“From an economical perspective, innovation is a matter of life and death. A company must innovate today if it wants to be in business tomorrow. For a company to succeed, it not only must be much better than its competitors, but it also must anticipate where its future competition will come from and what it will offer.
Today, business leaders are turning innovation into a major driver for better solutions, experiences, and sustainable business. In fact, the most successful leaders apply innovation across every business process, from behavioral strategy and market research to financial, leadership, and business models.”
- from a fine line, by harmut esslinger. used totally without permission
Recently, I had the opportunity to meet the very impressive President of frog design at the TED Global Conference. The mission of frog is to “create and bring to market meaningful products, services, and experiences” to some of the worlds biggest brands. They do this by understanding “the culture of technology and the design of business.”
Since then, I’ve been reading “a fine line” from Harmut Esslinger. He’s the creative visionary and founder of frog design that has spent forty years building the world’s most recognizable brands. In this book, he talks about how companies can achieve better business through better design and about the very real challenges facing businesses in the new global economy.
“As a realistic optimist, I believe in a better future.”
Esslinger shows how business leaders and designers can work together using creative strategies to build a more profitable and sustainable future. The book talks about how he evolved frog design from an industrial design shop to a global innovation powerhouse.
Here are some rapid fire soundbites from Harmut…
In talking to the firm’s leadership, it is clear that frog’s corporate culture is their first priority. The key to their creative process is that by creating a positive work environment, they enable their talent to create innovative ideas for their clients. This think-tank atmosphere gives great minds a place to incubate big ideas and leads to successful services and products.
The Creative Corporate Mind
“The fourth level of design, is made up for highly creative, strategic thinkers who are fluent in convergent technologies, social and ecological needs, and business. The mission that all busines leaders should adopt for their organizations’ design efforts — is to create physical and virtual objects that are inspirational in the usefulness, beauty and social/environmental responsibility, which at the same time supporting business’s strategic goals.
This mission forces the foundation for any organization’s creative strategy and drives its tacticial implementation. For business leaders pursuing and innovation-driven business model, strategic designers are essential partners.”
Their unique way of re-thinking complex business problems from a design perspective breaks the mold of traditional creative agencies. To create success in business, the big thinkers should be brought together with business specialists that are able to implement and sell those big ideas.
“As designers, we are uniquely qualified to feel and see opportunities that might be invisible to our more “rational” professional partners. And the business leaders we partner with may be attuned to exciting opportunities that haven’t even crossed our minds.”
- from a fine line, by harmut esslinger. used totally without permission
How are you going to stay ahead of the competition?
In the new economy, change is expected and should be encouraged. If you’re a business leader, think about what you are doing to improve your brand and ask yourself these questions:
- Do you value safety over innovation?
- What will your business do differently to remain competitive?
- What systemic changes will you make to keep your top talent performing at their peak?
Stay ahead of your competition by continually defining your brand as an innovator in the field. The key to relevance in a fast moving economy is to put innovation at the core of your business, which enables your entire organization to adapt, anticipate and act.
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