The business world has customarily prized logical, linear thinking -- the kind of abilities that can calculate spreadsheets, crunch numbers and formulate strategies.

But according to a new way of thinking, having sharp analytical skills is no longer enough to stay relevant in today's business world, just as a company needs to do more than produce a product or provide a needed service to be innovative.

Instead, the competitive advantage will go to the people who implement artistry and empathy to create something meaningful. In other words, they will recognize the value of design.

Design is about function and visual appeal, but it is also about problem solving, about creating a compelling experience that the user or customer will want to repeat.

It has been said that design is a combination of usefulness and significance. Your desk is one example of furniture that has a useful function (it sturdily supports the weight of your books, paperwork and computer) while offering greater appeal (ergonomic, comfortable, ample storage, fits the décor) for you, the user.

In the wider sense, embracing the combination of usefulness and significance is also a way for organizations to stand out from the competition, to create new customers and to change the way people look at the world. Good design is behind some of our most successful companies and most revolutionary products and services, from the miniscule dimensions of Apple's iPod to the convenience of Tim Hortons drive-thrus.

In his book, A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future, author and business strategist Daniel Pink offers a convincing case for employing more right-brained design in a left-brained business world.

"We are moving from an economy and a society built on the logical, linear, computer-like capabilities of the Information Age to an economy and a society built on the inventive, empathetic, big-picture capabilities of what's rising in its place, the Conceptual Age," he says, explaining that companies can survive and thrive by design.

"Businesses are realizing the only way to differentiate their goods and services in today's overstocked, materially-abundant marketplace is to make their offerings transcendent -- physically beautiful and emotionally compelling."

There is evidence that the market is changing, scales are tipping and that the business world is waking up to the influence of design. In fact, design-led innovative processes are being factored into educating future business leaders.

For instance, the MBA in design strategy at the California College of the Arts puts an emphasis on how design in business can create successful, sustainable and meaningful products, services and experiences. This is an about-face from traditional thinking that design is merely ornamental or an esthetic afterthought in the R&D process.

Pink says that design has become a fundamental literacy in the business world. Fortunately, everyone has an innate design sensibility; it only takes some practice flexing before your design muscle begins to strengthen your everyday work. Here are some simple exercises from his book:

Keep a design notebook. Everything around you has been designed, so keep your eyes open for examples of great and not-so-great designs. Jot them down. Pink says that before long, you'll not only see design elements in a whole new light, you'll start understand how design plays an integral part of everything we do.

Read design magazines. Pink points out that most professional designers love to read design magazines because they inspire creative thinking. The same is true for anyone. Visit a newsstand and pick up a magazine that focuses on design, whether about fashion, home décor, industrial design or graphic design and see where it takes your imagination.

Find a poorly designed item that irks you. Choose a household item (anything from a coffee mug to an appliance) that annoys you and think about how you would improve its design flaws. Sketch a prototype and if you feel compelled, send your design to the manufacturer along with ways they can make their item even better.

Now choose a meaningful object. Find something that you have a special attachment to -- a favourite pair of jeans, a cool watch, a handy wallet. Ask yourself what the object makes you think of (a person, a place or an experience), why it appeals to your senses and why you have a particular connection to it. Pink says developing the ability to consciously select designs that connect with our emotions leads to buying meaningful objects instead of just accumulating stuff.

The Conceptual Age offers exciting opportunities for us all if we are open to developing our creative side and doing work that is useful and significant.

"In a world enriched by abundance but disrupted by the automation and outsourcing of white-collar work, everyone, regardless of profession, must cultivate an artistic sensibility," Pink writes. "We may not all be Dali or Degas. But today, we must all be designers."

---- With reporting by Barbara Chabai

John McFerran, PhD, CMC, F. CHRP, is founder and president of People First HR Services Ltd. For more information, visit www.peoplefirsthr.com.

RESEARCH:
A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future by Daniel Pink (Riverhead Books/Penguin Group, 2006)
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2255
http://www.adaptivepath.com/ideas/essays/archives/000920.php