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Stanford Executive Education Taps JetBlue for Design Thinking Boot Camp

Dépèche transmise le 26 mai 2011 par Business Wire

Stanford Executive Education Taps JetBlue for Design Thinking Boot Camp

STANFORD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Stanford Graduate School of Business and the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at the Stanford School of Engineering will collaborate with JetBlue in an executive education exercise designed to suggest enhancements to the carrier’s airport experience. The project will take place during Stanford’s July 6-8 Design Thinking Boot Camp: From Insights to Innovation program for business leaders from around the world. Applications will be open until June 6, 2011.

“Participants will build a deeper understanding of customer needs in an exercise designed to re-imagine and enhance the JetBlue experience”

Taught in customized studio space at Stanford’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, also known as the “d.school,” the course aims to help executives better understand employee and customer experiences, develop deeper insights, and improve overall employee and customer satisfaction. For more information on the program or to apply, visit: www.gsb.stanford.edu/exed/dtbc.

Stanford d.school design expert Perry Klebahn, the inventor of the modern snowshoe and an associate consulting professor at the d.school, will lead the class. Klebahn is founder and former CEO of Atlas Snowshoes, former COO of Patagonia, and former CEO of Timbuk2.

JetBlue, an airline pioneer that offers customer-friendly travel amenities including leather seats, satellite television and award-winning customer service, will collaborate in Boot Camp field research that immerses participants in the practice of corporate innovation. Executives will have a chance to learn design thinking—a human-centered, prototype-driven process for innovation—that can be applied to product, service, and business design.

“Participants will build a deeper understanding of customer needs in an exercise designed to re-imagine and enhance the JetBlue experience,” said Perry. “They will be able to apply the practical design thinking skills they learn across industries.”

The collaboration also allows JetBlue to gain independent insight into their airport experience. Participants will focus on disembarking, navigating the gate and airport, getting luggage, finding and meeting ground transportation – both from the traveler’s perspective and the JetBlue crewmember’s experience.

Key features of the Stanford collaboration will have program participants conducting:

• Interviews of JetBlue’s key management personnel
• Observation of real travelers disembarking at SFO
• Ideation, design, prototyping and iteration of new procedures and experiences
• Presentation of proposed models to JetBlue management

“We’re always looking for fresh and innovative ideas to enhance the ‘JetBlue Experience’ for our customers,” said Marty St. George, the airline’s senior vice president of marketing and commercial strategy. “The Stanford program is an exciting opportunity to tap into some of the most dynamic innovation experts in academia to take an innovative look at the airport experience.”