---
title: "Learn to Move Mountains: Design Thinking is an Essential Skill"
description: Sustainability is of the utmost importance, and young people are gaining an understanding of that. Elaine France introduces us all to design thinking, and how it could change the world.
author: Elaine France (Contributor)
date: 2019-08-13T09:50:37.000Z
updated: 2026-02-26T22:05:50.902Z
canonical: https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/learn-to-move-mountains-design-thinking-is-an-essential-skill
image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/shane-rounce-DNkoNXQti3c-unsplash-scaled.jpg
categories: Green Tech
content_type: Column
region: Global
publication: Sovereign Magazine
---

Coursera, the online education platform,
has just published its Global Skills Index (July 2019)1 analysing the top
trending skills in Business, Technology, and Data Science, benchmarked across
60 countries and 10 industries. These are the skills we need for the future of
work a.k.a Industry 4.0.

Each of the ten industry categories,
including Automotive, Media, Manufacturing and Technology, identifies design
thinking in the top ten of trending skills, with 7 out of 10 industry
categories placing it first.

This resonates well with my own work which
uses design thinking around real-world sustainability issues to increase
wellbeing and Industry 4.0 skills, as we train children, youth and young
people, to be the new generation of leaders, innovators and entrepreneurs
taking action for the planet.

Let me just define design thinking for you,
so that we’re all on the same page.

Design thinking focuses on problem-solving
processes, products and services around real people and their needs. This
definition from Ideo U2 sums it up:

“In employing design thinking, you’re
pulling together what’s desirable from a human point of view with what is
technologically feasible and economically viable.”

It starts with empathy, an understanding of
the need and clarity on the problem that you really care about solving; moves
to generating and downloading many ideas to explore; and then makes the space
for prototyping as you start turning ideas into reality.

#### The solutions can be simple and spectacular

A recent study by the OECD3 showed that
youth wellbeing is at an all-time low. This anxiety is generated predominantly
by climate catastrophe and wondering what employment opportunities there will
be for them in future. We need to give them starting points for taking action:
context, purpose and problem-solving techniques to make their march something
even more tangible in challenging the status quo.

One of the schools that I have worked with
sits at the heart of the Swiss Alps. This mountain school welcomes children
ages 3 – 15 years old, combining academic learning with a love of the outdoors
and sense of responsibility to care protect the stunningly beautiful local
environment.

The resort caters to snow-sports in winter
and hiking, biking and music festivals in summer. From the students’ point of
view, their concern Is to protect these mountains as a source of fresh water
and part of the planet’s cooling system, as well as having a deep understanding
of the economic drivers faced by a tourist resort.

The focus of working with these young
people has been to explore how to make Sustainable Development Goal 11 –
Responsible Cities & Communities and Sustainable Development Goal 12 –
Responsible Consumption relevant and achievable at a local level within this
community, their community. I set challenges linked to these goals and give
them a design-thinking road-map from empathy to ideas to entrepreneurship. They
show-up with their incredible imagination and creativity.

From simple solutions to spectacular
futures thinking, we have spent time imagining and designing ways to cool the
glaciers, become zero-waste and connect with businesses and tourists to build
awareness that the mountains are critical for all of our wellbeing; because in
the words of John Muir, “Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.
Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will
blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares
will drop off like autumn leaves.”

These students’ pet hate? Mégots –
cigarette butts, which are not biodegradable and pollute the snow, in turn
leaching toxins into the water systems of the mountains. I have been incredibly
proud to watch a student pick up a newly dropped mégot and hand it back to the
culprit whilst courteously explaining that, “We don’t do this, we keep the
mountain clean.” From this simple action, to coming up with ideas for
snow-cleaning robots to sift, scoop and digest this trash, these young people
are a force to be reckoned with.

#### Design thinking for flourishing

Design thinking becomes a thing of
spectacular beauty when used not just to create a solution but, to create a
solution which places designing for human needs in the context of designing for
the wellbeing and flourishing of people AND planet.

This is when it starts to become ‘systems
thinking’ which is inextricably linked to creating really innovative solutions.
Interestingly, in Coursera’s Global Skills Index the Automotive, Media,
Manufacturing and Technology industries are the ones which also include systems
thinking in their top ten trending skills. Each has incredible potential for
innovative solutions which are designed around sustainability.

Young people intuitively understand this
and their appetite and aptitude for creating solutions is phenomenal. Design
thinking is their problem-solving default for personal, community and planetary
wellbeing. What about you? Get in touch if you need some coaching to develop
this essential skill as part of your life and work.

---

#### Sources:

1. [www.coursera.org/gsi](http://www.coursera.org/gsi)
2. [https://www.ideou.com/blogs/inspiration/what-is-design-thinking ](https://www.ideou.com/blogs/inspiration/what-is-design-thinking)
3. http://www.oecd.org/els/health-systems/Children-and-Young-People-Mental-Health-in-the-Digital-Age.pdf