Being Inspired

Baron McDonough
Sep 9, 2018 · 4 min read

The most inspiring thing about design in my view is that it presents the opportunity for a person to create something that can benefit others. Before I attended McCombs for business school, I worked as a management consultant and traveled to many different clients in various industries. Of all the companies I consulted for, my favorite project was working for a medical device manufacturer. This company was started by Earl Bakken, an engineer who designed the first external, battery-operated, artificial pacemaker. Bakken leveraged the success of his initial designs to build the company into an 85,000 person company with over 53,000 patents to its name. The most rewarding aspect of my project at this company was the opportunity to have exposure to the scientists who were designing some of the most advanced medical devices in the country and see firsthand how these emerging technologies were impacting peoples lives. Each year the company holds an annual conference at their headquarters and they bring in individuals who have received treatment from the different devices the company sells. People of all ages, some whose lives were saved by theses devices, share the stage with the inventors who designed the devices and tell their stories. When I attended one of these conferences for the first time, it was incredible to see the level of gratitude these patients have for the inventors. It became very inspiring to see these people designing new products everyday and know that their designs would ultimately have a positive impact on millions of people’s lives.

Reading the article “Designing for Access” reminded me of my time at the medical device company and the annual conference that was held because author Allison Arieff discusses a similar type of event at the Cooper Hewitt design museum in Manhattan called “Access + Ability”. According to Arieff, this exhibition “highlights the beneficial ways design and technology are transforming the lives of people with different physical, cognitive and sensory abilities.” The Access + Ability exhibition had over 70 different displays of products that were either developed by someone with a disability or a family member of someone with a disability after being motivated by their personal needs and experiences. A great example of one of these products provided in the article is the Emma Watch, designed by graphic designer Emma Lawton, which uses haptic vibration to allow Emma to regain use in her hand after she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2013. Another great product is the Morph Wheels which is a wheel chair designed for portability with collapsible wheels. The article also mentions that BMW partnered with Paralympic athletes do design a more aerodynamic racing wheelchair. It is great to see a large company like BMW, known for its distinct design capabilities, giving back to society and helping others who may be at a disadvantage. This example of BMW helping the Paralympic athletes makes me think about the role that companies play in creating positive impact on society. In his book Capitalism and Freedom, famous economist Milton Friedman wrote of that he believed companies should have no social responsibility to the public or society because its primary focus should be on maximizing profits to return to the shareholders. I find many flaws with this logic because I believe that companies can be successful but still have a positive impact on society, like BMW’s efforts to leverage their design expertise to help less fortunate individuals in the example above. I also believe that as younger generations continue to enter the workforce, the focus on social responsibility is going to continue to grow. In my opinion, an increasing number of people want to be inspired and work for a company whose mission they believe in.

One thing I have learned in business school at McCombs is that I want to be a business leader who does more than simply return profit to shareholders; I want to be able to give back to society and help others in the process. Knowing this know will hopefully help me better navigate the companies that I will want to work for as I advance throughout my career. It is easy to see how the medical device inventors at the company I consulted for were able to impact many people in a positive way by their designs. However, there are many companies out there that have done this more in a more indirect way but have still managed to change the lives had of millions of people; one of the more obvious companies that comes to mind is Apple. Steve Jobs created the Apple Ecosystem by considering all his stakeholders and designing products that people needed even if they didn’t know it yet. Jobs developed a design philosophy with the following pillars:

1. Craft, above all

2. Empathy

3. Focus

4. Impute

5. Friendliness

6. Finding simplicity for the future in metaphors from the past

By leveraging these design principles, Jobs was able to develop new products that fundamentally changed how our society accessed new information in real-time and began a trend that all major technology companies began to follow. While he was able to build one of the most successful businesses in modern day history, the positive impact that Apple had on advancing technology for society as a whole cannot be understated. Apple is a great example of a company that has had business success while simultaneously creating positive social impact, and this is the type of company I would want to work for in the future.