Editor’s Note:The eigth-annual Learning Leadership Summit on July 17, 2014, will feature trend and design guru Robyn Waters presenting LEADING BY DESIGN: The trendmaster’s guide to creating the ultimate learning product. Robyn is joining us on the Fredcomm blog with this pre-Summit entry.

Did you see the article in last Sunday’s NY Times Business Section (Shaping a School System, From the Ground Up) about how IDEO is helping to design a new educational path for Peru?

Three years ago a Peruvian businessman hired the famous design consultancy to envision and create “a network of low-cost private schools from scratch, including the classrooms, the curriculum, the teacher training strategies and the business model.” Today, Innova (as the project is called) includes 23 schools and serves 13,500 students. Results have been stellar; proficiency rates have soared.

Thought Leadership + Design Thinking = A Reframed Learning Experience AND a Beautiful Bottom Line.