What do designers have in common with chefs, composers, poets, architects, scientists, researchers, librarians, florists, dancers, martial artists, yoga practitioners, painters, novelists, sculptors and all manner of others involved in the arts and liberal arts (aside from the fact that one can say they are all involved in the arts and liberal arts)?

Designers, like their brethren in the arts and liberal arts, rely on an intuitive process of holistic thinking (combining learned, observed & empathetic intelligence) in coming to terms with an understanding of the world in which they live, their role in it and how what they do impacts it. This type of thinking is essential to the long-term sustainability of the human experience.

The ‘designers’ of the Enron business plan can be called ‘designers’ — absolutely. The thought process they embarked on in order to come up with innovative ideas that would rock the markets were indeed — innovative. In fact, one could argue that the designers of the Enron catastrophe were engaged in design thinking, for at the time, Enron was considered a model in innovation and corporate success — before their ultimate demise. What the Enron thinkers lacked was a larger sense of their role in the world, for had they contemplated the end game of their shenanigans, they would have surely seen the writing on the wall way before they crashed into it.

I once proudly proclaimed that Design Thinking is Dead (I still believe in Design Orientation) but this time I mean it. There is nothing wrong with the way designers think, but the way they think (I’m calling it Holistic Thinking) isn’t a practice that’s exclusive to designers — this is my key point. Yes, designers are special as are all others in the arts and liberal arts, but we have to be careful about how we position and project the words and phrases we use in order to communicate important messages to others.

The meme design thinking, I’m afraid, attempts to package, brand and trademark everything that is amazing about the arts and liberal arts (including the practitioners thereof) into one convenient yet dishonest label.

Most importantly, Holistic Thinking can be learned by those outside of the arts and liberal arts through carefully structured and managed interactions between interdisciplinary teams of professionals — from the business world as well as from the arts and liberal arts.

Here’s to more Holistic Thinking — here’s to a sustainable future.