Design thinking is a powerful tool for rethinking and revitalizing strategy—and for driving organizational performance. By placing customers' needs at the center of a product, service, process, or business model, you can reframe strategic challenges and develop more effective solutions. Drawing on right-brained creativity and left-brained analytics, this design thinking program enables you to broaden your strategic perspective, find novel opportunities for innovation, and keep your business moving forward.

Summary: Design thinking is a powerful tool for rethinking and revitalizing strategy—and for driving organizational performance. By placing customers' needs at the center of a product, service, process, or business model, you can reframe strategic challenges and develop more effective solutions. Drawing on right-brained creativity and left-brained analytics, this design thinking program enables you to broaden your strategic perspective, find novel opportunities for innovation, and keep your business moving forward.

Key Benefits

Led by HBS professors Cynthia A. Montgomery and Srikant M. Datar, Reimagining Strategy explores strategy through a new lens. As you apply the latest design thinking techniques and tools to the complex problems facing your organization, you will foster a culture of creative change, spark breakthrough innovation, and boost your company's competitive advantage.

DetailsExpand All Collapse All

Move quickly to develop innovative solutions Move quickly to develop innovative solutions

Practice systematic inventive thinking (SIT) to overcome functional and relational immobility
Create models and deploy rapid prototyping to explore complex problems

Build design thinking capabilities Build design thinking capabilities

Tolerate risk and failure in order to boost creative thinking—and promote learning
Foster a culture of creative critique and openness to change
Create design-thinking practices core to your strategic approach

Consider the needs of end users in every strategic decision Consider the needs of end users in every strategic decision

Build empathy with end users by observing their behavior and drawing conclusions based on qualitative information
Ensure that business decisions are driven by the user as you consider innovations in business models, products, services, or processes

Expand your personal and professional network Expand your personal and professional network

Extend your network by living and working with accomplished executives from various backgrounds, industries, and countries across the globe
Build relationships with a diverse group of peers who can provide wide-ranging insights into your business challenges and career decisions

Key Benefits

Details

Move quickly to develop innovative solutions

Practice systematic inventive thinking (SIT) to overcome functional and relational immobility
Create models and deploy rapid prototyping to explore complex problems

Build design thinking capabilities

Tolerate risk and failure in order to boost creative thinking—and promote learning
Foster a culture of creative critique and openness to change
Create design-thinking practices core to your strategic approach

Consider the needs of end users in every strategic decision

Build empathy with end users by observing their behavior and drawing conclusions based on qualitative information
Ensure that business decisions are driven by the user as you consider innovations in business models, products, services, or processes

Expand your personal and professional network

Extend your network by living and working with accomplished executives from various backgrounds, industries, and countries across the globe
Build relationships with a diverse group of peers who can provide wide-ranging insights into your business challenges and career decisions

Who Should Attend

This design thinking course is appropriate for C-suite leaders and other senior executives who play a key role in the formulation and execution of strategy within their organizations, such as:

Presidents, chief executive officers, chief operating officers, chief strategy officers, and chief financial officers
Heads of business units, divisions, regions, or functions
Managing director, general manager, and director

Attendance by multiple company representatives will foster teamwork and amplify the program’s impact on the organization. An executive team should include at least one C-suite executive and other senior executives.

Participating Companies Have Included:

ABB

Amazon

Cloudera

Entertainment Technology Partners

ERM

Fidelity

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals

Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages

Johnson & Johnson

Nuance Communications

Sandoz International GmbH

Tata Capital

Dive Deeper into the Experience

We Celebrate New Ways of Thinking. Are You Ready?

Thrive in a learning environment that welcomes diverse ideas and perspectives.

Experience the Case Method in the Classroom

Watch participants debate the issues and present their viewpoints.

Discover more about business. And yourself.

Global perspectives > Leadership growth > Organizational impact.

Who Should Attend

This design thinking course is appropriate for C-suite leaders and other senior executives who play a key role in the formulation and execution of strategy within their organizations, such as:

Presidents, chief executive officers, chief operating officers, chief strategy officers, and chief financial officers
Heads of business units, divisions, regions, or functions
Managing director, general manager, and director

Participating Companies Have Included:

ABB

Amazon

Cloudera

Entertainment Technology Partners

ERM

Fidelity

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals

Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages

Johnson & Johnson

Nuance Communications

Sandoz International GmbH

Tata Capital

Dive Deeper into the Experience

We Celebrate New Ways of Thinking. Are You Ready?

Thrive in a learning environment that welcomes diverse ideas and perspectives.

Experience the Case Method in the Classroom

Watch participants debate the issues and present their viewpoints.

Discover more about business. And yourself.

Global perspectives > Leadership growth > Organizational impact.

Learning and Living at HBS

When you participate in an Executive Education program on the HBS campus, you enter an immersive experience where every aspect of the learning model has been carefully designed to facilitate your growth. Your learning will take place on your own, in your living group, and in the larger classroom, driven by the renowned HBS case method.

Learning and Living at HBS: When you participate in an Executive Education program on the HBS campus, you enter an immersive experience where every aspect of the learning model has been carefully designed to facilitate your growth. Your learning will take place on your own, in your living group, and in the larger classroom, driven by the renowned HBS case method.

Admissions Criteria and Process

We admit candidates to specific sessions on a rolling, space-available basis, and encourage you to apply as early as possible. Although most programs have no formal educational requirements, admission is a selective process based on your professional achievement and organizational responsibilities.

Admissions Criteria and Process

Answering Your Questions

Our Program Advising team can help you at any stage of the admissions process—starting with identifying the program that best addresses your learning and development goals. Contact a program advisor via email or call 1.800.427.5577 (outside the U.S., call +1.617.495.6555).

Application Submission

We recommend that you apply at least four weeks before the program start date. You may use our online form or download an application. HBS maintains all application information in strict confidentiality. We acknowledge receipt of applications via email. In the unlikely event that you do not receive an acknowledgment, please email us at exed_admissions@hbs.edu or call us at +1.617.495.6226.

Application Review

To optimize the learning experience and maximize the exchange of ideas, our Admissions Committee makes selections that balance each participant's experience, scope of current responsibilities, and type of organization. HBS seeks candidates who reflect a broad range of industries, functions, countries, and backgrounds. We review applications monthly and will contact you via email with the Admissions Committee's decision.

Fee, Payment, and Cancellations

The program fee covers tuition, books, case materials, accommodations, and most meals. No payment is necessary until you have been accepted. Payment is required prior to the program start date. If you need to cancel or defer participation, you must submit your request in writing more than 30 days before the start of the program to receive a full refund. Cancellations or deferrals received 14 to 30 days prior to the start of the program are subject to a fee of one-half of the program fee. Requests received within 14 days are subject to full payment.

What You Will Learn

Throughout this design strategy course, you and your peers will dive into the methodology of design thinking and explore its applications to business strategy. Through a rich learning experience that includes faculty presentations, case studies, small-group workshops, discussions, and hands-on exercises, you will expand your perspective on strategic issues, discover ways to redesign your organization's strategy, and learn how to apply design thinking to drive and sustain business success.

What You Will Learn: Throughout this design strategy course, you and your peers will dive into the methodology of design thinking and explore its applications to business strategy. Through a rich learning experience that includes faculty presentations, case studies, small-group workshops, discussions, and hands-on exercises, you will expand your perspective on strategic issues, discover ways to redesign your organization's strategy, and learn how to apply design thinking to drive and sustain business success.

Key AreasExpand All Collapse All

Understanding the innovation process Understanding the innovation process

Gaining a big-picture view of the innovation process
Defining creativity and its essential role in innovation
Building the foundation and structure for innovation success

Exploring human-centered design Exploring human-centered design

Identifying and understanding what customers need and want in a product, service, or process
Understanding who your target users are and how to reach them
Examining techniques for achieving deep customer understanding

Discovering areas of opportunity Discovering areas of opportunity

Overcoming barriers to innovation through problem framing
Identifying problem frames using webbing, abstract ladders, and strategy frameworks
Opening up new paths of thinking, redefining problems, and finding areas of opportunity

Generating innovative ideas Generating innovative ideas

Exploring new approaches to innovative thinking and techniques for idea generation
Examining the tools of Systematic Inventive Thinking (SIT), including task unification, division, attribute dependency, and inversion
Applying methods of structured ideation, such as the Nominal Group Technique, Round Robin, Creative Matrix, and Alternate Worlds

Developing concepts Developing concepts

Focusing on the critical role that prototyping, experimenting, and iteration play in developing ideas
Understanding how failed experiments can reveal new options and lead to better final outcomes
Examining methods of prototyping, such as wire framing, body storming, think-aloud testing, and simulation
Exploring attribute-value mapping, design heuristics, concept poster, rose-thorn-bud, and critique

Key Areas

Understanding the innovation process

Gaining a big-picture view of the innovation process
Defining creativity and its essential role in innovation
Building the foundation and structure for innovation success

Exploring human-centered design

Identifying and understanding what customers need and want in a product, service, or process
Understanding who your target users are and how to reach them
Examining techniques for achieving deep customer understanding

Discovering areas of opportunity

Overcoming barriers to innovation through problem framing
Identifying problem frames using webbing, abstract ladders, and strategy frameworks
Opening up new paths of thinking, redefining problems, and finding areas of opportunity

Generating innovative ideas

Exploring new approaches to innovative thinking and techniques for idea generation
Examining the tools of Systematic Inventive Thinking (SIT), including task unification, division, attribute dependency, and inversion
Applying methods of structured ideation, such as the Nominal Group Technique, Round Robin, Creative Matrix, and Alternate Worlds

Developing concepts

Focusing on the critical role that prototyping, experimenting, and iteration play in developing ideas
Understanding how failed experiments can reveal new options and lead to better final outcomes
Examining methods of prototyping, such as wire framing, body storming, think-aloud testing, and simulation
Exploring attribute-value mapping, design heuristics, concept poster, rose-thorn-bud, and critique

Your Individual Project

Upon acceptance into Reimagining Strategy, you will be asked to provide a short description of a current strategic problem or challenge facing your organization. Throughout the program, you will have the opportunity to work on a strategy to address this issue and seek input from HBS faculty and peers—a process that can help to clarify the root cause of strategic issues and produce a more effective solution.

Optional Post-Program Virtual Follow-Up Session

Three to four months after the program ends, you can participate in a virtual gathering with HBS faculty members and program participants. During this session, you and your peers will have the opportunity to discuss the status of your strategic projects and the implementation challenges you have encountered. You will share and receive feedback from faculty and peers as you rethink your strategic approach.

Your Individual Project

Optional Post-Program Virtual Follow-Up Session

The HBS Advantage

Our Executive Education programs are developed and taught by HBS faculty who are widely recognized as skilled educators, groundbreaking researchers, and award-winning authors. Through their board memberships, consulting, and field-based research, they address the complex challenges facing business leaders across the globe.

Faculty Cochair

Srikant M. Datar

Arthur Lowes Dickinson Professor of Business Administration. Senior Associate Dean for University Affairs. Member of the Accounting and Management Unit; and faculty cochair of the "Senior Executive Program—Africa" and cochair of "Reimagining Strategy."

Read Full Bio

Make design thinking a core strategic priority.

Cynthia A. Montgomery

Timken Professor of Business Administration. Director of Research. Member of the Strategy Unit; and faculty cochair of "Reimagining Strategy."

Read Full Bio

Make design thinking a core strategic priority.

Faculty

Stefan H. Thomke

William Barclay Harding Professor of Business Administration. Member of the Technology and Operations Management Unit; faculty chair of the "General Management Program" and "Leading Product Innovation."

Read Full Bio

The HBS Advantage: Our Executive Education programs are developed and taught by HBS faculty who are widely recognized as skilled educators, groundbreaking researchers, and award-winning authors. Through their board memberships, consulting, and field-based research, they address the complex challenges facing business leaders across the globe.

Faculty Cochair

Srikant M. Datar

Arthur Lowes Dickinson Professor of Business Administration. Senior Associate Dean for University Affairs. Member of the Accounting and Management Unit; and faculty cochair of the "Senior Executive Program—Africa" and cochair of "Reimagining Strategy."

Read Full Bio
Make design thinking a core strategic priority.
Read More

Cynthia A. Montgomery

Timken Professor of Business Administration. Director of Research. Member of the Strategy Unit; and faculty cochair of "Reimagining Strategy."

Read Full Bio
Make design thinking a core strategic priority.
Read More

Faculty

Stefan H. Thomke

William Barclay Harding Professor of Business Administration. Member of the Technology and Operations Management Unit; faculty chair of the "General Management Program" and "Leading Product Innovation."

Read Full Bio