--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: A great story about a big company’s…" description: "\"“A great story about a big company’s ability to do this comes from one of the world’s biggest businesses, General Electric. I learned about Doug Dietz ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d53/brian-de-haaff-20655_business_a-great-story-about-a-big-company-s-abil_649513.jpg" --- # A great story about a big company’s ability to do this… ![“A great story about a big company’s ability to do this comes from one of the world’s biggest businesses, General Electric. I learned about Doug Dietz a few years ago when I saw him speak to a group of executives. Doug leads the design and development of award-winning medical imaging systems at GE…” quote by Brian de Haaff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d53/brian-de-haaff-20655_business_a-great-story-about-a-big-company-s-abil_649513.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d53/brian-de-haaff-20655_business_a-great-story-about-a-big-company-s-abil_649513.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d53/brian-de-haaff-20655_business_a-great-story-about-a-big-company-s-abil_649513.jpg) > ““A great story about a big company’s ability to do this comes from one of the world’s biggest businesses, General Electric. I learned about Doug Dietz a few years ago when I saw him speak to a group of executives. Doug leads the design and development of award-winning medical imaging systems at GE Healthcare. He was at a hospital one day when he witnessed a little girl crying and shaking from fear as she was preparing to have an MRI — in a big, noisy, hot machine that Dietz had designed. Deeply shaken, he started asking the nurses if her reaction was common. He learned that 80 percent of pediatric patients had to be sedated during MRIs because they were too scared to lie still. He immediately decided he needed to change how the machines were designed. He flew to California for a weeklong design course at Stanford’s d.school. There he learned about a human-centric approach to design, collaborated with other designers, talked to healthcare professionals, and finally observed and talked to children in hospitals. The results were stunning. His humandriven redesigns wrapped MRI machines in fanciful themes like pirate ships and space adventures and included technicians who role-play. When Dietz’s redesigns hit children’s hospitals, patient satisfaction scores soared and the number of kids who needed sedation plummeted. Doug was teary-eyed as he told the story, and so were many of the senior executives in the audience. Products should be designed for people. Businesses should be run in a responsive, human-centric way. It is time to return to those basics. Let TRM be your roadmap and turn back to putting people first. It worked for our grandparents. It can work for you.”” [Brian de Haaff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-de-haaff/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A medical imaging designer observed children's fear of MRIs, adopted human‑centric design, and transformed machines into playful environments, dramatically reducing sedation rates and improving satisfaction. **In simple terms:** Design with empathy reduces fear and improves outcomes. Key Takeaway Prioritize people over technology. Themes design empathy human‑centred innovation healthcare Mood inspired hopeful Type case study motivational When to use this quote - hospital design - medical device development - child patient care - executive leadership Key Concepts human‑centred design playful environments patient experience Questions to Reflect On - How can you embed empathy into your product development? - What barriers might arise when shifting to human‑centred design? A Different Perspective Design changes may increase cost or require extensive stakeholder buy‑in. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Business](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/business/) [Little girl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/little-girl/) ## Related quotes > [“Reality is designed to keep people lost.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-vito-tosto/reality-is-designed-to-keep-people-lost/) Michael Vito Tosto > [The majority of fragrances are designed by people who have no idea what the house does. 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I learned about Doug Dietz a few years ago when I saw him speak to a group of executives. Doug leads the design and development of award-winning medical imaging systems at GE Healthcare. He was at a hospital one day when he witnessed a little girl crying and shaking from fear as she was preparing to have an MRI — in a big, noisy, hot machine that Dietz had designed. Deeply shaken, he started asking the nurses if her reaction was common. He learned that 80 percent of pediatric patients had to be sedated during MRIs because they were too scared to lie still. He immediately decided he needed to change how the machines were designed. He flew to California for a weeklong design course at Stanford’s d.school. There he learned about a human-centric approach to design, collaborated with other designers, talked to healthcare professionals, and finally observed and talked to children in hospitals. The results were stunning. 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