As someone who’s mother works in the field of marketing education i.e. a Marketing professor, and a trainer of marketing techniques. I feel that education is as important to the people being taught as they are to the people who are teaching them. Obviously IDEO initially had a more core value to their offering when they did the design projects, however, the times changed and their services were not as in demand as they were. IDEO pivoted because they needed to survive as a group (or a business) and what they could offer is empowering other people with their knowledge. Other than for survival, teaching people I surmise brings a lot of benefits to IDEO as well, they could engage with their target customers and understand/engage them at a closer level. Thus, it would help IDEO become better designers themselves – we know the saying that the best way to learn is to teach.
However, I do acknowledge that this may lead to some exploitation of unknowing ‘customers’ who are overcharged for training that they might not need or get value out of. We’ve seen many times of this occurring in the ‘coaching’ industry for new entrepreneurs. We should be on the lookout for design thinking companies or institutions who are looking like they’re on this path.
