Sabine Hoefnagel, global director of strategy for the sustainability advisory firm ERM, based in the UK, is responsible for driving the growth strategy in the business including promoting innovation and digital transformation. After learning some fundamentals of design thinking, she wanted to investigate how it could be applied to strategic planning. After hearing about her CEO's rewarding experience at Harvard Business School (HBS) Executive Education and with Professor Cynthia Montgomery, Hoefnagel attended the Reimagining Strategy program. She describes what she gained from her learning experience.
Some years ago, my CEO attended the Advanced Management Program at HBS, and Professor Montgomery taught the strategy cases in that course. My CEO thought she was brilliant. Because my role in our organization is global director of strategy, and because we are considering using design thinking in elements of our strategy implementation, my CEO encouraged me to attend.
First, the faculty and participants shared an enormous amount of information and knowledge. The diversity of the participants surprised me, and I appreciated being around people from different backgrounds. It was quite a dynamic experience, with so many different ways to learn. The living groups were also very effective—sharing real-life challenges with people from very different companies was illuminating.
I was surprised by how well the program operated. Everything ran so smoothly, and the standard for services and amenities was very high. Overall, the facilities were amazing and comfortable. It's obvious that there is a lot of attention to detail, and that creates a very friendly and open environment. It was quite easy to make friends in a short amount of time, and I am confident that I will stay in touch with my fellow participants.
It's not surprising that most of the participants were in roles that involve strategy rather than products. The idea of combining design thinking with strategy is very interesting and powerful, so this program can help executives in any kind of business transform the way their company deals with change. The tools this program provides are extremely useful.
