The Designful Company
Marty Neumeier the president of Neutron and author of such books as The Brand Gap and Zag has written a nice article for DMI as a preview of his upcoming book The Designful Company.
Marty polled top executives to find out the wicked problems that their organizations face.
The results are as follows:
2008 Survey of Wicked Problems*
(Sponsored by Neutron and Stanford University)
1. Balancing long-term goals with short-term demands
2. Predicting returns on innovative concepts
3. Innovating at the increasing speed of change
4. Winning the war for world-class talent
5. Combining profitability with social responsibility
6. Protecting margins in a commoditizing industry
7. Multiplying success by collaborating across silos
8. Finding unclaimed yet profitable market space
9. Addressing the challenge of eco-sustainability
10. Aligning strategy with customer experience
*A wicked problem is a puzzle so persistent, pervasive, and slippery
that it can seem insoluble.
In his article Marty advocates for business folks who live and breath the language of design. Not necessarily surrounding themselves with and hiring designers but embodying the process and thinking that is involved with design. He also mentions that the rise of eco-sustainability as an issue that will only gain in prominence and that it will provide many opportunities for innovation creating products and services for guilt free affluence of the mass market.