Challenge / Selection .   The design tool that I will describe is Visualization .   Recently , while 

 taking this Design Thinking course , I was interviewing for a new job with a successful startup 

 technology firm looking to disrupt the personal finance and life insurance industry .   My 

 challenge was that I was asked to design a product or product feature based on call center 

 data that I had been previously asked to review and analyze . I could only use words to 

 communicate my idea .   Without the ability to draw images or use pictures , I deployed guided 

 imagery for the reviewers to envision the possibilities of my product feature . I wanted to bring 

 its value proposition and processes to life and used descriptive words and actual example 

 sentences that call agents would use with prospective customers . 

 From the call center data , it was clear that a key opportunity for this company was to 

 increase the persistency of life insurance sales .   Within a month of confirmed sales , 60 % of 

 their sales lapsed – in other words , customers who had committed to pay ongoing premiums 

 stopped paying premiums within a month .   I set the stage for my visualization to imagine the 

 “ what - if “ of substantially increasing persistency rates that would in turn support three goals : 

 ( 1 ) increasing the value of new sales by agents ; ( 2 ) ensuring the right products were sold to 

 the right customers ; and ( 3 ) attracting life insurance carriers to join and keep their policies on 

 the startup company ’s platform . 

 Application .   I wrote the following introducation paragraph for my visualization in my   submission : 

 My idea is to create the “ Caveat Emptor , ROI Constructor “ product feature and   incorporate it in the agents ’ sales call process as a visualization exercise for the   prospective customer .   Much like call centers use recorded surveys at the end of a   call for a customer to answer a few binary or rating questions to measure   satisfaction , the “ Caveat Emptor , ROI Constructor ” feature would be introduced to   the prospective customer by the agent at the time in the call when the customer is   strongly considering making the purchase .   The agent would introduce the feature as   a next step for the customer .   For example , the agent ’s introduction might read : “ At   this time , to help you in your decision - making process , we want to ensure you will be   satisfied both today and in the future about this purchase .   I will have you listen to a   very brief survey .   You will answer questions to help you visualize how you will feel   about this policy and your purchase decision .   After you are finished , we can discuss   and complete this call , and hopefully to your satisfaction . ” 

 I went on to guide the reader through the steps I imagined the prospective customer would 

 be taken through as a part of this product feature idea .   And then I summarized how my 

 visualization leveraged the teachings of behavioral finance by getting prospective customers 

 to imagine their future selves .   I described how the tool would guide them to tap into their 

 future selves to make a purchase decision that is more thoughtful and addresses up front 

 that common feeling of regret many of us have after the dopamine wears off from the 

 moment of making a purchase . 

 Insight .   The visualization tool got me to use “ right brain ” thinking by identifying , organizing 

 and communicating clearly a product idea .   It helped diminish my natural tendency to focus 

 on “ left brain ” thinking about numbers , sales targets , penetration , etc .   Working within the 

 limitations that I could only use words to describe my idea , I tapped into concrete examples 

 of language that brought to life the actual transcript I might consider using in my product 

 idea .   For example , by walking the reader through my example questions to the prospective 

 customer , I got a much better feel for how to make my visualization effective .   As a part of 

 my visualization exercise for prospective customers to do , I imagined and then wrote : 

 Visualize paying the monthly premium amount of $ xxx for yy years . Visualize how you   will make these ongoing payments to keep your policy active .   Is this premium amount   realistic for you to make every month ?    Answer 1 for Y or 2 for N   •   Because you answered Y , would you consider a need to pay more per month in   order to provide more life insurance coverage for the recipients ?   Answer 1 for Y or 2   for N ;   OR 

 •   Because you answer N , you might consider a lower monthly payment amount for   less life insurance coverage and the agent on this call can help you . 

 Had I not done this , I would not have gotten the sense of real possibility that my idea could 

 have .   The other critical insight that I got is that the visualization tool in the design thinking 

 practice can not only benefit a company trying to focus on new product development , but 

 also can help customers to visualize and strengthen their relationship with a product , service 

 or company . 

 Because of how I performed on this assignment using what I learned from the visualization 

 tool of design thinking , I was offered the job .   I was also told that I had submitted the best 

 response the company had ever received for this exercise .   And I believe that tapping into 

 my “ right brain ” creativity to imagine and articulate a “ what - if ” scenario in a thoughtful fashion 

 brought my value as a possible new employee to life . 

 Approach .   One thing that I might do different with this visualization is to recognize that most 

 business audiences are going to be suspect of a tool that is almost exclusively “ right brain ” 

 oriented .   I think one of the key take - aways from the course is to take care not to overtly call 

 out design thinking and to integrate the concepts with other “ left brain ” metrics that business 

 people expect .   So , one thing that I would add to my visualization tool is to describe the 

 “ desired - results - what - ifs . ”   In other words , without making any specific commitments , I would 

 offer the metrics I would want to track following the release of my product feature idea .   By 

 focusing on the potential business outcomes that link to growth , profits , customer 

 engagement and employee retention , I know I would have a better chance of generating 

 excitement and buy - in from executives who are responsible for delivering on these types of 

 metrics . 


EMAIL: 
ID_NUM: 
NAME_STUDENT: 
PHONE_NUM: 
STREET_ADDRESS: 
URL_PERSONAL: 
USERNAME: 

### Task: You are a PII (Personal Identity Information) Detection. Given a essays written by students, you have to identify ONLY the following:
NAME_STUDENT - The full or partial name of a student that is not necessarily the author of the essay. This excludes instructors, authors, and other person names.
EMAIL - A student’s email address.
USERNAME - A student's username on any platform.
ID_NUM - A number or sequence of characters that could be used to identify a student, such as a student ID or a social security number.
PHONE_NUM - A phone number associated with a student.
URL_PERSONAL - A URL that might be used to identify a student.
STREET_ADDRESS - A full or partial street address that is associated with the student, such as their home address.
### Input: Challenge / Selection .   The design tool that I will describe is Visualization .   Recently , while 

 taking this Design Thinking course , I was interviewing for a new job with a successful startup 

 technology firm looking to disrupt the personal finance and life insurance industry .   My 

 challenge was that I was asked to design a product or product feature based on call center 

 data that I had been previously asked to review and analyze . I could only use words to 

 communicate my idea .   Without the ability to draw images or use pictures , I deployed guided 

 imagery for the reviewers to envision the possibilities of my product feature . I wanted to bring 

 its value proposition and processes to life and used descriptive words and actual example 

 sentences that call agents would use with prospective customers . 

 From the call center data , it was clear that a key opportunity for this company was to 

 increase the persistency of life insurance sales .   Within a month of confirmed sales , 60 % of 

 their sales lapsed – in other words , customers who had committed to pay ongoing premiums 

 stopped paying premiums within a month .   I set the stage for my visualization to imagine the 

 “ what - if “ of substantially increasing persistency rates that would in turn support three goals : 

 ( 1 ) increasing the value of new sales by agents ; ( 2 ) ensuring the right products were sold to 

 the right customers ; and ( 3 ) attracting life insurance carriers to join and keep their policies on 

 the startup company ’s platform . 

 Application .   I wrote the following introducation paragraph for my visualization in my   submission : 

 My idea is to create the “ Caveat Emptor , ROI Constructor “ product feature and   incorporate it in the agents ’ sales call process as a visualization exercise for the   prospective customer .   Much like call centers use recorded surveys at the end of a   call for a customer to answer a few binary or rating questions to measure   satisfaction , the “ Caveat Emptor , ROI Constructor ” feature would be introduced to   the prospective customer by the agent at the time in the call when the customer is   strongly considering making the purchase .   The agent would introduce the feature as   a next step for the customer .   For example , the agent ’s introduction might read : “ At   this time , to help you in your decision - making process , we want to ensure you will be   satisfied both today and in the future about this purchase .   I will have you listen to a   very brief survey .   You will answer questions to help you visualize how you will feel   about this policy and your purchase decision .   After you are finished , we can discuss   and complete this call , and hopefully to your satisfaction . ” 

 I went on to guide the reader through the steps I imagined the prospective customer would 

 be taken through as a part of this product feature idea .   And then I summarized how my 

 visualization leveraged the teachings of behavioral finance by getting prospective customers 

 to imagine their future selves .   I described how the tool would guide them to tap into their 

 future selves to make a purchase decision that is more thoughtful and addresses up front 

 that common feeling of regret many of us have after the dopamine wears off from the 

 moment of making a purchase . 

 Insight .   The visualization tool got me to use “ right brain ” thinking by identifying , organizing 

 and communicating clearly a product idea .   It helped diminish my natural tendency to focus 

 on “ left brain ” thinking about numbers , sales targets , penetration , etc .   Working within the 

 limitations that I could only use words to describe my idea , I tapped into concrete examples 

 of language that brought to life the actual transcript I might consider using in my product 

 idea .   For example , by walking the reader through my example questions to the prospective 

 customer , I got a much better feel for how to make my visualization effective .   As a part of 

 my visualization exercise for prospective customers to do , I imagined and then wrote : 

 Visualize paying the monthly premium amount of $ xxx for yy years . Visualize how you   will make these ongoing payments to keep your policy active .   Is this premium amount   realistic for you to make every month ?    Answer 1 for Y or 2 for N   •   Because you answered Y , would you consider a need to pay more per month in   order to provide more life insurance coverage for the recipients ?   Answer 1 for Y or 2   for N ;   OR 

 •   Because you answer N , you might consider a lower monthly payment amount for   less life insurance coverage and the agent on this call can help you . 

 Had I not done this , I would not have gotten the sense of real possibility that my idea could 

 have .   The other critical insight that I got is that the visualization tool in the design thinking 

 practice can not only benefit a company trying to focus on new product development , but 

 also can help customers to visualize and strengthen their relationship with a product , service 

 or company . 

 Because of how I performed on this assignment using what I learned from the visualization 

 tool of design thinking , I was offered the job .   I was also told that I had submitted the best 

 response the company had ever received for this exercise .   And I believe that tapping into 

 my “ right brain ” creativity to imagine and articulate a “ what - if ” scenario in a thoughtful fashion 

 brought my value as a possible new employee to life . 

 Approach .   One thing that I might do different with this visualization is to recognize that most 

 business audiences are going to be suspect of a tool that is almost exclusively “ right brain ” 

 oriented .   I think one of the key take - aways from the course is to take care not to overtly call 

 out design thinking and to integrate the concepts with other “ left brain ” metrics that business 

 people expect .   So , one thing that I would add to my visualization tool is to describe the 

 “ desired - results - what - ifs . ”   In other words , without making any specific commitments , I would 

 offer the metrics I would want to track following the release of my product feature idea .   By 

 focusing on the potential business outcomes that link to growth , profits , customer 

 engagement and employee retention , I know I would have a better chance of generating 

 excitement and buy - in from executives who are responsible for delivering on these types of 

 metrics .
### Output: 