A few years ago, Doug Dietz, a designer at GE Healthcare, wrapped up a project he was working on – a brand new, beautiful MRI machine.

One day while he was proudly waiting to see his design live in the hospital, he encountered a young patient in the hallway heading towards the scan room with her parents.

She was clearly terrified, tears rolling down her face. At the sight of the young girl, the MRI technician instantly called for the anesthesiologist.

This moment changed his perspective forever and he knew he had to make a change.

He knew he would not be able to secure the funding to redesign it.

So, he focused on the experience instead.

The MRI machine was transformed into a kid’s adventure story.

Patients were happier.  Hospitals were happier.  And, on one occasion, a little girl asked her mom after the scan, “can we come back tomorrow?”

Get Upstream of the Problem

Don’t just go with conventional wisdom.  Don’t just give up.

Don’t keep repeating the same old solution even though it doesn’t work.

Story taken from the book Creative Confidence by Tom Kelly and David Kelly

David Cohn
david@epikuslead.com