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Design a Better Business: New Tools, Skills, and Mindset for Strategy and Innovation

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Whether you're a business leader, aspiring entrepreneur, corporate innovator, growth investor, social impact change agent or enterprising student, Design a Better Business is the comprehensive guide to the new tools, skills and mindsets required to master ambiguity and create value from uncertainty.

Design a Better Business introduces readers to the double loop design process, a practical approach to creating and growing value using collaborative and generative practices that anyone can learn and immediately try with their organizations. You'll learn personal insights from thought leaders such as Steve Blank on innovation, Alex Osterwalder on business models, Nancy Duarte on storytelling, and Rob Fitzpatrick on questioning, among others.

With detailed visual guides to over 20 strategic tools and 48 case studies and real life examples from large corporations such as ING Bank, Audi, Autodesk, and Toyota Financial Services, to small startups, incubators, and social impact organizations, Design a Better Business is the most comprehensive and practical guide on how to launch and sustain innovation as a discipline in your organization.

http://www.designabetterbusiness.com

FILLED WITH PERSONAL STORIES AND EXPERIENCES FROM 30 DESIGN PRACTITIONERS AND THOUGHT LEADERS

8 CHAPTERS

48 CASE STUDIES

20 TOOLS

24 DOWNLOADS

7 CORE SKILLS

30 DESIGNERS

36 HACKS

>150 VISUALS

272 pages, Paperback

First published September 13, 2016

104 people are currently reading
1261 people want to read

About the author

Patrick van der Pijl

6 books5 followers

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5 stars
137 (43%)
4 stars
104 (32%)
3 stars
60 (18%)
2 stars
14 (4%)
1 star
2 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
23 reviews50 followers
November 18, 2016
An interesting expansion on business model generation and value prop design. Wiley has done a great job creating a visual artifact with these style books. I say five stars because all designers should read this but honestly this was more much "refresher info" from many other books I've read. Kudos to the authors for bundling such important topics into a beautifully designed book that breaks down the building blocks of designing businesses. Read it? Let's discuss!
Profile Image for Maciek Wilczyński.
236 reviews38 followers
December 11, 2018
Hard to digest at the very beginning; however, later provides useful concepts on prototyping and delivering the right business model.
If you're into design thinking, Google-like sprints and generally innovations, I think it might be useful for you. It's an excellent extension of Business Model Canvas by Osterwalder.
Book is full of valuable frameworks, which you can incorporate to your meetings. Especially liked the one about hypotheses tests.

Already planning to use it in classes with my students as I hope to lead "Business Models" subject next semester.
Profile Image for Jaan Liitmäe.
265 reviews2 followers
October 15, 2019
Probably much better in paperback format - pretty hopeless for audio...
Profile Image for Ahmad hosseini.
327 reviews73 followers
September 8, 2018
“The world around you and around your business- is filled with uncertainty. But within that uncertainty exist innumerable opportunities to design (or redesign) game-changing businesses: These opportunities are there for the taking, if you know how to look for them.”
This book provides you with new tools, skills, and a mindset to harness opportunities born of uncertainty in order to design a better business. This book is good for non-startup businesses but startups can also use some of introduced tools. Book has good examples, case studies, and tips.
Profile Image for Melissa Charitos.
348 reviews1 follower
June 16, 2021
Quote op pagina 246: “Voor mensen uit executie lijkt het innovatieproces vaag”. Daar val ik blijkbaar onder..

Dit boek was verplichte literatuur in het kader van mijn opleiding FinTech. Het zet op sommige punten wel aan het denken, maar over het algemeen genomen vond ik het boek te abstract en vaag. De praktische toepasbaarheid mist voor mij ook een beetje, wat wordt versterkt door de talloze canvassen; het is bijna overkill. De opmaak is erg druk, waardoor de boodschap er ook niet altijd goed uit te halen valt.
Profile Image for Mihai Rosca.
183 reviews13 followers
February 28, 2020
Really good book on how to start from scratch and how to adapt to everything out there. However, a heed of warning for entrepreneurs and people with just an idea: that's not all. No single book nor any design framework will ever replace the thousands of hours of work and the due diligence necessary to start a business.

And that goes double in case you want to get resources and buy in from senior executives. Expect to be asked about numbers, revenue projections, ROI, NPV and market data + competition analysis before you might get even close to getting your project funded. I think Steve Jobs got his romanticised view popular on how one idea and one man can change the world. What everyone forgets is that it wasn't just one man and it wasn't just one idea that brought Jobs' vision where it is now. It's going to be hard and even after reading this book 5 times over, you're still going to have a picture full of holes.

That being said, if you know what entrepreneurship is all about (and that will differ from country to country), this is helpful. Readings books like this or Blue Ocean Strategy or Hooked might just give you that extra edge to start something new. It might also give you the courage to trust the unknown more. As it is said, where company men see risk, entrepreneurs see opportunity. For this indeed, Design a Better business is filled with useful tips, tricks, examples and visual aids to help you think.

However, to keep a balance and get a some more grounds, I'd recommend reading this one with books like "The Business Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained" or "Business Adventures"
Profile Image for Jorge Reyes.
Author 6 books36 followers
August 5, 2017
Buscando libros complementarios para mi cátedra de innovación en la universidad encontré este material.
El formato, creativo como todo lo que hacen estos autores, permite al lector disfrutar y vivir una experiencia diferente, agradable pero sobre todo académica y de educación en las nuevas habilidades requeridas en este mundo altamente competitivo, innovador y repleto de información.
Los autores y colaboradores son autoridades en las áreas de diseño, innovación, empresa y emprendimiento empresarial.
Los casos de estudio, el método educativo, el diseño editorial y la información son innovadores en si mismos. Pero el valor no termina con el libro, es interactivo y cuenta con recursos en linea que actualizan y enriquecen esta obra.
Lo recomiendo tanto en su versión en físico como en su versión digital.

Profile Image for Claudia Yahany.
192 reviews15 followers
November 15, 2016
De verdad quería que me gustara.

El diseño es trabajo duro, resultado de una formación sería y abstracta. Todos tienen el potencial de ser diseñadores si se comprometen al sudor, la frustración y sobretodo a la búsqueda eterna de entender las cosas y servir a los usuarios, no si aprenden a usar 200 herramientas. No porque algo se vea bonito significa que esté bien hecho.

Esperen un berrinche profundo al respecto.
Profile Image for Tabitha Flatt.
5 reviews3 followers
November 12, 2017
Fantastic information source, clearly organized, sparking ideas for my work as a strategy designer.

Must-read (and frequently reference) book for your design or strategy library. Really, for anyone in business. Highly recommend and now have so many ideas to go incorporate in my work!
Profile Image for Stephen.
Author 4 books57 followers
July 10, 2019
READ JUN 2019

Great addition to the Business Model genre of literature that originally emerged in 2010. This one provides a roadmap for anyone seeking to systematically work through a new business or product/service.
Profile Image for Raffaele Vitale.
15 reviews1 follower
March 15, 2020
this book is fundamental for everyone is involved in the tech-business-digital product world.
it's just a way of thinking and approaching design in a human centred framework PLUS the value of the business requirement.
Profile Image for Yannis Koutavas.
14 reviews
August 3, 2020
A great read that can transform your mindset (especially for those who are not familiar with design thinking and iterative product development). Lots of tools and canvases that can be used right away. Only negative is that the english version has quite some grammatical errors.
4 reviews1 follower
September 2, 2017
This is a wonderful book full of useful tools for anything navigating uncertainty. It's a great set of examples to better understand the application of the tools. I highly recommend this.
Profile Image for Enej Gradisek.
1 review1 follower
December 26, 2017
Really useful book with lots of tools that helps you in use at different strategies and innovation. Recommend!
1 review
January 28, 2019
Easy reading and motivating

Basic 101 to startup. Recommend for new entrepreneurs or think themselves has a great idea. For those not from business school please take a look.
Profile Image for Lorenzo Castagnone.
1 review2 followers
March 3, 2019
Uno spaccatto accurato dietro al processo del design thinking, con ottimi consigli su specifici canvas.
Profile Image for Ritayan.
8 reviews17 followers
September 4, 2019
Good book. Needed something more about the business part of it.
Profile Image for Riana Elizabeth.
895 reviews74 followers
April 19, 2023
This book felt like a long form version of a collection of 'Blinkest' summaries. The majority of content is heavily pulled from other authors' books and the in-prose attribution is done in such a way that it sounds as if the anecdotes are in the author's words when, in fact, they belong to the author cited several paragraphs back.
That alone would've given me a bad taste early on, but the fact that each section is basically an overview of topics (think 'Cliff Notes') covered in those previously published books means there wasn't much here for me and I've rated it as such.
That being said, this book does collect a lot of good business techniques together in one place, so could be an interesting gift for an intro business student or someone just being to dream about starting their own business.
Profile Image for Eliza.
61 reviews1 follower
January 2, 2024
My favourite quote from this book: “The best ideas in the world are worthless until they are tested.

This is an excellent tool book has a clear guidance, business examples and “canvas” which you can use it for practise the high level design methods which mentioned in the book. Highly recommend for brainstorming business idea. This book inspired me and motivate me to evaluate my business ideas before start to get my hands dirty. On their website, we can also download free pdf version for “canvas” , which you can put your thoughts, it seems like a good way for documenting the process.

One thing I really like about this book is encouraged fail early and often. Because failure is learning and it’s priceless.
Profile Image for Janota.
60 reviews8 followers
April 20, 2022
Przystępnie opracowane, zabawnie (czasem trochę krindżowo :P) napisane kompendium wiedzy dotyczącej narzędzi i metod warsztatowych. Jeśli ktoś się zawiesi na tych ,,znanych i lubianych", to ta książka dostarczy inspiracji i templatek, które można wykorzystać w akcji.
Dla osób nieco mniej obeznanych z tematem, forma podania może być też wadą - bo jednak trzeba się trochę wgryźć w tą książkę, żeby zrozumieć jakie procesy projektowe proponuje i zrozumieć, jak poszczególne narzędzia się ze sobą łączą.
Mnogość kolorów, wielkości pisma, obrazeczków, schematów itd. utrudnia spojrzenie na opisywane treści z lotu ptaka. Ale polecam, to taka książka-ziomek.
Profile Image for Taylor.
250 reviews3 followers
August 29, 2022
Really nice looking book with creative and engaging page design. Every page is unique. I opted for the audiobook, and finished with just a couple of notes. Much of it felt like fluff / hype content, mixed in with well-known business clichés. Here's a few of the "7 Essential Skills" of design, for example: "Don't fly solo", "Tell stories and share the experience", and "Set up small experiments and learn shit". This book has many contributors, and you can feel it. Some of the quotes from other designers and business owners were great.
Profile Image for Jaime Moncada.
43 reviews3 followers
April 10, 2021
Libro de mucha utilidad que brinda herramientas prácticas para el diseño de estrategias y talleres/sesiones de innovación, este libro se estructura a manera de "cajita de herramientas" con diversas metodologías que permiten llevar discusiones mejor estructuradas y que permitan documentar lo sucedido en procesos de ideación.
Profile Image for MK.
626 reviews3 followers
January 9, 2024
After reading this book, I thought that for a startup, drawing a vision and designing the team formation, necessary tools, etc. would further clarify the vision and make it easier to make it a reality toward the goal.
The book is structured like a magazine, with many images and illustrations in addition to the text, making it easy to visualize the startup.
Profile Image for Matthew Hodge.
722 reviews24 followers
December 3, 2021
This book and its companion website have a good amount of templates of tools you can use for business design activities.

Now if only I worked in an industry where it was normal to have design days!
Profile Image for Korosh Azarakhsh.
9 reviews
January 17, 2025
An excellent book for people who have a business or are planning to provide products and profits at the beginning of their business.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews

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