We have a strange fascination with frameworks. I certainly do. A framework is a visual shortcut that offers a bird’s-eye view of a complex idea. It helps us find our bearings when we’re overwhelmed by information. But frameworks can become cages. We obsess over the process until we find ourselves saying, “I understand, but the system doesn’t allow it.” When the system becomes an excuse for inaction, it’s not just the process that needs revising, it’s our perspective.
People are often curious about design thinking but wary of diving in. When I meet leaders who express this hesitation, my standard explanation is that design thinking is just a fancy phrase for something so fundamental that you might already have the mindset for it without realizing it. Unlike physics formulae, human-focused approaches like design thinking are simply about understanding what it entails, not being bogged down by “damn, this process has 5 steps, how do I remember them?” The stages exist only to reveal what design thinking is. Once you get a sense of that, it’s just common sense. I’ll tell you myself not to bother memorizing the process, throw it out the window.
What matters are the values, the thinking, and the grunt work behind it. The first three foundational stages of my 9-stage design thinking model are humility, empathy, and intention. Not just steps in a process, they are essential foundations that must exist throughout a project or effort. And when you look at how leaders and teams actually interact, or even people in general, you see three distinct groups that mirror whether these foundations are present or absent.
Some folk are all about instant problem-solving, and in 99 of a 100 instances, the person who dives right into answering often lacks humility. When you present a challenge, people immediately recommend ‘effective’ solutions without asking a single clarifying question. They recommend what worked for their cousin or a strategy their uncle had read somewhere; failing to realize that a solution without context is usually just noise. It values being perceived as a quick, intelligent problem-solver over being helpful. There’s no acknowledgment that they might not fully understand the problem. Of course, there are individuals who would have experienced that specific flavour of challenge, and who would be able to dive right into answering it for you. But such folks are very rare. You’d know it because their solution would really land. In most other cases, you’d find huge contextual gaps between your challenge and their free-size answer.
A majority of us belong to the sympathizing fraternity, which lacks true empathy and the intention to act. We express frustration with a failing institution, yet continue to support the very structures we criticize. We feel for the impoverished while haggling with street vendors, only to turn around and enthusiastically pay premiums for luxury brands without a sense of the value. Sympathy is easy because it requires no commitment. It yields zero impact because it ends the moment the conversation does. We feel something, but rarely act on it. Often, we just want to be viewed as caring, responsible citizens.
The third kind of people practice proactive, empathetic action, and this is where all three foundations of my model come together. At scale, we see this in leaders like Iqbal Singh Chahal, who headed Mumbai’s Municipal Corporation during the worst of the Covid pandemic. With the support and freedom of the ruling government, he had the conviction to bypass traditional bureaucracy, the humility and empathy to understand what front-line workers and citizens needed, and the intention to decentralize pandemic management in one of the world’s most densely populated cities. His approach won well-deserved praise for effectively containing the outbreak far better than far-lesser populated cities could.
Paul Polman demonstrated this at Unilever when he abolished quarterly reporting on his first day as CEO, forcing the company to focus on the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan, proving you can prioritize sustainability and still deliver a 290% shareholder return in a world where businesses live on narrow-sighted, monthly and quarterly goals and broadcasts that have long-term negative impact.
Yvon Chouinard of Patagonia took this further when in 2011 his company ran the “Don’t Buy This Jacket” ads to shake the obvious apparel business goal of selling more clothes. Instead, his company chose to snap customers out of their auto-pilot mode by advising them to consume less and think twice before buying clothes they might not actually need. He then outdid his commitment in 2022 when his family and he transferred their entire ownership in Patagonia to two trusts created with the objective of fighting climate change.
There are still only a few leaders who lead with humility, empathy, and the right intent, having the courage to build systems that account for human and planetary reality rather than ignoring them and aligning with outdated ways of doing business.
Proactive empathy is equally accessible in everyday work too. It’s the choice to be the one person who refuses to join in when sensible views or practices are being dismissed unfairly. It’s redesigning a customer experience because you noticed a friction point that makes them feel small, even if the system says it’s fine and you could hide behind it. When I work with companies on innovation challenges, the difference between teams that ship forgettable solutions and those that create breakthrough solutions has almost always come down to this distinction.
What I’ve learned: Frameworks and processes are useful, but only when they serve the people they are meant to serve. The moment you find yourself defending the process instead of the outcome, know you’ve lost the plot. Design thinking isn’t about memorizing stages. It is about cultivating humility to question assumptions, empathy to understand context, and intention to act on what you discover. The right mindset automatically creates and guides you through the right framework.
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I’m Shrutin Shetty, an innovation consultant and author in Mumbai. I help companies solve meaningful problems and write about innovation, design thinking, behaviour, and productivity. I’ve authored three books, and I’m developing a line of thoughtfully-made everyday consumer products.