The Roots of my Love of Learning

I love learning. I’ve always loved learning, from when I was a little kid learning about shapes and letters, to literature and programming languages in school, to consumer behavior and human-centered design in university. It didn’t stop when I graduated, but that desire to learn more got even stronger. I wanted to learn about things I didn’t discover in the academic setting, and bonus points if it was on the creative side. What made me happiest was when I could apply what I learned to solve a problem or just make things a little bit better.

When my desire for learning made me a target for the playground bullies, I just stopped going to the playground, and immersed myself further in books, classes, and courses. While I tried to escape from the bullies, their words left an impression, and I wondered if my love of learning was weird. But the joy I got from learning was louder than the taunts, so I continued. And I am so glad that I did, because encountering something new, struggling with understanding it, eventually making sense of it, and then hopefully using it — that challenged my mind, tempered my assumptions, broadened my horizons, and helped me grow. More importantly, it made me realize that while I may now know a lot more than when I first began, I still had a way to go and continue my learning journey. 

I did feel a sense of relief and a bit of validation when I learned that my nerdy tendencies were a source of strength. I took the CliftonStrengths Assessment for a leadership course (what else did you expect?), and discovered that Learner was among my top 5 skills, and somewhere in my report was the line that I was “quite naturally a lifelong student.” While I don’t disagree with the assessment, I wondered if Knowledge Geek or Knowledge Enthusiast might be a funner term! 

This result made me wonder about the roots of my love of learning. Whenever I asked what or why, my Mom was always there to listen and work with me to help answer my endless questions. I recall being a kid, and my Mom making as many books available to me as possible; experimenting with new things just because it caught my eye; encouraging me to explore other sources if she didn’t have the answer; and always saying yes for play and laughter. My Mom is awesome :) It wasn’t just how she was with me, but also how she was with herself. She loved to immerse herself in new things and push the boundaries of her knowledge. She’s an amazing human I am lucky to call my mother, and her tenacious creativity is incredibly inspiring. I’ve lost track of the number of times she’s recreated a recipe after just a few bites, or done needlework and sewing without a pattern, or created a new thingamabob to solve a problem. Yes, thingamabob — used interchangeably with whatchamacallit and doohickey, because my Mom was more intent on designing creative solutions to annoyances rather than coming up with cool names. So our home was filled with a lot of thingamabobs and whatchamacallits that addressed different issues, but we needed to describe its use so we didn’t get stuck with the wrong whatchamacallit! :P

But every time we thought she’d mastered something, she’d go off and discover some new thing that she needed to challenge herself with and learn and master. It’s safe to say I inherited my Mom’s desire to learn, solve problems, and make things a little bit better. Perhaps my designer tendencies were inspired and shaped by my Mom’s artisan and creative spirit, and for that (and a whole lot more), I am eternally grateful — Thank you, Mom :) ❤

Discovering Jamtastic Insights at the Dubai Service Jam

48 hours to change the world. Given the state of the world, that seems like an impossible task! :P However, Global Service Jam believes that with the problem inspired by a secret theme, the possibilities of collaboration, and the power of design, people can make a difference, in as little as 48 hours! 

While Global Jams initiated and oversees the Global Service Jam, Global Sustainability Jam, and Global GovJam, the local Jams themselves are run by design aficionados, united by “a common passion for growing the field of service design, innovation, and human experience.” So, when this year’s Global Service Jam was announced, as a design aficionado, I naturally put my hand up to help with the Dubai Service Jam.

As one of 124 locations around the world, this year’s Dubai Service Jam took place in the Dubai Design District, attracting almost 30 Jammers, including students, as well as professionals from medicine, technology, academia, startups, and design. As a member of the organizing team for #JamHotDXB, I didn’t partake in the challenge myself, but as facilitator and doodler, I did observe the teams in action, and took away some Jamtastic Insights! 

• Embrace the Mystery. This is probably one of the key mindsets required for design. As soon as the secret theme was revealed (the word ‘BLUE’ in black text on a yellow background #KeepTheSecret), we saw a room full of confused faces, looking for more information and clarity about what the theme meant. We had to remind the Jammers that it was okay not to have full clarity before you set out on the service design journey — one that requires you to get comfortable with ambiguity, in order to unravel the mystery that is your users’ mind.

• Become Curious. You remember when you were a kid, and wouldn’t stop asking your parent why the sky was blue or how the clouds managed to just stay up there? We have an innate curiosity in us as kids, one that gets whittled away as we grow up into ‘mind-your-own-business’ adults. It’s good to stay focused on your own lane, but when you’re designing something for someone else in a different lane, you need to adopt a curious mindset that wonders and asks why do people do the things that they do. 

• Listen and Observe. It’s not enough to just ask questions of your users — you have to listen to their responses too. Remember that you’re not looking for the answer, but rather to listen to their answer, in terms of what they do say, don’t say, and how they say it. It’s also about observation, in terms of what are your users doing and their body language, which can sometimes reveal unsaid hidden nuggets of insight.

• Encourage Diversity of Thought. Just as no two people are alike, neither are their thoughts. Jammers differed on their interpretations of the secret theme, which directions to go from the theme, which users to target, what questions to ask, what service to design, what to prototype, how to prototype, and even which flavor of jam (or jelly) goes best with peanut butter! It’s okay to be different, but rather than stoking the fire of diversity, you have to harness that diversity of thought as your source of inspiration for more cohesively designed solutions.

• Raise your anchors and look out for icebergs. Creating is fun — it taps into our inner child that loved to write, draw, and build our own little world of imagination. Investing in your ideas is good, to build them into something viable. However, sometimes we get so anchored to our ideas, that it’s hard to see anything beyond it or the potential problems with it. It helps to take a larger view of our ideas, look out for potential icebergs, and if necessary, raise our anchors, and chart a new course. Remember, it’s not about your idea, but rather about solving the problem.

• There is no one right answer, but service design is about the journey of discovering the many possible right answers. It’s alright to have multiple good ideas — some may combine into one big idea, while some may function better as independent ideas. Think individually, think together, have many ideas, build them, and test them out.

• Prototype — #DoingNotTalking. It’s not enough to just have good ideas — you have to go beyond just words, and turn them into prototypes to see what they will look like, what they will feel like, and how will your users interact with it. Prototyping also enables you to test them out to see if they’re desirable, feasible, and viable. If the prototype hits that sweet spot of the design trifecta, that might be the idea to pursue and turn into something more tangible for your target audience.

• Inspiration is all around you. The 2019 edition of the Dubai Service Jam took place in d3 — the Dubai Design District, the hub for the region’s growing community of creative thinkers. Being in that space for two days, strolling through the grounds, interacting with the various works of art, sparked both questions and ideas for our Jammers, prompting them to think differently. One of the biggest sources of inspiration was our trio of the youngest Jammers — aged 5, 7, and 10, they may not have been the target participant group for the Jam, but they certainly embraced the challenge with curiosity, thinking outside the Blue, prototyped with gusto, and impressed all the grown-up Jammers with their creative ideas.

• Adopt a Playful Mindset for a serious goal. The Global Service Jam is not just about using design to solve problems, expanding your breadth of design skills and knowledge, and learning from your fellow Jammers — it’s reminding us of the first time we likely encountered a design process and fell in love with its people-first approach and its playfulness. It’s about reigniting that spark of playfulness that helps us think more creatively, and design better solutions. For me, having fun meant conceptualizing and creating visual representations or doodles of the Jammers’ activities over the two days, to play upon the Jam’s playful mindset.

I would be remiss if I didn’t take a moment to thank Tribal Scale (Jam Venue & Title Sponsor), MCG&CO (Creative Toolbox Sponsor), and Service Design Network & SDN GCC Chapter (Community Sponsor), for all their support with the Dubai Service Jam 2019. Thank you also to all our Dubai Jammers for spending their weekend with us to connect, collaborate, and create some magic! The highlight of the weekend was working with some fantastic people — Hammad Khan, Aquila Khan, and Anthony Harrison — all focused on delivering an amazing experience, THANK YOU! :)

The High Heels of Empathy

I recently found myself in a conversation with someone who was adamant about the need to find new solutions to existing problems, but was far from empathetic about the people around him.  For every issue, he expressed his view on the problem, but was not concerned about how other people in his team felt.  He kept harping on about his proposed solution, but was dismissive about how his solution would negatively impact the other team members, and add to their already overwhelming workload.  He also expressed disdain for team members who were putting in extra hours trying to solve the current challenges, but were struggling; his view was if it didn’t solve the problem, it was because they weren’t showing enough initiative.  Given that scenario, it was no surprise that there was disengagement from work, burnout within the team, and the team’s problems just kept getting worse.

That led me to wonder whether there is room for innovation in an environment that silences the dissenting voices without listening to them; that does not value the extra efforts of its team members; and that does not display empathy for its own people, let alone its users.

Empathy is not only an essential component of business (and being a good human being), it is also one of the fundamental building blocks of the Design Thinking process, because you need to understand the people for whom you are designing.  You need to put yourself in their shoes, and truly understand their experiences, their situations, and their emotions. 

While they may share the same root of the Greek word pathos (which means feelings, emotions, or passion), it is important to differentiate between Sympathy and Empathy, as you embrace the Design Thinking process.  Sympathy is more reactive, in that it shows concern for another person, which may involve projecting feelings of detached pity and sorrow.  Empathy is more proactive, in that it seeks to understand what other people are experiencing and feel what they are feeling, with a view to do something to help them. 

While some may be naturally empathetic, Empathy is not a secret skill but an inclination, and we can take certain steps to improve it and turn it into a natural disposition. 

1. Slip on the high heels:  While the “stepping into the other person’s shoes” analogy may have run its course, humor me for a moment, and imagine that, for your entire life, you’ve only worn flip-flops.  Now, pick up a pair of high heels, slip them on, and try to stand up.  All of a sudden, you feel taller, but you also feel like you’re teetering on those stilettos.  Your jeans suddenly got dressier, but your toes feel a little squashed.  This may just be a literal change of footwear, but figuratively “stepping into another person’s shoes” gives you an idea of What other people see, say, and do.
2. Dig a little deeper:  Once you’re in the other pair of shoes, dig a little deeper to learn about that other person’s experience.  What is it like to walk in those pair of high heels?  Does the precarious balancing on skinny stilettos make it hard to walk even a few meters?  Try to learn about the other person, not just by observation, but by subtle, open-ended questions to encourage them to open up.  Digging involves trying to better understand how people feel, get context for the factors that affect their behavior, and learning more about the How of what other people see, say, and do.
3. Be Objective:  For many people, it’s not easy opening up about themselves, and they may not be completely honest – not as a conscious effort to deceive someone else, but rather as an unconscious effort to protect themselves.  They say they really love those high heels, but do they kick them off at the first opportunity?  You need to be cognizant of people’s actions and behaviors, and whether they align with their words.  Being objective involves being attentive to the differences in people’s behaviors, and thinking about the underlying authenticity and Why of what other people see, say, and do.
4. Acknowledge:  Empathy is a proactive state, which means that not only do you need to be proactive about understanding people and their feelings, you also need to be proactive about acknowledging that to the other person.  That doesn’t mean going up to the person and saying, “I empathize with you” (that would be creepy!).  It means acknowledging to the person that you understand them, their feelings, or their experiences.  For instance, if the other person has been walking in high heels for 20 minutes straight, ask them if they’d like to stop for a few minutes and rest their feet.  Or if they kick off their high heels and grumble about a shoe bite or blister, offer them a cushioned Band-Aid.  These are fairly simplistic examples, but the underlying principle of empathy is applicable across the board.  Be proactive about seeking to understand what other people are experiencing, and feeling what they are feeling, with a proactive view to acknowledge their experiences, and if applicable, do something to help them.

While slipping on the high heels, digging a little deeper, being objective, and acknowledging might help you become a little more empathetic, it is important to be aware of people’s receptiveness to external engagement.  While Empathy is a critical skill, it is not charging in with a bulldozer, but rather a diplomatic approach with a delicate touch.  Trying to understand other people and their experiences also involves trying to understand whether they would be receptive to an empathetic response.  Sometimes, the most empathetic response could be not engaging with the other person, and instead giving them their space.  People are different, and cultivating the essential skill of Empathy helps you become more perceptive about other people and how to best respond to them.

To Kill a Mockingbird’s Atticus Finch may have captured the essence of Empathy best when he said, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view – until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”  

Author’s Note:  I am not anti-high heels, and I think they are rather pretty.  I just hope you demonstrate some empathy for me as I kick off those high heels, and slip into some comfy sneakers instead!

Inside the Creative Toolbox - Brainstorming

As a little girl, I was unfamiliar with the concept of idea generation – to me, if you had an imagination, you had an idea!  In fact, as a little kid, your ideas were probably more remarkable, what with brave dragons fighting your cold, trees growing pizza instead of fruit, and cars driving themselves to your destination!  Now that I think about it, I strongly suspect the inventor of self-driving cars picked up that idea from a curious child!

As an adult, however, having a wild imagination can get you a couple of funny looks from the people around you, “Who’s this kook, and what kind of crazy idea is she spouting?!”  Imagination is important, because it allows you to have ideas, and it’s alright if a couple of them run a little on the wild side, because even Albert Einstein said, “If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it.” 

Even though Mr. Einstein endorsed the notion of an absurd idea, some people are still resistant, because somewhere between dreaming of pizza trees and our first day at work, a lot of us shunted aside our imagination in favor of pragmatism.  It’s okay though, with a little practice, you can get that ol’ imagination working again!  One way is through engaging in idea generation, with tools such as brainstorming. 

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Developed by Alex Faickney Osborn (co-founder of BBDO), brainstorming refers to a group’s “attempts to solve specific problems or develop new ideas by amassing spontaneous, unrestrained contributions by members.”  Brainstorming can sometimes be a contentious issue, because some people believe that only the loudest voices get heard, only the charming presentation gets ahead, and you don’t need all those other voices in the room with the consultant.  I respectfully disagree, because when done right, brainstorming can be one of the strongest tools in your arsenal to begin solving those befuddling problems.

I like incorporating a guided brainstorming exercise, with timed individual and group phases, and strongly advocate visualizing their thoughts.  Once the buzzer beeps, each individual shares their ideas with the other members, putting up their post-its on a large sheet, setting the stage for a possible solution.  While there are other effective idea generation tools, I find that this approach to brainstorming works for a few reasons.  Firstly, it allows the team to work on their own, with each person's ideas being heard, without being squashed by other stronger/louder members, encouraging diversity of thought.  Secondly, it helps to break down possible walls of opposition when they realize that other people may have the same or similar ideas, building a sense of team spirit.  Thirdly, it helps keep my biases in check too - just because I'm the innovation strategy consultant does not automatically mean I'll be the only one to generate the best idea or have an eureka moment, and there's a lot to be learned from other people in the group, who may even become your champions as you take forward the eventual idea or solution into the implementation phase.

Brainstorming will not give you a neatly packaged solution; it is merely one step in the problem-solving process.  However, it is an effective idea generation tool, and when used in conjunction with other tools and exercises, brainstorming can help you think, imagine, ideate, create, iterate, and put you on the path for solving your problem.  

Value of Design Thinking

I was recently asked, what is the value of design thinking.  That's a tricky question to answer, because anyone who knows me can attest, I am passionate about design thinking and innovation.  

I've been a proponent of it ever since my alma mater (that phrase certainly has a ring of nostalgic pride!), the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, introduced me to it.  I grew to love it during all the time I spent learning about it and practicing it with the Business Design Club and Rotman DesignWorks.  I missed it even more when I wasn't practicing it, because you'd often find me muttering under my breath, "This would work so much better if we'd apply a user-centered approach to it!"

My time at Rotman may have come to pass, although I am still enthused about design thinking and innovation, soaking every bit of knowledge I can, about the space.  I'm often asked why design thinking, and simply put, it's a user-centric approach to solving problems, ergo, it makes sense.  I loved Tim Brown's view of design thinking in his book, 'Change by Design,' where he described it as "integrating what is desirable from a human point of view with what is technologically feasible and economically viable."

The part about design thinking that resonates most strongly with me is that it puts people first, not just in thinking about and solving problems, but also in everyday experiences and how might we make things better.  Design thinking prioritizes people to solve problems and delight users.  And what makes it even better is that it is iterative, with a constant cycle of curiosity, creativity and improvement.

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This may explain my passion for design thinking and innovation, although I decided to doodle it all out, and leave you with a visual of my view of the value of design thinking.  I'd love to hear what you think, about the post, the doodle, and design thinking... So, drop me a line, and let's talk! :)

Halfway Through Second Year!

I know it's been a while since I've posted anything, and although it's been a little quiet on the blog front, it's been really quite hectic behind the scenes. The first half of December was occupied with wrapping up the Fall Semester, then the second half of December was occupied with an exhaustingly good trip, then the first half of January was occupied with a fantastic Winter Intensive Course, and now, the Spring Semester is off to a snowy start! While there will be more posts to follow on the events of late December onwards, let me get to the subject line... Yes, ladies and gentlemen, in mid-December 2012, I completed half of my Second Year, which officially had me at 75% done with my MBA! That's an exciting, but scary thought... I really only have a couple more months of school until I'm out of here? But I really like school!

Being in Second Year has its perks... You've gotten used to the pace of the intensive MBA program and all its components, you've settled in to the city, you've figured out all the shortcuts to school, and you've figured out where's the best place to give in to your cookie cravings! That said, it's still pretty hectic & intense, but it's just more manageable. The same goes for the courses I took during the Fall Term; intense, challenging & demanding, but stimulating, exciting & manageable.

Professor Brian Golden takes you into the challenges that prevail after you've planned that grand strategy in "Strategic Change & Implementation." Given people’s natural resistance to change, part of me wondered if it was actually possible to teach people how do they implement strategic changes. We were taken through a variety of cases which illustrated leadership, alignment, strategy, structure, systems, influencing change, knowledge management, and even storytelling. I also loved being exposed to these variety of concepts in a variety of forms, from your traditional business school cases & readings, to the Golden Bear Award-Winning "12 Angry Men," to the entertaining "Jamie's School Dinners."

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Professor Dan Ariely with Professor Nina Mazar's Behavioral Economics class

Professor Nina Mazar takes you through the different aspects of human irrationality in "Behavioral Economics." Unlike its much older brother - traditional economics - which explores the idea that people are “capable of making the right decisions” for themselves, Behavioral Economics explores “the (quite intuitive) idea that people do not always behave rationally and that they often make mistakes in their decisions.” I really enjoyed exploring how behavioral economics could be utilized to better understand the user, by better understanding their decisions related to options, choices, payments, fines, saving, commitment, behavior changes, reciprocity, morals, ethics, and dishonesty, and then applying that knowledge to two live cases. The highlight of the course was probably the Behavior Economics Fireside Chat we had with Professor Dan Ariely, one of the leading behavioral economists of our time, and it was fascinating to hear about his experiments, and his discoveries about "The Honest Truth about Dishonesty."

Professor Alexander Manu takes you into a completely different direction with "Innovation, Foresight & Business Design." He challenges you to think outside the box, and use non-traditional approaches to solving unseen problems, or unidentified opportunities of the future. This class isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I personally really enjoyed learning about innovation as a behavior, foresight perspectives, new context mapping, disruption, behavior spaces, experience mapping, and using the ambiguity in the world around us, to find and capitalize on its hidden opportunities. Our group - 'The Itty-Bitty, Farm and City, Witty Ditty, Nitty-Gritty, Dog and Kitty, Pretty Little Kiddy Show' - took our learnings through a three-phased process of Discovery, Expansion, and Application, eventually culminating with a business pitch for our idea.

So, that's my view on the courses I took in the Fall Term. Although they were definitely challenging, they were eye-opening in trying to expand my views, and exploring different avenues in solving problems and capturing opportunities. Stay tuned for my next post, where I cover the Winter Intensive Term! Take care, and stay clear of the snowstorms!