Guest commentary: What weâre learning from using design thinking Friday, April 30, 2021 6:00 AM Introduction By Amy Jennings, executive director, Greater Des Moines Leadership Institute The Greater Des Moines Leadership Institute’s Community Leadership Program has been educating our community’s caretakers and change-makers for almost 40 years. For most of those years, classes worked on projects that contributed to the betterment of a nonprofit organization or local issue. The meaningful results achieved were due to the hard work, talent and networks of the class members. But were class members really learning new skills that would help them solve complex problems in the community? Ultimately, the answer was maybe. But maybe wasn’t enough for an organization that prides itself on offering transformational leadership experiences.