having a specific negative experience can be interesting, why don't you talk about that instead? generally, having been both the "design thinker" and the thinkee, in both the formal big corporate setting you are lamenting and in a less formal research environment, my and my colleagues experiences have been unequivocally positive. nobody is thinking about things in terms of, "perception of themselves as something special over software developer." that may be a problem unrelated to "design thinking," i can see how any creative thinking exercise can test people's interpersonal relationships differently than say, telling Claude what to do.