Page 1 of 4 

 DESIGN THINKING APPLICATION   This paper aims to show how I applied a Design Thinking tool to a current challenge I am working on in   my professional work . 

 I.   CHALLENGE 

 I am currently doing projects for the ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY ( WWF ) in the Philippines that   advocates a new concept of Corporate Social Responsibility , but brought down to the level of an   individual , and in particular for the youth . We call this Personal Social Responsibility or Personal CSR   ( CSR 3.0 ) which is anchored on 3 values : 

 a. Citizenship – where the individual is aware of his or her responsibility in the community , and 

 society 

 b. Sustainability – Where each person tries to live in a sustainable way that respects the 

 environment . 

 c. Responsiveness — Where each person responds to those in need , and uses his or her talents to 

 contribute to social good . 

 The reason why our Foundation believes in this concept of Personal CSR for the youth is because of the   following reasons : 

 1 . The youth in our region ( Asia ) comprise majority of our population . Therefore they are a force 

 who can contribute a lot of positive impact for socio - economic development ( UNFPA , 2014 ) . 

 2 . Young people are always asking themselves – “ How do I create meaning in my life ? ” “ How do I 

 make a difference ? ” Hence they are constantly looking for avenues to discover what they want   to do in life , while finding that sweet spot where they use their talents and passions to serve a   specific need in the world ( Wong , 2012 ) . 

 3 . Because corporations are always looking for innovative ways to contribute to society , it is 

 recommended that they engage more young people in their CSR efforts because the youth have   these innovative ideas , and have the passion and ability to execute them ( Klein , 2012 ) . 

 Obviously , Personal CSR is a big concept that can be a challenge for young people to understand . Hence   the project I am working on is a Digital Lifestyle Magazine for the Youth in Asia ( starting with those in   college ) . It aims to showcase inspiring stories of young people and organizations who are creating   positive social and environmental impact , and who embody the values above . It hopes to show role   models that young people in Asia can emulate , and later on realize that doing good for society need not   be hard . They can start with themselves and in their own community . We also want it to be digital in   order to reach as many youth as possible , in this age of social media and connectivity .     My team and I are currently in the brainstorming stage for the pilot issue . The challenge however was to   figure out the right “ voice ” , “ personality ” and “ content ” that we must use in our digital magazine , in a   way that will be relevant to our target market . There are many lifestyle content platforms available   already . So we need to develop content that is distinct , innovative and compelling for the youth of 

 ASSIGNMENT : DESIGN THINKING FOR INNOVATION   By : Mireya Montes     September 4 , 2016 PDT 

 Page 2 of 4 

 today . We even had several arguments because they were struggling to understand how the CSR   concept ( which normally is discussed among the corporate and academic world ) can be brought down   to level of young people .      Hence our team focused on answering the following questions ? 

  Who exactly is the young person that we are targeting ?    What kind of content will resonate with this young person so he / she can be inspired to act and 

 do good for society ? 

  How do we reach this young person , and all the other youth who fit this profile ? 

 II . SELECTION   We used the “ Storytelling ” tool as a starting point to answer the questions above . I agree with Kazi Regan of Mars Inc. who said in the video compiled in Claire Parodi ’s course , that storytelling is a great   way to connect with the “ emotions , characters and values of the people ” we want to serve ( Ale ,   2016 ) . It is also relevant for the Digital Magazine , because what we are essentially trying to do is to   empower young people by telling stories .     I think the reasons Regan articulated regarding storytelling is most appropriate for the challenge we   face in creating the Digital Magazine : 

 a. Storytelling can allow us to create energy , excitement and passion around a cause and advocacy . 

 This is exactly what we are trying to do – we are advocating a way of life : to live a   lifestyle of contributing to the common good in our own way . 

 b. Storytelling allows us to make strategy accessible . 

 The concept of this Personal CSR philosophy is actually result of more than a decade of   research on the evolution of Corporate Social Responsibility in Asia , particularly in the   Philippines . Our founder believes that in order for the social responsibility initiatives to   be effective , youth engagement is key . Hence this Digital Magazine is indeed an attempt   in the strategy to connect young people to these organizations who need them to   amplify their social impact . 

 III . APPLICATION   For more than a year , our Foundation has actually collected real interviews with young people to talk   about how they are volunteering to help society ( https://www.youtube.com/user/vdrake ) . I also got to   share stories from youth awardees that our Foundation recognized who are exemplars of this Personal   CSR advocacy : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1ZQmZmkaDD ,   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HePCiQaZo2X , ) . 

 During the brainstorming we had a week ago , I showed these interviews to our Digital Magazine team .   As I mentioned , prior to that , we had several discussions and even arguments about CSR , and what   exactly we are trying to achieve . But when I showed them these videos , which are real stories of young   people , they started understanding the objective . 

 Some of us in the team are also teachers in a local college , where we teach the subject Social   Responsibility and Good Governance . Our experience was that although there are many inspiring stories 

 Page 3 of 4 

 of young people doing amazing work that tries to address social problems in developing country , many   of our students are not aware about these stories . They either lack awareness , or are apathetic to this   notion of contributing to society . Most of the time , they just care about getting a good job to help their   families ( most of them come from middle to lower income brackets ) . 

 But exposure is the key to get these young people to be engaged . 

 The showcasing of real stories to the Digital Magazine team was effective in contextualizing the kind of   direction we can take when creating our content . It also helped us put a “ face ” to the target market . 

 We also identified cases of social media content from pop culture that trended in our region , which gave   us an insight as to the digital strategy to reach the target youth . This strategy involves creating content   that is as “ sticky ” as the current pop culture trends , but has the messaging that we want to get across .   We need to use hashtags to maximize the multimedia platforms , particularly mobile social media , so we   can reach more audience . 

 The main point was that we must focus on these personal stories . We eventually decided to adopt the   title of the video blog , and launch “ CSR Stories ” as a pilot to test this content to our target market . 

 IV . INSIGHT   This storytelling tool gave me the insight that stories are indeed more relevant and more resonating for   people . To deconstruct a business and academic concept like CSR , into shareable content in a Digital   Lifestyle magazine , seemed pretty daunting for our team . But when I showed the videos , that was when   they understood more what we are trying to achieve . 

 This makes me realize that stories must be indeed the center of our content . We can show short video   clips ( like an Instagram or Vine video ) of young people sharing their “ CSR Stories ” . We also realized that   there are existing content platforms like “ Humans of New York ” that have executed this strategy of   storytelling well , in a way that became a viral movement across the world . Therefore , this became one   of our benchmarks for the Digital Magazine . 

 V. APPROACH   These insights eventually allowed our team to construct this model which represents ( for now ) , the goal   that our Digital Magazine must create : 

 Page 4 of 4 

 Using the social media hashtag # LiveYourCSR , we want to create a movement for young people to go   through these stages of being involved ( attending events , engaging with our magazine content )  then   deciding to volunteer with a purpose ( volunteering in an organization of their choice )  then   committing to this concept of Personal CSR with Citizenship , Sustainability and Social Responsibility ,    then deciding to Make CSR a Lifestyle by signing some sort of Personal Social Responsibility Pledge   which we will put in our site . 

 It may still be a little vague and general at this point , but at least for our team , it was a good step   towards concretizing the direction we want to invite our readers to , when they engage with our Digital   Magazine . 

 Moving forward , we are planning to apply the other design thinking tools like Visualization , Mind- mapping and creating a Learning Launch . 

 Visualization will be helpful to brainstorm the look / branding / color scheme of our Magazine . We can   also collect real photos of young people and create a customer profile which best represents our target   market . 

 Mind - mapping will also help us plot and organize the theme and the content for our first issue . 

 A learning launch is also something we want to do to test the reception of the magazine to our desired   audience . We will establish success measures and articulate the assumptions that we want to validate . 

 It would be interesting to discover how this impacts our target market . Hopefully , by imbibing the design   thinking philosophy we can create a Digital avenue where the youth of Asia can be inspired and   empowered to do something that helps society . 

 Works Cited   Klein , P. ( 2012 , March 29 ) . Four Ways To Engage More Young People In CSR . Retrieved from Forbes :   http://www.forbes.com/sites/csr/2012/03/29/four-ways-to-engage-more-young-people-in- csr/#739c579224fa 

 Liedtka , J. ( 2016 ) . Retrieved from Design Thinking for Innovation - Coursera.org :   https://www.coursera.org/learn/design-thinking-innovation/lecture/PAXCd/storytelling-tool 

 UNFPA . ( 2014 ) . The Power of 1.8 Billion : Adolescents , Youth and the Transformation of the Future .   Retrieved from United Nations Population Fund : https://www.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/resource- pdf / SWOP%202014%20fact%20sheet%20-%20Youth%20in%20ASIA.pdf 

 Wong , P. T. ( 2012 ) . The Human Quest for Meaning : Theories , Research , and Applications . New York :   Taylor & Francis Group ( Routledge ) . 


EMAIL: 
ID_NUM: 
NAME_STUDENT: Mireya Montes
PHONE_NUM: 
STREET_ADDRESS: 
URL_PERSONAL: https://www.youtube.com/user/vdrake, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1ZQmZmkaDD, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HePCiQaZo2X
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: Page 1 of 4 

 DESIGN THINKING APPLICATION   This paper aims to show how I applied a Design Thinking tool to a current challenge I am working on in   my professional work . 

 I.   CHALLENGE 

 I am currently doing projects for the ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY ( WWF ) in the Philippines that   advocates a new concept of Corporate Social Responsibility , but brought down to the level of an   individual , and in particular for the youth . We call this Personal Social Responsibility or Personal CSR   ( CSR 3.0 ) which is anchored on 3 values : 

 a. Citizenship – where the individual is aware of his or her responsibility in the community , and 

 society 

 b. Sustainability – Where each person tries to live in a sustainable way that respects the 

 environment . 

 c. Responsiveness — Where each person responds to those in need , and uses his or her talents to 

 contribute to social good . 

 The reason why our Foundation believes in this concept of Personal CSR for the youth is because of the   following reasons : 

 1 . The youth in our region ( Asia ) comprise majority of our population . Therefore they are a force 

 who can contribute a lot of positive impact for socio - economic development ( UNFPA , 2014 ) . 

 2 . Young people are always asking themselves – “ How do I create meaning in my life ? ” “ How do I 

 make a difference ? ” Hence they are constantly looking for avenues to discover what they want   to do in life , while finding that sweet spot where they use their talents and passions to serve a   specific need in the world ( Wong , 2012 ) . 

 3 . Because corporations are always looking for innovative ways to contribute to society , it is 

 recommended that they engage more young people in their CSR efforts because the youth have   these innovative ideas , and have the passion and ability to execute them ( Klein , 2012 ) . 

 Obviously , Personal CSR is a big concept that can be a challenge for young people to understand . Hence   the project I am working on is a Digital Lifestyle Magazine for the Youth in Asia ( starting with those in   college ) . It aims to showcase inspiring stories of young people and organizations who are creating   positive social and environmental impact , and who embody the values above . It hopes to show role   models that young people in Asia can emulate , and later on realize that doing good for society need not   be hard . They can start with themselves and in their own community . We also want it to be digital in   order to reach as many youth as possible , in this age of social media and connectivity .     My team and I are currently in the brainstorming stage for the pilot issue . The challenge however was to   figure out the right “ voice ” , “ personality ” and “ content ” that we must use in our digital magazine , in a   way that will be relevant to our target market . There are many lifestyle content platforms available   already . So we need to develop content that is distinct , innovative and compelling for the youth of 

 ASSIGNMENT : DESIGN THINKING FOR INNOVATION   By : Mireya Montes     September 4 , 2016 PDT 

 Page 2 of 4 

 today . We even had several arguments because they were struggling to understand how the CSR   concept ( which normally is discussed among the corporate and academic world ) can be brought down   to level of young people .      Hence our team focused on answering the following questions ? 

  Who exactly is the young person that we are targeting ?    What kind of content will resonate with this young person so he / she can be inspired to act and 

 do good for society ? 

  How do we reach this young person , and all the other youth who fit this profile ? 

 II . SELECTION   We used the “ Storytelling ” tool as a starting point to answer the questions above . I agree with Kazi Regan of Mars Inc. who said in the video compiled in Claire Parodi ’s course , that storytelling is a great   way to connect with the “ emotions , characters and values of the people ” we want to serve ( Ale ,   2016 ) . It is also relevant for the Digital Magazine , because what we are essentially trying to do is to   empower young people by telling stories .     I think the reasons Regan articulated regarding storytelling is most appropriate for the challenge we   face in creating the Digital Magazine : 

 a. Storytelling can allow us to create energy , excitement and passion around a cause and advocacy . 

 This is exactly what we are trying to do – we are advocating a way of life : to live a   lifestyle of contributing to the common good in our own way . 

 b. Storytelling allows us to make strategy accessible . 

 The concept of this Personal CSR philosophy is actually result of more than a decade of   research on the evolution of Corporate Social Responsibility in Asia , particularly in the   Philippines . Our founder believes that in order for the social responsibility initiatives to   be effective , youth engagement is key . Hence this Digital Magazine is indeed an attempt   in the strategy to connect young people to these organizations who need them to   amplify their social impact . 

 III . APPLICATION   For more than a year , our Foundation has actually collected real interviews with young people to talk   about how they are volunteering to help society ( https://www.youtube.com/user/vdrake ) . I also got to   share stories from youth awardees that our Foundation recognized who are exemplars of this Personal   CSR advocacy : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1ZQmZmkaDD ,   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HePCiQaZo2X , ) . 

 During the brainstorming we had a week ago , I showed these interviews to our Digital Magazine team .   As I mentioned , prior to that , we had several discussions and even arguments about CSR , and what   exactly we are trying to achieve . But when I showed them these videos , which are real stories of young   people , they started understanding the objective . 

 Some of us in the team are also teachers in a local college , where we teach the subject Social   Responsibility and Good Governance . Our experience was that although there are many inspiring stories 

 Page 3 of 4 

 of young people doing amazing work that tries to address social problems in developing country , many   of our students are not aware about these stories . They either lack awareness , or are apathetic to this   notion of contributing to society . Most of the time , they just care about getting a good job to help their   families ( most of them come from middle to lower income brackets ) . 

 But exposure is the key to get these young people to be engaged . 

 The showcasing of real stories to the Digital Magazine team was effective in contextualizing the kind of   direction we can take when creating our content . It also helped us put a “ face ” to the target market . 

 We also identified cases of social media content from pop culture that trended in our region , which gave   us an insight as to the digital strategy to reach the target youth . This strategy involves creating content   that is as “ sticky ” as the current pop culture trends , but has the messaging that we want to get across .   We need to use hashtags to maximize the multimedia platforms , particularly mobile social media , so we   can reach more audience . 

 The main point was that we must focus on these personal stories . We eventually decided to adopt the   title of the video blog , and launch “ CSR Stories ” as a pilot to test this content to our target market . 

 IV . INSIGHT   This storytelling tool gave me the insight that stories are indeed more relevant and more resonating for   people . To deconstruct a business and academic concept like CSR , into shareable content in a Digital   Lifestyle magazine , seemed pretty daunting for our team . But when I showed the videos , that was when   they understood more what we are trying to achieve . 

 This makes me realize that stories must be indeed the center of our content . We can show short video   clips ( like an Instagram or Vine video ) of young people sharing their “ CSR Stories ” . We also realized that   there are existing content platforms like “ Humans of New York ” that have executed this strategy of   storytelling well , in a way that became a viral movement across the world . Therefore , this became one   of our benchmarks for the Digital Magazine . 

 V. APPROACH   These insights eventually allowed our team to construct this model which represents ( for now ) , the goal   that our Digital Magazine must create : 

 Page 4 of 4 

 Using the social media hashtag # LiveYourCSR , we want to create a movement for young people to go   through these stages of being involved ( attending events , engaging with our magazine content )  then   deciding to volunteer with a purpose ( volunteering in an organization of their choice )  then   committing to this concept of Personal CSR with Citizenship , Sustainability and Social Responsibility ,    then deciding to Make CSR a Lifestyle by signing some sort of Personal Social Responsibility Pledge   which we will put in our site . 

 It may still be a little vague and general at this point , but at least for our team , it was a good step   towards concretizing the direction we want to invite our readers to , when they engage with our Digital   Magazine . 

 Moving forward , we are planning to apply the other design thinking tools like Visualization , Mind- mapping and creating a Learning Launch . 

 Visualization will be helpful to brainstorm the look / branding / color scheme of our Magazine . We can   also collect real photos of young people and create a customer profile which best represents our target   market . 

 Mind - mapping will also help us plot and organize the theme and the content for our first issue . 

 A learning launch is also something we want to do to test the reception of the magazine to our desired   audience . We will establish success measures and articulate the assumptions that we want to validate . 

 It would be interesting to discover how this impacts our target market . Hopefully , by imbibing the design   thinking philosophy we can create a Digital avenue where the youth of Asia can be inspired and   empowered to do something that helps society . 

 Works Cited   Klein , P. ( 2012 , March 29 ) . Four Ways To Engage More Young People In CSR . Retrieved from Forbes :   http://www.forbes.com/sites/csr/2012/03/29/four-ways-to-engage-more-young-people-in- csr/#739c579224fa 

 Liedtka , J. ( 2016 ) . Retrieved from Design Thinking for Innovation - Coursera.org :   https://www.coursera.org/learn/design-thinking-innovation/lecture/PAXCd/storytelling-tool 

 UNFPA . ( 2014 ) . The Power of 1.8 Billion : Adolescents , Youth and the Transformation of the Future .   Retrieved from United Nations Population Fund : https://www.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/resource- pdf / SWOP%202014%20fact%20sheet%20-%20Youth%20in%20ASIA.pdf 

 Wong , P. T. ( 2012 ) . The Human Quest for Meaning : Theories , Research , and Applications . New York :   Taylor & Francis Group ( Routledge ) .
### Output: 