Tim Brown, whose company specializes in innovation, distills the lessons of his career.
November 2008 • Lenny T. Mendonca and Hayagreeva Rao
Many companies claim to be innovative, but few can claim innovation as their raison d’être. One such innovation machine is IDEO—a designer of products, services, and experiences ranging from Apple’s first mass-market computer mouse to aspects of Prada’s store in New York City to the patient-care delivery model at SSM DePaul Health Center, in St. Louis, Missouri.
IDEO’s single-minded focus makes it an intriguing port of call for executives seeking insights on innovation. The company’s deep experience collaborating with other businesses and with nonprofits and government agencies gives it valuable perspectives on what distinguishes winning from losing innovation efforts. Yet as CEO Tim Brown is quick to point out, what works at IDEO won’t work everywhere.
Brown has worked at IDEO since its formation, in 1991, when three established design firms came together. He became CEO in 2000, after stints heading IDEO Europe and the company’s San Francisco office. Over the years, Brown has stood for the development of ideas through action—observing customers, prototyping, testing, refining—rather than abstract thought.1
In this interview with McKinsey’s Lenny Mendonca and Stanford professor Hayagreeva Rao at IDEO’s offices in Palo Alto, California, Brown provides his perspective on innovation at IDEO and at other organizations. He focuses not on a philosophy of design but on the role of leadership in stimulating creativity, the barriers that sometimes inhibit it, and the incentives that really help to generate new ideas. He also discusses opportunities to innovate in public services and the promise of user-generated online content.
Vital statistics
* Born June 24th, 1962, in Preston, England
* Married, with two children
Education
* Graduated with BA in industrial design in 1985 from University of Northumbria, Newcastle, UK
* Earned MA in design in 1987 from Royal College of Art, London
Career highlights
IDEO (1987–present)
* President and CEO (2000–present)
* Head of IDEO Europe (1995–2000)
* Head of IDEO San Francisco office (1992–95)
* Designer (1991–92)
ID TW0* (1987–91)
* Designer (1987–91)
- ID Two was one of the three founding companies that merged to create IDEO in 1991
Fast Facts
* Serves on the board of trustees for California College of the Arts; member of the Advisory Council of Acumen Fund, a not-for-profit global venture fund focused on improving the lives of the poor
* Received honorary doctor of science degree from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California (2004), and in 2005 was named a visiting professor in design at University of Northumbria, Newcastle, UK
The Quarterly: You’ve written and spoken extensively about IDEO’s design philosophy and its potential relevance for other companies. What lessons does IDEO, as an organization, hold for others?
Tim Brown: I always get a little nervous when we start talking about innovation, IDEO, and other organizations because there’s something unique about us: all we do is try to have new ideas and get those ideas out into the world. We don’t have to do anything else; we barely have to run a tiny little company. But because we don’t have to focus on a bunch of other things, we can focus completely and utterly on experimentation, on exploring ideas for the sake of exploring them, and on bringing unlikely people together to work.
One of the things I’ve noticed is that if we spend too much time focusing on doing our projects on time and on budget—running our kind of business well—then the ideas we generate aren’t as good. So we talk a lot about managing tensions. On one end of the spectrum is running a business well. On the other end is having the most creative culture you can. You’ve got to have both. And you can’t just pick a spot on the spectrum. You’ve got to move around. It doesn’t worry me to do that. But it drives some people completely crazy.
