Reblogged from Team cognition: Since R. Martin and others hijacked the term ‘designthinking’, there is an ongoing dispute. Two thought worlds exist and possibly these can be united by laying bare the essential characteristics of a ‘design thinker’. Thought worlds Design thinking frames the verb ‘design’ as a specific cognitive activity in order to solve […]
How to recognize Design Thinkers
by Cameron D. Norman • October 31st, 2012
The Mindful Socially Innovative Organization
by Cameron D. Norman • October 16th, 2012
In complex systems there is a lot to pay attention to. Mindfulness and contemplative inquiry built into the organization can be a way to deal with complexity and help detect the weak signals that will make it thrive and be resilient in the face of challenges. Most human-centred social ventures spend much of their time […]
The Ideology of Scaling Social Innovations
by Cameron D. Norman • August 24th, 2012
Without best evidence (which is almost always lacking in social innovation by its very nature), setting performance targets related to scale a priori is foolish. For innovators themselves, equally foolish is not gathering the kind of information about the systems they are operating in to know if they are the human or the ant and whether a shower is on the way. 
Jonah Lehrer and the Crisis of Knowledge Synthesis
by Cameron D. Norman • August 22nd, 2012
Jonah Lehrer is/was as big as it gets in science writing and two weeks ago proved the adage that the higher one climbs the farther the fall after admitting to some false content in his stories. This is bad news for him, but may be much worse for all of us interested in making science […]
Too Much Social Media, Not Enough Social Message
by Cameron D. Norman • July 30th, 2012
Social media is any networked information technology, tool or platform that derives its content and principal value from user engagement and permits those users to interact with that content. But last time I checked (in), the content stream being produced through my media stream was becoming a lot less social (Web 2.0) and more of […]
Marketing Metaphors of Meaning in Complexity
by Cameron D. Norman • July 17th, 2012
Marketing is largely about identity and stories about identity. Marketers want to influence what you do (choose, use, purchase, etc..) and how you experience what you do when you do it. To do this, they know the importance of design and the stories to accompany that design. Design, when done well, is partly about creating empathy with those who are to benefit from the products of design and the best products out there are ones that apply empathy and guide behaviour at the same time. Storytelling is the vehicle that links them together. 
Complexity and the Senseless Marketing of the Future
by Cameron D. Norman • July 16th, 2012
Futurists take what we know now and project into the future ideas about things will be like years from today using the models that have worked consistently up to now. Those models applied to human systems are changing quickly making marketing the future based on them senseless and potentially dangerous. Earlier this past week a […]
The Complex Consequences of Simple and Easy
by Cameron D. Norman • July 9th, 2012
For any marketing of complexity to work, the risk in creating a false guru is high, but so too is the risk of installing overly simplistic filters. In both cases we need to address complexity with a complex response and doing so with one that doesn’t exacerbate the problem by adding too much extraneous information to our media ecology, getting us back into trouble elsewhere. 
Marketing the Narrative of Complexity
by Cameron D. Norman • July 6th, 2012
Complexity, by its very nature, is not a simple concept to communicate, yet it is increasingly becoming one that will define our times and may be the key to ensuring human survival and wellbeing in the years to come. If society is to respond to complex challenges the meaning of complexity needs to be communicated […]
Mindful Navigation of Complexity and Social Media
by Cameron D. Norman • July 4th, 2012
If we are to mindfully design our social media ecology and do it in a manner that promotes empathy and connection, rather than overwhelms us; engenders learning and insight over simple content absorption; and promotes creativity and innovation rather than just talks about it, we need to answer the question more intently and act accordingly.
Follow @stephjoke on Twitter