Design-Led Strategy: The New Strategy For Tomorrow!

Are you listening to me? 

Over the past ten years in my career I have had the privilege to meet with hundreds if not thousands of consumers from all walks of life. In this journey, I have focused primarily on well-being and what we could do to enhance one’s well-being. I have come to one conclusion, WE CAN’T! All we can do is create a journey where we KNOW THEM, SURPRISE THEM, and MAKE IT EASY FOR THEM! (more on those three points in a future blog.)

I have traveled all across this country and I’ve heard the same thing over and over, Are you listening to me? And frankly, for years, no- we were not. Over the past year my passion to have empathy for every person, no matter what stage in the journey one is on has grown

We are all on this journey!

I have also been able to lead an amazing group of human beings who have embraced this concept and changed peoples lives. I want to introduce you to one of those people, Chrystal (you can learn more about her on LinkedIn). I met Chrystal the very first day I started my new job this year. She spent one hour with my leader and myself, and it was amazing. Her passion for life, her zeal for helping others, and her excitement for well-being was contagious. We both left that meeting and said, we want her on our team! So, over the next couple months we made that happen. She became a part of our consumer experience community and took-off. We exposed her to the theory of human-centered design and the concept of keeping the member at the core of the whole design process. Over the last several months I have watched her embrace this concept giving her a deeper level of empathy for members that has not only impacted their lives, but her life as well. She is a champion for the people (and on a personal note, her encouragement and challenge to me to focus on my well-being has also positively impacted my life as well.) 

So What, You Might Be Asking? 

What does all of this have to do with strategy, everything. This past week I read an article by Lee Comber titled, “Why design-led companies do better in business.” You can read the full article, but I want to point out the four imperatives he talks about:

1. The Purpose Is The Brief – Make your strategy simple. Make sure that your colleagues and consumers can understand it. Simple, simple, simple!
2. Craft The Whole Experience – Using design at the core of your business will ensure success. Change your operational model. Flip your way of thinking. Put design and the consumer in the middle before you ever focus on the bottom line.
3. Design For The On-Demand Age – Be nimble! Be Quick! Do not take any thing for granted. Make sure your strategy can change on a dime, but not change who you are as a business.
4. Simplify And Seduce – I have to go back to one of my favorite quotes by Steve Jobs for this.

“Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains”

To conclude, I will say this. Love your consumer! Appreciate your colleagues! Keep things simple! And create a kick-ass strategy that is focused on all of them! That’s all for now.