"I think the really interesting things are happening between what we used to know as the conventional disciplines," says David M. Kelley. Case in point: IDEO, the Palo Alto-based design firm which, led by Kelley, has become one of the largest and arguably most innovative product design firms in the world, with more than 300 employees and annual revenues of over $50 million.

Founded in 1991, IDEO has created a staggering wealth of designs, ranging from the first Apple mouse to the Palm V, and has become as famous for what it does as how it does it. Its Silicon Valley offices have been described as a "cacophonous kindergarten classroom," thriving on slogans like "Encourage wild ideas." Bearing this out, IDEO's work teams are just as likely to include a psychologist as an engineer or graphic designer as the company pursues its passion for user-oriented design (on projects as large as Amtrak's Acela train interiors or as small as Crest's Neat Squeeze stand-up toothpaste tube).

Powering the company's design achievements is Kelley's dislike for rules and regimentation and his penchant for dynamic group collaboration. These traits have made the company not simply a model design firm (helping put design at the forefront of corporate America's thinking) but a model of innovation for any company. In 1999 Kelley (who trained as an electrical engineer at Carnegie Mellon in the 1970s but never finished his Ph.D.) was elected to the National Academy of Engineering, the profession's highest distinction.