It’s about sharing, not about being right

La Tertulia Virtual, the Spanish version of the virtual salon, last Monday treated Design Thinking. With participants from Guatemala, Colombia and The Netherlands we discussed what elements of innovation we think are important, how we define innovation and then what design thinking means and how it can be usefully employed.

The virtual salon… I start to really like this intellectual and relaxed way of sharing information, building on it, and trying to learn from each other. In a Hangout-session we share our knowledge and our ideas without pointing at the other person being right or wrong. It’s about connecting people by means of shared interests.

In The Netherlands we are not so much used to that, we usually debate, which means expressing our opinions in a competitive way. Where in English ‘to discuss’ can also mean ‘talking about’, the Dutch word discussie always has the connotation of two or more sides wanting to be right, spending energy on sending information and not so much on receiving. Then, with our locally famous poldermodel we end up somewhere in the middle of all parties wanting to be right, basically without coming up with real, new solutions. I think it’s tiring and doesn’t make sense; sharing opinions, really listening to each other and building knowledge is much more fruitful.

Thus, here we can learn from our Latin American friends. And with MTic-design we will show that not only in ways of communication we can learn from other cultures; you will find out!

Tertulia Virtual, Design Thinking (Spanish)

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