The team partnered with a prominent Chinese family-run smart energy provider to develop a strategic vision that drives business growth and innovation. The vision centered on identifying future scenarios where the company could excel — balancing market viability with strategic feasibility.

The Challenge
Bridging Western design thinking with the client's deep-rooted Chinese heritage — anchored by the founding family's connection to spiritual teacher Nan Huai-chin — required more than translation. It required a shared language that neither side had yet articulated.

My Role
As lead design researcher, I connected IDEO's methodologies with the client's cultural foundations, crafting a narrative framework inspired by Nan's teachings. This framework offered holistic guidance — from product design and innovation to the broader vision-building process — and built early trust and buy-in with the CEO.

Drawing on Nan Huai-chin's teachings, I built a relationship-based narrative framework that became the governing structure for the project — anchoring signals, opportunities, and the innovation roadmap that followed.

• Client stakeholder and domain expert interviews — to surface the cultural and philosophical foundations of the business

• Desk research combined with futuring — to map future scenarios against the client's heritage and values

• Overseas study trip — to broaden the team's frame of reference

• Prototype testing with inspirational consumers — to validate emerging directions

The narrative framework became the foundation of the corporate vision concept video — translating the founder's philosophy into a shared strategic language the whole organization could rally around, and setting the stage for the project's next phase.

“I’m very intrigued by the thinking of Chinese philosophy here. What kind of responsibilities do we convey as humans—between individuals, families, societies, and the environment? … We need to cultivate an altruistic heart because social responsibility is essential.”

- Client’s CEO (2nd gen of the founding family) in response to the narrative