Interview with Markus Güntert

Markus: Although design thinking often delivers promising results, many ideas end up being shelved too early. The challenge of integrating design thinking into day-to-day business often proves to be too great: While design thinkers strive for disruption and are willing to learn from mistakes, others in the organization tend to meet change with scepticism and quickly become critics. It is not uncommon for good ideas to be nipped in the bud. It is therefore often more important to build bridges between the different cultures within an organization than to focus exclusively on the idea itself.

Markus: You don’t necessarily need an official leadership role to act in a leadership position. Especially after Design Thinking workshops, a management vacuum often arises in which responsibilities become unclear. If no one then takes the initiative and actively drives the process forward, the project quickly loses momentum. I encourage everyone to actively look out for such leadership gaps and fill them with commitment!