[Edaily Reporter Yun Junghoon ]LG Uplus(032640)is accelerating efforts to adopt the Silicon Valley-style work approach—which focuses on solving problems from the customer’s perspective—by sending employees to Stanford University in the United States.

LGU+ announced on the 7th that it had successfully completed the second session of “OutSite D.T.,” a global design thinking training program for its employees.

“Outsight D.T.” is a program in which employees travel to Silicon Valley—the birthplace of innovation—to participate in Stanford University’s Design Thinking Bootcamp and on-site training. Following the graduation of 21 participants from the first cohort in May, 12 participants from the second cohort—primarily practitioners responsible for product and service planning and customer experience (CX) improvement—completed the training at the end of June.

Design thinking is a methodology that begins with a deep understanding of and empathy for customers to define problems and derive disruptive solutions. Developed primarily at Stanford University’s d.School, it is now essential to product and service development at global tech giants such as Google and Apple.

Employees participating in this program underwent four weeks of preliminary training in Korea before joining the Stanford d.School boot camp. Moving away from lecture-based classes, they received 100% hands-on training that involved repeated cycles of on-site interviews, idea implementation, and validation. Additionally, through networking with Silicon Valley big tech experts, they gained firsthand insight into how global companies approach problem-solving.

The tangible results of this training are now translating into visible innovations in their work. At the first cohort’s results-sharing session held last month at the Yongsan headquarters, participants drew attention by sharing experiences such as creating an app prototype in just three hours using artificial intelligence (AI) while on-site, as well as examples of applying “Vibe Coding” to their existing planning tasks upon returning to their departments.

One employee who participated in the program shared, “It was refreshing to learn that global big tech companies spend far more time identifying ‘customer pain points’ than implementing specific features,” adding, “I realized that the quality of an idea does not correlate with the time invested; what matters is swift execution.”

LGU+ plans to make “OutSite D.T.” a regular program to spread this innovative DNA throughout the organization. Going forward, the company intends to broaden participation beyond specific job categories so that employees from various departments can collaborate on a single cross-functional project. It is also considering expanding its strategic partnership with Stanford University.

Yang Hyo-seok, LGU+’s CHO (Chief Human Resources Officer and Executive Vice President), said, “OutSite D.T. is an innovation program designed to apply a mindset that deeply understands customers and redefines problems to our day-to-day operations,” adding, “We will support participants in applying the experiences they gained at Stanford and in Silicon Valley to their actual work to enhance customer value.”