Hasta La Ideas

Though the phrase “Design Thinking” has been gaining in popularity for the better part of the last decade, it really entered the mainstream design vernacular last year with the introduction of several articles and books on the topic from designers and educators such as Tim Brown, Roger Martin, Roberto Verganti and Harmut Esslinger.

Unfortunately, judging by a popular January 9th New York Times article, very little has trickled into a mainstream conversation. The article, entitled “Multicultural Critical Theory. At B-School?,” attempts to tackle the shifting landscape of MBA business education by using Roger Martin and the Rotman School of Management as a case study but actually frames the argument not around “design thinking,” which has been his main selling point for rotman, but rather around “critical thinking.” The article goes on to elaborate on the specific practice of “Design Works” at Rotman but uses this as the one single “design thinking” example among a list of other programs.

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