I’ve started collecting quotes and references to get an overview of who’s saying what about design thinking as applied to business. The idea is still young and in development; it seems we’re only now reaching the conversation stage that leads to differing points of view.

An example:

We should not underestimate the crucial importance of leadership and design joining forces. Our global future depends on it. We will either design our way through the deadly challenges of this century, or we won’t make it. For our institutions – in truth, for our civilization – to survive and prosper, we must solve extremely complex problems and cope with many bewildering dilemmas. We cannot assume that, following our present path, we will simply evolve toward a better world. But we can design that better world. That is why designers need to become leaders, and why leaders need to become designers.
—Richard Farson, Management by Design, 2000