Designing Next: Achieving growth through transformation and innovation

This episode's guest is April Dunford, product positioning leader and author of the book Obviously Awesome - How to Nail Product Positioning so Customers Get It, Buy it, Love it. Unsurprisingly, April has a tremendous amount of product positioning experience. She spent the first 25 years of her career as a start-up executive, leading marketing, product and sales teams. Six of her seven startups were acquired by brands including IBM, SAP, and Siebel. Through it all, she positioned, re-positioned and launched 16 products. Today she is an author and consultant. Of course, we're thrilled that she decided to share her knowledge and wisdom through the book Obviously Awesome, which captures her ideas about positioning and a methodology for doing it that anyone can follow. As she says, positioning is the foundation of everything we do in marketing and sales -- and we would say it is a key part of everything we do in innovation and design as well. In this episode, Chad and Steve dig into all things positioning with April. Look forward to learning: How April approached the development and writing of her book as if she was developing a new product.  Why April feels traditional positioning statements are not useful, and how she now approaches positioning as a result - including her five components of effective positioning.  How April has seen the COVID-19 pandemic affect how companies approach their positioning.  Visit April's personal website: https://www.aprildunford.com/Get the book: https://www.amazon.com/Obviously-Awesome-Product-Positioning-Customers/dp/1999023005/Sponsor info: Cast & HueWebsite: castandhue.comLink to more information on in-depth interviews: https://podcast.castandhue.com/interviews

This episode's guest is Tonya Browning, Vice President, Dell Digital Design at Dell Technologies. As the first Vice President of Design in Dell's IT organization, Dell Digital, Tonya is building a modern design practice as the organization transforms and adopts modern methodologies as well as new technologies. She oversees digital design, analytics, generative content, UX engineering, research and customer satisfaction measures.As we'll hear in our conversation, she is an expert in and passionate about design, software engineering, usability, content and accessibility. She has many varied experiences, implementing enterprise level applications and digital experiences for PayPal, Express Scripts/Cigna, Magento, Visa, as well as a number of startups (including one she founded).  There is so much to talk about with Tonya, she has a unique passion and a really interesting perspective across a number of subjects. Look forward to learning:  What she has learned about design from her experience at organizations of all sizes, from start-ups to large enterprise organizations. Tonya's three key waypoints around design leadership at large companies.  Why failing fast is important from a design perspective, how it works best and why it sometimes doesn't work.  The advice that Tonya has for those who want to bring more of a design focus and mindset to their organizations.  Visit Tonya's personal website: tonyabrowning.com.Sponsor info: Cast & HueWebsite: castandhue.comLink to more information on in-depth interviews: https://podcast.castandhue.com/interviews

This episode's guest is Elena Zloteanu, International Design Thinking Program Manager at Hochland. Hochland is a cheese and dairy manufacturer based in Germany, with distribution across Europe and the United States. Elena has been with Hochland for 18 years and held many positions across marketing and innovation. Today, her role focuses on implementing Design Thinking at Hochland. Her mission is to scale adoption of Design Thinking across the organization as both a toolbox and mindset, with the goal of contributing to the organization's innovation effort and speeding up the time to market of new products.. Years ago, Elena made it her mission to bring Design Thinking into Hochland, and make it a core element of their business. In this episode, she is going to share a lot about that journey with us. Look forward to learning:  Elena's perspective on why innovation is important in the food category - and for cheese specifically for her How Elena learns from failures and how a past “successful failure” in design thinking helped lead her to where she is today How she continued innovation and design thinking efforts through COVID - creating what is called an innovation bubble.  Sponsor info: Cast & HueWebsite: castandhue.comLink to more information on in-depth interviews: https://podcast.castandhue.com/interviews

In this episode of the Designing Next Podcast, we're joined by Joe Smiley, Group Design Manager at Blizzard Entertainment. Joe's passion is designing + developing extraordinary digital products via Human-Centered Design to explore consumers' motivations & needs. Then utilizing those deep insights to design products that solve their challenges and fulfill unmet needs. His career has spanned 20 years, utilizing his design experience with firms ranging from AOL to PwC to Marriot to eTrade and now Blizzard Entertainment. Joe is passionate about the role design can play in organizations large and small. You'll hear that passion throughout this episode's conversation. Look forward to learning:  How Joe has seen the role of the designer evolve over the last 20 years.  What it means to be a design-driven company.  The advice Joe would give leaders who want to integrate design further into their organization Why Joe wants to focus on the role of education in design thinking and why he believes we should change STEM to STEAM - adding art to science, technology, engineering and math  Joe's web site/blog: https://dsruptr.com/Sponsor info: Cast & HueWebsite: castandhue.comLink to more information on in-depth interviews: https://podcast.castandhue.com/interviews

In this episode of the Designing Next Podcast, we're joined by Danielle Cohn, Vice-President of Business Development and Startup Engagement at Comcast NBCUniversal.This conversation will really get into that intersection of large enterprise organizations and startups. Danielle has a presence in both worlds, so her perspective on innovation, startups and the world of entrepreneurship today will be very interesting. Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs helps talented startups create rapid breakthroughs in connectivity, media, with access to their renowned network of partners, brands, and mentors. Danielle has been with Comcast NBCUniversal for 7 years and prior to joining the organization, she spent 15 years at the Philadelphia Convention & Visitors bureau. In this episode, Danielle shares her passion and perspective about the startup world, innovation and many other topics. Look forward to learning:  Why a large company like Comcast NBCUniversal has a focus on startups How the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the environment for startups How Danielle's personal experiences led her into the startup world herself and ignited a passion around care Sponsor info: Cast & HueWebsite: castandhue.comLink to more information on in-depth interviews: https://podcast.castandhue.com/interviews

In our first episode of the Fall season, we are talking innovation with Paul Puopolo, Executive Vice-President of Innovation at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. Not only is it interesting to explore innovation in the aviation and airport industry, but Paul brings the podcast an incredible depth of knowledge and experience in innovation as a whole. Paul has had an interesting path to his role today leading innovation for one of the busiest airports in the United States. He served over 12 years in the U.S. Navy and then entered the corporate world in the health insurance space, holding several roles at Humana, leaving after 9 years as their Director of Consumer Innovation. He then moved onto Highmark, holding the role of Vice President of Business Innovation, before spending two years at MetLife as Vice-President of Innovation. He's been in his current role at DFW for three years. In this episode, Paul shares a lot of interesting insights and learnings around innovation. Look forward to learning: The commonalities has seen in the successful innovation projects he has been a part of What he wished he knew “then” - the advice he would give to those building a career in innovation How Paul sees the differences between being an entrepreneur and an intrapreneur Paul Puopolo's four P's - the four key elements Paul believes are crucial to the success of any innovation initiative  Sponsor info: Cast & HueWebsite: castandhue.comLink to more information on in-depth interviews: https://podcast.castandhue.com/interviewsSponsor info: InterceptCXWebsite: intercept.cx/

Jennifer Zamora, Senior Global Director Customer Experience & Employee Experience at Dow, joins Designing Next to talk about building a customer experience capability in a complex B2B environment. In this episode, she speaks with Chad & Steve about how customer-centricity moved from being an abstract concept to a key strategic initiative at Dow, why humility is so important when you are listening to your customers and how Dow developed a metrics framework around CX that all levels of the organization could buy into.

Jody Allison, Vice President, Transformation at Algonquin Power & Utilities, joins Designing Next to talk about driving transformation in the utilities and renewable industry. In this episode, she speaks with Chad & Steve about her journey from accounting and risk management to leading transformation at a large utilities organization, what transformation looks like in the utilities industry and how it compares to other industries, and how Jody and the team at Algonquin have successfully continued their transformation efforts even as the COVID-19 pandemic changed so many aspects of their business.

Alan Moore, author, designer, and innovator, joins Designing Next to talk about helping businesses discover their own unique beauty. Alan’s new book is called Do Build: How to Make and Lead a Business the World Needs and in this episode, he speaks with Chad & Steve about what led him to his mission of creating beautiful businesses, why he believes we need to shift from what he calls an extractive economy to a regenerative economy, and he shares the questions he believes leaders must ask themselves if they want to create beautiful businesses.

Torben Nielsen, CEO of ZOOM+Care, joins Designing Next to talk about innovation and driving growth. In this episode, Torben speaks with Chad & Steve about how working for Lego taught him to observe and listen to the needs of his audience, the steps Torben took to turnaround ZOOM+Care and how it doubled in size in less than two years, and he shares advice he would give to leaders who are on a journey to create transformative and differentiating experiences.

Patrice Martin, Cofounder + CEO of The Holding Co., joins Designing Next to speak about applying human-centered design to complex societal challenges. In this episode, Patrice speaks with Chad & Steve about how her experience as a designer at firms like IDEO and SonicRim has prepared her for the work she is doing today, how the Holding Co. is working to redesign how we care for each other in the 21st century, and how Patrice and the team at the Holding Co. bring together multiple perspectives and disciplines to help solve the challenges they’ve uncovered around care.

The Designing Next podcast is taking some time off to start the year, so we’re sharing one of our favorite episodes from 2020. We’ll be back with new episodes soon! Please enjoy! Rick Evans, Senior Vice President & Chief Experience Officer at NewYork-Presbyterian, joins Designing Next for the conclusion of a two-part interview. In this episode, we shift our focus to the effect of consumerism on the patient experience. Look forward to hearing Rick discuss what he sees as the most important attributes of the modern healthcare CXO, the importance of the access to the patient experience and why delivering a strong patient experience requires organizations to break down silos to work together to deliver on patient and consumer needs.

The Designing Next podcast is taking some time off to start the year, so we’re sharing one of our favorite episodes from 2020. We’ll be back with new episodes soon! Please enjoy! Jennifer Ishiguro, Vice President of Research, Experience Design and Service Excellence at ATB Financial, joins Designing Next to talk with us about the role of humanness in digital transformation efforts. In this episode, Jennifer speaks to us about why most current approaches to transformation do more damage than good, the importance of understanding how motivations drive people and drive change in transformational efforts, and why she believes we should eliminate the term “change management” from our vocabulary.

Nate Rogers, Vice President of Transformation Acceleration at OhioHealth, joins Designing Next to speak about his journey, which has taken him from guiding marketing strategy for a top retailer to leading innovation in healthcare. In this episode, Nate speaks with Chad & Steve about healthcare’s transition from being provider-centric to consumer-centric, what he has learned in his two years leading innovation at OhioHealth, how his innovation team engages associates across the organization to be part of their problem-solving and design thinking process, and why Nate believes that healthcare could soon leapfrog other industries in terms of leading with consumer-centricity.

Michael Hoffman, author of the book Customer Worthy, joins Designing Next to talk about how organizations should approach thinking like a customer in 2021. In this episode, Michael speaks with Chad and Steve about developing a holistic definition of your customers across divisions and silos, the most significant ways he has seen COVID-19 impact customer experience, and how Michael sees the customer experience space evolving in the next 3-5 years.

B. Joseph Pine II, co-author of the pioneering book The Experience Economy, joins Designing Next to talk about what the experience economy means in these unique times. In this episode, Joe speaks with Chad & Steve about how organizations have adapted their experiences during the pandemic era, what hybrid digital and physical experiences could look like in the post-pandemic future, and why Joe believes that the transformation economy could eclipse the experience economy in the not-so-distant future.

Bill Staikos, Head of Customer Experience at Freddie Mac, joins Designing Next to talk to us about the relationship between customer and employee experience. In this episode, Bill speaks with Chad & Steve about the importance of breaking down silos to bring employee experience and customer experience leaders together, the most important CX and EX metrics that every experience leader should be monitoring, and how he ties CX and EX data to business and financial metrics in a meaningful way.

Colin Crowley, VP, Customer Experience at Freshly, joins Designing Next to talk to us about his experience building a customer experience infrastructure. In this episode, Colin speaks with Chad & Steve about the process he used to build a customer experience infrastructure within a start-up environment, the steps he and his team took to build and operationalize the five pillars of Freshly’s customer experience, and his approach to finding the right balance between AI, automation, and humanness in customer experience.

Anastasia Zdoroviak, Director of Customer Experience at DoorDash, joins Designing Next to talk with us about DoorDash’s approach to developing and continuously improving a differentiated experience. In this episode, Anastasia speaks with Chad & Steve about how DoorDash manages the distinct experiences of its three key audiences (consumers, dashers, and merchants), how they measure the consumer journey and prioritize pain points, and how cross-functional teams design and implement solutions at a rapid pace.

Jim Kalbach, Head of Customer Experience at Mural, joins Designing Next to talk with us about developing and maintaining a culture with remote and distributed teams. In this episode, Jim speaks with Chad & Steve about what the pandemic taught him and the team at Mural as their business grew quickly over the last six months, what organizations need to do to establish and maintain a culture in a remote work environment, and why remote teams can be just as effective - or even more effective - than in-person teams.

Jennifer Ishiguro, Vice President of Research, Experience Design and Service Excellence at ATB Financial, joins Designing Next to talk with us about the role of humanness in digital transformation efforts. In this episode, Jennifer speaks to us about why most current approaches to transformation do more damage than good, the importance of understanding how motivations drive people and drive change in transformational efforts, and why she believes we should eliminate the term “change management” from our vocabulary.

Rick Evans, Senior Vice President & Chief Experience Officer at NewYork-Presbyterian, joins Designing Next for the conclusion of a two-part interview. In this episode, we shift our focus to the effect of consumerism on the patient experience. Look forward to hearing Rick discuss what he sees as the most important attributes of the modern healthcare CXO, the importance of the access to the patient experience and why delivering a strong patient experience requires organizations to break down silos to work together to deliver on patient and consumer needs.

Rick Evans, Senior Vice President & Chief Experience Officer at NewYork-Presbyterian, joins Designing Next for the first part of a two-part interview. In this episode, our focus will be on the role of culture in delivering employee, patient, and consumer experience. Look forward to hearing Rick discuss building and scaling out experience-focused cultures at large, multi-location organizations like NewYork-Presbyterian, as well as the role culture played as NYP navigated - and continues to navigate - the unprecedented crisis of COVID-19.

Brandi Overstreet, Sr. Manager and VP at T. Rowe Price Central Services, joins Designing Next to discuss her role guiding product leadership initiatives and product development teams as they scale customer-centric and agile deliver practices at T. Rowe Price. In this episode, Brandi shares the learnings from setting up an innovation center separate from their main campus, how they scaled a new approach to innovation, how it has changed the way people work at T. Rowe Price and how being a DJ can prepare you for a career in Customer Experience.

Russ Maloney, Director of Innovation Services at Banner Health, joins episode one of Designing Next to talk about how he and his team have introduced innovation into Banner Health, a large health system with 28 hospitals and over 50,000 employees. In the episode, he shares the lessons he’s learned over the last few years, how they’ve introduced innovation into the culture, and what they are focusing on moving forward.

Introducing Designing Next: Achieving Growth Through Transformation and Innovation, a new podcast that speaks to experience design and innovation leaders about envisioning and designing new consumer-centric futures. Every two weeks, hosts Steve Koch and Chad Brough speak to a new guest in order to gain insights and learnings from those who are designing new experiences on a daily basis.