On September 8th, Tracie Wolfmeyer shared all about the Design Thinking process and her experience in corporate innovation at our Design Thinking Workshop.

Tracie is a recognized leader in Corporate Innovation, Design Thinking, and Startups for creating new ways of working for companies who are seeking to solve complex business challenges. Tracie’s work has been recognized by CIO magazine, Innovation Leader, St. Louis Business Journal, St. Louis Regional Chamber, and the Skandalaris Center.

She discussed the 3 main takeaways in Design Thinking, which is a problem solving approach used to improve products or brands.

• Consider the big picture.
• Think through alternative solutions.
• Test early and often.

She shared all about her time at Oracle as an Innovation Service Director. To highlight the effectiveness of Design Thinking, she discussed her work on a project with Oracle which aimed to create experiences in the customer travel journey using touchless touch points that are effortless, secure, and seamlessly safe. Tracie said design thinking “all boils down to desirability, viability, and feasibility.” 

Tracie’s main piece of advice was ““Test, test, test, test, because it is the fastest way for you to validate your idea.” Throughout the presentation she emphasized the importance of research and how evidence trumps everything when it comes to innovation.

One student attendee, Aisha Adedayo, a sophomore in the Olin Business School commented, “It is a very technical process, and my favorite part was that she went into specifics in her work but helped us keep the big picture in mind and made it simple to understand.” Aisha appreciated Tracie sharing the work she did at Oracle to make travel more comfortable through artificial intelligence. Design Thinking is changing the world of innovation.

Choose Design Thinking.

Understand, reimagine, create.

To see upcoming events at the Skandalaris Center go to https://skandalaris.wustl.edu/events/.