Henry Mintzberg is one of my favorite business authors. A decade ago, he founded a new kind of graduate business degree to address shortcomings of traditional MBA programs. The International Masters in Practicing Management focuses on educating mindsets over siloed skillsets, something I’ve been thinking a lot about lately myself.

In describing some of the curriculum decisions, Mintzberg discusses the need for science, art, and craft and corresponding perspectives of thinking first, seeing first, and doing first.

We begin with holism, in the form of what we call Frame. We open up the notion of analysis with three workshops, in science, art, and craft. In the first, small groups around the tables take an issue and discuss it for about an hour. Then the groups are provided with colored paper, pens, scissors, and glue, and are asked to create a picture of the issue, also for about an hour. Finally, each group is asked to act out the issue in improvisation, with three or four minutes of preparation time. Needless to say, the classroom becomes highly animated and very colorful during the latter two workshops.

The whole paper on Analysis: Framing and Frame Breaking is well worth the read, and the rest of the papers in the detailed overview are excellent. Overall, a good reminder that the self-identified design thinking community isn’t the only place that a holistic perspective is held.

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