A MMM-Designed Wedding

Achal Shah (MMM’ 20) tested what he was learning in Northwestern's MBA + MS Design Innovation program to plan his big day with his soon-to-be bride. Today he’s using many of those same lessons to design business processes for RiceTec.

Achal Shah (MMM '20) was only months into Northwestern's MBA + MS Design Innovation (MMM) program when he found a non-traditional arena to test some of its core tenets: His wedding.  

Shah was studying in the United States and helping his soon-to-be wife coordinate the event back in their native India. That’s when he realized the principles he was learning were applicable beyond the career path he was carving through the dual-degree program between Northwestern Engineering and the Kellogg School of Management. 

And so he and his bride-to-be found themselves using the design-thinking foundations he learned through the MMM program and its Research-Design-Build course to guide their nuptial preparations.  

“Planning an Indian wedding is a lot more than just planning for two people,” said Shah, who was married in Dec. 2018 in front of approximately 1,000 friends and family members.  

The couple spoke to each set of parents using a variation of a MMM-approved interview guide, asking what they were looking for from the event. Shah and his fiancé also knew they wanted to use their special day to give back. They hired caterers who employed disabled staff. They employed a group of visually impaired people to give foot massages to wedding guests. They also made sure most of their plates were compostable and ensured all food waste from the wedding was composted.  

By researching what all the key stakeholders wanted from the event, the couple was able to start the design process to incorporate the critical elements that would make it the wedding of everyone’s dreams.  

“We communicated all that research and design information to our friends, relatives, and wedding planners who were going to help build that kind of wedding for us,” he said. “And they did.”  

Today, those same MMM-based principles of designing for what users want shapes his work overseeing global strategy at RiceTec, a private company that specializes in the research, development, and production of hybrid rice seed for global markets.  

The company promotes sustainable agriculture through its hybrid seeds designed to increase yields, reduce water usage, and lower greenhouse gas emissions compared to traditional rice varieties. Shah’s job has a wide variety of responsibilities, but many focus on preparing the company for its ambitious growth goals.  

That’s where the MMM program comes in.  

“When you think ‘design thinking,’ you tend to think ‘customer facing’ – apps and websites and things like that,” he said. “What you don't often think about is business processes. The MMM program is excellent for business process design, especially for growth.”  

Outside of streamlining the company’s operations, Shah also serves as a key liaison for the company's CEO. In his role as chief of staff, Shah has a front-row seat to the CEO's strategic thinking in steering the organization.  

Again, Shah’s MMM training comes into play.  

“Going back to the MMM program, you see really at the highest level of management where it is not only or always about the data,” he said. “It’s also about the softer side of things, the empathy that needs to come in understanding competing priorities and understanding cultural sensitivities.”  

That is especially vital for a global company whose main focus is on three wildly diverse markets – the United States, India, and Brazil. Shah’s job is to help inform the CEO and translate his plans back into each individual market.  

This task is made even more challenging by the fact that, beyond the cultural variances, RiceTec’s presence in each market is at a different stage. The company already has an established position in the United States and is experiencing growth in India and Brazil.  

“That’s ambiguity, and one of my jobs is to put some structure to that ambiguity,” he said. “That’s a very MMM thing to do, and it’s something that really gets me going.”