"The most extensive and rigorous research undertaken anywhere to study the design actions that leaders can make to unlock business value." We found a strong correlation between high MDI scores and superior business performance. Top-quartile MDI scorers increased their revenues and total returns to shareholders (TRS) substantially faster than their industry counterparts did over a five-year period—32 percentage points higher revenue growth and 56 percentage points higher TRS growth for the period as a whole. The results held true in all three of the industries we looked at: medical technology, consumer goods, and retail banking. This suggests that good design matters whether your company focuses on physical goods, digital products, services, or some combination of these. TRS and revenue differences between the fourth, third, and second quartiles were marginal. In other words, the market disproportionately rewarded companies that truly stood out from the crowd Exhibit 2 . 1. 2. 3. design actions recorded. >100k publicly listed companies tracked. 300 year period. 5 pieces of financial data collected. >2m Our research yielded several striking findings: ¹ An example of a design action would be putting someone on the executive board with a responsibility for design, user experience, or both. Another would be tying management bonuses to design quality or customer-satisfaction metrics. 2