Page 24 - Transforming an Idea Into a Business with Design Thinking

Democratizing Entrepreneurship ◾ 3

cannot be overstated. Analytical rigor focuses on leveraging new technolo-
gies to solve problems. However, creativity is required to find the problem
to solve in the first place. Balancing the two sides is likely to yield the best
results .

Contrary to the widely believed misconception that creativity is a result
of right-brain activity and that only some blessed ones among us possess
this rare trait, I have come to believe that each and every one of us is cre-
ative. However, with the passage of time and the effects of influences since
our birth, first others and then we ourselves start questioning our ideas.
This crushes our confidence in our creative abilities and instills doubt in our
thought process.

Having experienced both the sides – the intuitive and the rational – this
book connects the human-centered, design-thinking concepts with business
and technology concepts. This approach takes the best from the principles
of Design Thinking, a process codified by David and Tom Kelley* of IDEO†
and Stanford D School‡, a lean start-up model by Eric Riess and my own
personal experience in driving innovation out of Silicon Valley.

In this book, I bring insights from the numerous creative engagements
that I have led over the years to solve problems facing large and small
companies across varying industries around the globe. The frameworks
that you’ll see in this book have been curated based on my real-life experi-
ences working with large and small companies and Silicon Valley start-ups
across industries that include consumer products, retail, high technol-
ogy, oil and gas, manufacturing, health care, pharmaceuticals, bank-
ing, professional services, public service, automotive, transportation and
semiconductors.

I hope that it will be an eye-opener for both the ones who are labeled
“creative” as well as those who have enshrined their thoughts in the walls of
analytical reasoning and rationality.

1.4 A Primer on Design Thinking

Before I describe the structured innovation process, it is important to give a
quick overview of Design Thinking.

* http://www.creativeconfidence.com/authors
† http://www.ideo.com/
‡ http://dschool.stanford.edu/