In a seminar course required of students in my doctoral program, we spent a  day on problem solving and creativity. Professor John Nash took us through an  exercise that originated with the Stanford d.school where we used problem  solving and then design thinking to create the perfect wallet for a student  partner.

Our exercise included:

• Interviewing a partner to engage them and gather insights about wallet use
• Defining and articulating a point of view based on the interview insights
• Sketching new alternatives based on the point of view
• Testing ideas with our partner to gather feedback
• Acting on the feedback and building a wallet prototype from art supplies

This was a fun exercise that I think can be adapted for use with student leaders  to encourage bigger picture thinking and processing. You can read more about  the exercise and view a student interview at Nash’s blog.