helping organizations tell their stories, both internally and externally. As the User-centered design movement started to make itself known, he recognized that it represented a new approach that blended the worlds of management and creativity in a very promising way and has watched as it has established itself as a full-fledged alternative to the conventional way of thinking about the organization represented by the MBA. Peter Block's The Answer to How is Yes was an important point on this journey, where he realized that he wasn't alone and he wasn't crazy. Having studied and practiced the theories and methodologies of this new approach (for which his preferred label is "business design" but which is also commonly referred to as "design thinking"), he has dedicated himself to spreading the word and helping people and organizations cross the threshold into this new landscape.