How did you come up with the idea to write this book?

The idea for this book came from a shared desire by Lucilla and me to tell what the contribution of design can be in the innovation of manufacturing companies. There has been a lot of talk and writing about design in the field of digital and communication, but what we felt was missing was a actual story related to the industrial world, which is still an important part in Europe and the world and has a profound impact on the reality we live in. In the last 15 years, the context has also changed. The world has become VUCA and design developed more than the ability to introduce fast or agile processes in creative processes. Ideo's design thinking was just the beginning. Design has matured as an ambidextrous discipline that reads context and promotes action. Strategy and disciplines are changing and design is making a strong contribution. This needed to be told.

Who is it for?

Our ambition is that this book can be read by everyone who is interested in promoting change in their organisation. The book is designed for those who have experienced working within a company/organization and are asking questions about the future.
It is written in a simple language, in which the levels of content are gradually built up, one by one, progressively leading to more complex concepts.
The essay part is complemented by a second part of tools to implement the proposed framework with your own team and a third part with full interviews of the protagonists we interviewed along the way: 15 champions of Italian innovation.

There are different definitions of innovation. What is innovation for you?

Actually, in the book we suggest a reflection on the different meanings of innovation, but we propose one in particular on which the very concept of the book is built:

“the realisation of a creative idea - understood as a mental representation of an original and useful future - implemented on a large scale”.

We have mediated this definition from Martin E. P. Seligman, the father of positive psychology. In this definition there is also the design sense of innovation. Design imagines, or rather designs, original and useful futures.

How can individuals and organizations cultivate a culture of innovation? Are there specific practices or mindsets that you recommend?

We come from 40 years of industrial efficiency in various forms that have undermined our ability to be effective. Innovating means being effective. To be effective you have to explore your context, understand people, promote change without forgetting who you are and why you act. That is why in our book we question the efficiencyist paradigm of mission and vision (which has never managed to motivate organisations internal communities much) and promote a new human centered tension between purpose and desirable futures.

What role does design play in relation to innovation? How can innovation drive us in designing purposeful futures?

Design designs the future. To do so, it must live up to its full potential by abandoning its twentieth-century legacies of authorship and embracing a new approach to horizontal leadership that knows how to connect skills and manage apparent opposites, an ambidextrous leadership. On this particular subject (design leadership) I think that Eric Quint, Gerda Gemser and Giulia Clabretta's recent "Design Leadership Ignited" book is a first.

What are some practical steps or takeaways that readers can implement after reading your book to enhance their own innovative thinking or practices?

Usually books close with a decalogue or some take-aways. We wrote them at the beginning, to make the book as accessible as possible right from the beginning and to please lazy readers! This is our decalogue of innovation design:

1. VISUALISING

In other words, sharing the shape of a process, a path, information or insight so that it is easy to be understood and it fits. Visualisation consists of representing concepts through the use of images. It is not about drawing, but about thinking visually. Visualising pushes us beyond the use of words or language, forces us to verify meanings, gives us the tools for a new system of effective and universal communication.

2. IMPROVISING

That is, to be able to leverage one's past experience by adapting to the dynamism of the design environment. Improvisation within design thinking becomes that function that allows us to risk, undo and redo things. Improvisation is, therefore, adaptability. This ability to drive a project forward by adapting to challenges that suddenly arise is what allows us to work successfully in uncertainty.

3. EXPERIMENTING WITH OPTIMISM

That is, interacting with the world around us honestly by looking at its problems without preconceptions, with optimism, i.e. knowing that we can help solve them. Each decision is the prototype of the next in an iterative process of continuous learning. Being aware that you do not have a definitive answer to every problem but, at the same time, knowing that you can approach it by making mistakes and learning (learning by doing) is the concept behind an optimistic experimental approach.

4. DEFINING A COMMON PURPOSE

That is, to understand the raison d'être of the organisation itself and its founding values beyond financial performance. Having a purpose that motivates - that drives - the organisation as a whole is what motivates all the people within it. Directions may change, but the purpose is part of us, it is what identifies us and motivates us to achieve the goals we set ourselves.

5. IMAGINING MEANINGFUL FUTURES

That is, visualising desirable situations consistent with one's purpose. These future situations can and must be specific to individuals or teams of people. Even if the organisation's purpose is common to all, this does not mean that everyone must have the same aspirations. On the contrary, it is precisely the specificity of each situation in which each person can truly recognise himself or herself that can drive us to change by involving us directly.

6. MOTIVATE ACTION THROUGH GOALS

That is, to identify specific goals for individuals or groups of people to achieve that, while remaining consistent with the company's purpose and its own desirable future, motivate action by bringing about meaningful change. Motivating one's action through purpose towards desirable futures is what allows a system of people, such as an organisation, to change collectively without individual efforts being thwarted by the rigidity of the structure.

7. BEING AWARE OF THE IMPACT OF OUR ACTIONS ON THE ECOSYSTEM IN WHICH WE LIVE

That is, assessing the system in which we are immersed in its entirety. In an increasingly global, dynamic and interconnected context, there are more and more stakeholders involved, be they direct or indirect. Moreover, it is no longer possible to think only in the short term, but it is necessary to consider a longer time frame in order to understand the real impact of our choices and actions.

8. KNOWING HOW TO BALANCE LISTENING AND PROJECT PHASES

That is, to be able, as an organisation, to effectively manage today's business and at the same time remain adaptable to cope with tomorrow's market changes. This alternation of listening phases (exploration or thinking) and project phases (exploitation or making) goes back to the concept of ambidexterity; today we define ambidextrous as an organisation that manages to successfully anticipate future needs while simultaneously solving present problems. Design is naturally ambidextrous.

9. KNOWING HOW TO NAVIGATE IN A CONSTANTLY CHANGING ENVIRONMENT

That is, periodically refreshing the process by which people give meaning to their collective experiences. Sensemaking. The volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous context in which we live requires us to understand the ecosystem that surrounds us and to share it with our stakeholders, so that we can generate a common and adaptable platform of meaning, useful to guide us in uncertainty.

10. LOOKING AT VALUE CREATION FROM A SHARED AND SYSTEMIC PERSPECTIVE

That is, to be aware that the problems and challenges presented by the complexity of the ecosystem cannot be solved by a single player. Co-creation and the value of the network, above that of the individual, are the two key references that make it possible to generate systemic value shared by all the stakeholders involved, which thrives over time while respecting people and planet.

Unfortunately, our book is still only published in Italian (if there is any English publisher out there, please contact us at office@tipic.it ! :-) but on our website https://tipic.it/en/tools we published all the tools contained in the book for experimenting with your own teams our approach.

For those who are curious, this is the book:
Futures by design. Progettare innovazione nella complessità