A recent study carried out by researchers from two American universities shows that being a successful business genius can be taught in business school. The study argued that being a business genius like Steve Jobs and Jeff Boros can be studied in institutions of learning.
The study observed that when business leaders imagine into the future rather than re-enacting the past is a strategy that is crucial for business success.
According to the two lead researchers, Luis Martins, the Director of Herb Kelleher Centre for Entrepreneurship at the University of Texas, and Violina Rindova of the University of Southern California, the key to revolutionary business strategy lies in the strategist’s ability to use a future-focused kind of imagination.
The authors argued that the current standard curriculum in even the top-tier business schools places too little emphasis on strategic imagination. They argued that the accepted methodology teaches students how to analyze the past and adapt to the present.
In Martins opinion the current teachings are crucial components of strategy, but without future-focused imagination, they won’t lead to breakthrough business achievements. “The few courses that do offer students forward-thinking strategic business frameworks are usually electives, not requirements”, he said.
Martins added, “Anticipatory thinking, analogical reasoning and design thinking are all techniques that can catalyze strategic imagination.”
He also advised that thinking about how established business models can be used in new market spaces the way the company Rent the Runway did when it began offering a way for shoppers to borrow clothing instead of buying. They effectively created “the Netflix for high-end dresses,” Martins says.
Martins says design thinking, the process of using design to create new offerings and improve the user experience also has the capacity to revolutionize a business, making reference to Apple’s attention to the appearances of its products as an example of how design can transform an entire industry.
“I think we are running out of runway for mass market thinking and just low-price thinking. So, increasingly, as markets fragment and as people desire something more than just low cost, I think strategic imagination will become an ever-more-important aspect of the strategist’s job.”
