Can you teach an old company new tricks? IBM’s metamorphosis into the world’s largest design-oriented company hasn’t been easy. The Loop, a new documentary produced by digital design company InVision, gives an illuminating peek into how the 109-year old company is convincing staff that embracing a design mentality is the key to its survival.
Instead of just handing IBMers a corporate mandate, the company is encouraging critical voices to shape the design program. Phil Gilbert, general manager of IBM design and the company’s chief design ambassador, explains that building a sustainable design cultureinvolves encouraging continuous self-inquiry and even provoking internal debate. “Critics, critical thinking and argument are always welcome—and I’m using argument in a classical sense,” he explains. “We have a saying ‘we want our people to have strong opinions, loosely held.'”
To move employees toward a deeper understanding of design, Gilbert first had to articulate the definition of “design” for IBM’s 380,000 employees around the world—a tricky semantic assignment even within the design industry itself. Not only did Gilbert have to clarify a fuzzy, oft-misunderstood concept to a broad audience, but he had to appeal to staffers who were not entirely sold on the idea, including many of the engineers.
Instead of fetishizing the colorful parts of design that are seen as mysterious—brainstorming, ideating, drawing, prototyping—like most design innovation firms do, Gilbert took a different route. He spoke in terms of results.