This is one of the greatest skills I've ever learned. An incredible teacher taught this to me in college, and I taught everyone else at OfferMind...
One of the secret weapons I have in my arsenal of marketing skills (and life in general) is design thinking
Design thinking is one of the reasons why I'm able to step into the darkness without seeing the whole path in front of me.
I was taught design thinking when I was in college, and it’s one of the MOST valuable things I've ever been taught in my life.
When I shared the design thinking process at OfferMind, I got some amazing responses.
You can watch the whole process here, but if you’d rather keep reading, then carry on…
WHY DESIGN THINKING?
The process was invented by a company called IDEO. If you don't know who IDEO are, they’re the company who invented the mouse for Steve Jobs’ first version of the personal computer.
IDEO are the reason why your toothbrush is shaped the way it is. In fact, many of the things we use daily have actually been designed by IDEO.
IDEO has mastered the process of creativity. They’ve manufactured process that produces innovation almost on demand.
You’re gonna have to get your playful zone on to make the most of what I’m about to share with you, but just know that if you're boring as a person, your offers will be too.
I'm straight up telling you. If you suck to be around, no one's gonna wanna be in your tribe. If you have a Debbie Downer kind of mentality you're gonna be terrible at this process.
Those who are creative are typically more playful individuals.
It’s time to get back into your kindergarten brain and the enter the fun zone of your noggin if you want to get the MOST out of this process…
Almost everything I've created has been produced following this design thinking process.
When I was in college, I had a FANTASTIC professor who became one of my first ‘one on one’ mentors. He was the CMO of Denny's and Pizza Hut. He invented stuffed crust pizza. Yep, he's the man.
I used to hang out in his office after classes and just fire questions at him.
MY FAVORITE SEMESTER
There was one semester where our entire focus was to launch a business from scratch and make as much money as we could on our own.
Instead of being like, “Hey, do this and this and this and this…” they literally just threw us out the back door and said, “Build the parachute!” We were like, “Oh, Crap!”
We were together in different teams of about 15 and took us on a retreat to bond and brainstorm.
I got put in the food business. I was like, “Oh my gosh, I hate cooking.”
Each team spent several days up in the mountains talking about ideas, and trying to decide:
I don't know if you noticed, but I'm a little bit loud, and so I got voted CEO of the company. I was like, “Great…”
We decided to sell empanadas (I didn’t even know what they were at the time)
We had one class each day, and the rest of the time we were just supposed to make money.
THE TEACHER WENT CRAZY...
One day we walked into class to find all the tables piled with toys. There were Lincoln Logs, Lego, bouncy balls, and Play Dough all over the place. I mean literally, just tons of toys all over the table...
We just stood there look at the just looking the teacher standing there with a whiteboard, a squirt gun, and all this random crap all over the room, and thought, “What the heck is going on? He's lost his marbles, right?”
Then teacher looks at us and says: “I'm gonna teach you how to think.”
He said, “I want you to brainstorm different ideas. Let's talk about what you're gonna call your company?” Then he sat down, and kinda hid away at the back of the room.
One by one each of us got up and started writing down our ideas on the whiteboard...
We came up with all these crazy names and it was really funny. Someone would stand up and write something on the board, and we'd be like, “Oh yeah, that’s a good idea.”
Then one time, after someone had written an idea on the board, a student in the corner of the room made a kinda disapproving sigh...
Quick as a flash, the teacher jumps up takes out a squirt bottle, shouts, "BAD KITTY!"
...and started shooting the student in the face with water.
We're like, “Who is this guy? Are you serious?” We were all afraid to “He's become unhinged, man!”
But we kept going, and eventually, we noticed that every time someone had any negative reaction to an idea, he would shoot them in the face with water and yell, “BAD KITTY!”
HOW TO THINK
RULE #1: You cannot be creative and serious at the same time. Half the reason I mess about is that I'm trying to stay in the creative zone.
If you’re playful it’s way easier to be more creative. Most ideas aren’t gonna come to somebody who’s NOT playful.
If you're kind of a stiff, this is not gonna be that effective. I'm just telling you, straight up. Some Papa Larsen love coming out here..
If you're boring your offer will be too
Just telling you... Okay?
Being an attractive character is a learnable trait, so that's the saving grace.
RULE #2: Get moving - I have a freaking trampoline and a balance board and I try to stay physically moving and active.
I guarantee that your change the world ideas are NOT gonna happen while you're sitting behind a desk. Get up!
When I need some sweet ideas. I put headphones on and jump on my the trampoline. or use my balance board with some Vitamin C in my veins. Then it’s like, *DING* “That would be sick. Yeah, t...
