There has been a great buzz recently about the emergence of a creative class as the driving force in today’s economy. No longer are artists, musicians, writers, designers, and directors welcome simply as exotic ingredients to the innovation process; now, they are considered to be the lifeblood of companies, driving business decisions across organizational functions, throughout stages of the value chain. Business magazines are proclaiming the new age of creativity and heralding design innovation as a critical business skill. Business schools, including NYU’s Stern School of Business, have begun to incorporate into their curricula a new “design thinking” that addresses business problems with a holistic, synergistic, and imaginative mindset.

Ideas are not in short supply - even good ideas. One can even speak of an innovation surplus. Putting these many good ideas to work, however, requires a whole new mindset and organizational design. At the forefront of this movement, design firms have taken on the mission of bringing these ideals into reality. Based on cross-disciplinary teams, in which MBAs and MFAs work in tandem, these companies have expanded their realm of influence from pure aesthetical product design to high-level business strategy and corporate advising, deepening their client engagements.