One of the most interesting books written in the last few years is Team of Teams by General Stanley McChrystal. The book explores organizational dynamics in the military and how they can best be applied to corporations. The main concept within the book is that a small, well-trained team, with a clear mission, superior communication, and mutual trust can defeat a larger force that is less agile.

Over the past few months, we have worked with numerous businesses to help them establish new services and design innovative customer experiences. Many of our engagements leverage the Design Thinking methodology as the basis for our interactions and clients are always intrigued by the approach. Last week I was approached by one of our customers who asked the simple questions of “what is the magic to the Design Thinking methodology. Why is it so special?”

As a company grows so does its structure. A small company with under 30 employees has a less complex challenge to segment staff into functional units or practice groups. The company is small enough that everyone works together to accomplish the end goal.