Podcasts about ideo u

Meena is a social innovation consultant and design strategist tackling complex social challenges through human-centered design and community engagement dedicated to tackling complex social challenges through human-centered design and community engagement. With a background in social anthropology and design, she has worked across diverse settings, from urban slums to corporate boardrooms. Previously, Meena spent eight years at IDEO, where she led community engagement for OpenIDEO and advised IDEO U's initiatives. Her expertise lies in fostering collaboration, equity, and innovation to drive meaningful change. Born in Aotearoa New Zealand with Indian ancestry, she brings a global perspective to her work in social impact.Meena was the Spring Social Innovator in Residence with the ERA Chair in Social Innovation and the DESIS Lab at NOVA SBE.Follow Meena on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meanestindian/?originalSubdomain=nzand on Subtack: https://randomspecific.substack.com/Credits:Host: Anne-Laure FayardPost-production: Claudio SilvaMusic & Art Work: Guilhem TamisierRecorded at the Fidelidade Creative Studio, Nova SBE

Public Health Careers podcast episode with Tyler Jackson, MPH

Trained as an anthropologist, Suz Howard spent 20 years as a partner at IDEO, one of the world's leading design and innovation companies, playing a critical role in growing IDEO from 200 employees to 1000 in 9 locations around the globe. Focused on building creative leadership within organizations, she founded IDEO U, a digital learning platform that has served over 80,000 students through various forms of cohort-based learning since 2014. In effect, Suz has dedicated her life's work to building out-of-the-box thinkers and enhancing the future of work itself. Now, out on her own, Suz continues her work with individuals and organizations, bringing human-centered design and design thinking to develop insightful strategy, deploy rapid prototypes, and align multiple stakeholders around a common vision for a brave new future. In addition, she teaches entrepreneurs at the Aspen Institute and advises startups on climate tech. Her writing has been published in Inc Magazine, Fast Company and many other places over her illustrious career.Share your Swan Dive at www.swandive.us

Work for Humans host Dart Lindsley experienced a distressing moment in the hospital when his father was left in a wheelchair facing a wall while awaiting radiology. This small but significant oversight in the hospital's system pointed to an issue in many major systems – a lack of human-centered care. Recognizing these widespread oversights, design and strategy expert Deirdre Cerminaro seeks to address such problems through human-centered systems thinking. By redesigning systems to prioritize human experiences, Deirdre now teaches others how to problem solve by combining systems and human-centric design.Deirdre Cerminaro is a creative strategist, IDEO U instructor, and speaker who excels in organizational design, strategy, and human-centered systems thinking. With over 15 years of experience, including her time as an architectural designer and Executive Director at IDEO, Deirdre is dedicated to using systems design to build a more equitable future. In this episode, Dart and Deirdre discuss:- How Deirdre designs her own experience of work- Human-Centered Systems Thinking- Real-world problems combining systems and human-centric design- Deidre's experience creating and scaling a K-12 school system internationally- The relationship between mental models and systems- Best practices in systems mapping- How to use the “Zoom In and Zoom Out” design tool - Managing trade-offs between stakeholders- And other topics…Deirdre Cerminaro is a creative strategist, IDEO U instructor, and speaker who excels in organizational design, strategy, and human-centered systems thinking. With over 15 years of experience, including her time as an architectural designer and Executive Director at IDEO, Deirdre is dedicated to using systems design to build a more equitable future. Her notable projects at IDEO include redesigning systems, from reimagining student services at a community college in Ohio to creating programs to deliver quality, affordable education at scale in Peru.Deirdre holds a B.A. in Cognitive Science and an MBA from Yale University. She co-founded the MBA Innovation Summit at the Yale School of Management. Beyond her professional achievements, Deirdre spends as much time as possible outdoors. She has cycled across the U.S. twice and also hiked the 211-mile John Muir Trail.Resources mentioned:“Got a wicked problem? First, tell me how you make toast” TED Talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/tom_wujec_got_a_wicked_problem_first_tell_me_how_you_make_toast?language=en Connect with Dierdre:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deirdrecerminaro/ IDEO U Human-Centered Systems Thinking course: https://www.ideou.com/collections/courses/products/human-centered-systems-thinking 

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Hello Well Women! Today on the show I interview Viva Asmelash. She is a passionate workplace consultant and certified inclusion strategist specializing in forward-thinking employee engagement, equity-centered strategic planning, values-driven branding, and critical team conversations. Viva's professional purpose is to create environments where people feel truly seen and are inspired to be their best and most authentic selves. She often facilitates inclusive executive group coaching, delivers engaging keynotes and panel discussions, and crafts org-wide education experiences for clients like IDEO U, MiQ, and Reading Partners. As the co-founder of Liberation Labs, she proudly co-designed the first-of-its-kind Culturally-Aware Feedback Training™. She also co-authored the viral 2023 Harvard Business Review article, Creating Psychological Safety for Black Women at Your Company.As a first-generation Eritrean-American, Viva leverages a unique, lifelong perspective on race, gender, culture, belonging, privilege, and education access. With this lens and her breadth of experience, she takes deep care in helping teams evolve their people + inclusion ethos and efforts—all in hopes of planting seeds for collective liberation and joy.We discuss:How to Gain awareness of how identity factors into our pathways to emotional and psychological safety at workHow we can Swap "saviorism" for solidarityAnd why making workplaces safer and better for Black women actually benefits everyone.In celebration of Black History Month, I also want to highlight past episodes featuring the work and lives of Black women.265 The Urgency For Equal Rights - Carol Jenkins was President and CEO of the ERA Coalition/Fund for Women's Equality, which aims to amend the U.S. Constitution to include the Equal Rights Amendment, something many Americans believe already happened.298 How to Make and Keep Friends with Dr. Marisa G. Franco author of NYT bestselling book Platonic303 When Black Women Thrive at Work with Ericka Hines, author of Black Women Thriving, a report and call to action which seeks to define what it means for Black women to thrive in the workplace and determine how they find joy, success, and stability at work.245 Leading Inside the Beltway with Dr. C Nicole Mason, the past president and chief executive officer of the Institute for Women's Policy Research, a leading voice on pay equity, economic policies, and research impacting women.The Well Woman Show is thankful for support from Collective Action Strategies - a consulting firm that supports systemic change so that women and families thrive, and by the Well Woman Life Movement Challenge Quiz at wellwomanlife.com/quiz

Learn about the upcoming 7th Annual Creating Trauma-Sensitive Schools Conference.Learn about the largest gathering of trauma-informed educators in the United States with Ginger Healy and Kimberly Smathers. The 7th Annual Creating Trauma-Sensitive Schools Conference is dedicated to building trauma-reformed schools. It is being held in Dallas, Texas, on February 18-23, 2024. Registration is now OPEN.Feb 18th Academy Day PreconferenceFeb 19-20 In-Person ConferenceFeb 22-23 Virtual Conference Onlinehttps://www.attachmenttraumanetwork.org/conference/Join us live to learn more about this amazing upcoming event.Ginger Healy MSW, LCSW, is a clinical social worker who began her career as a non-profit case manager and child abuse investigator. She then became a hospital social worker and spent 15 years as the social service supervisor at an international adoption agency and was able to travel to provide support for orphanages all over the world. This job continues to inform her work on attachment and trauma needs in children. After serving in that capacity, she worked as a school therapist and served on the charter school board. She is currently the director of programs for the Attachment & Trauma Network. She co-anchors the podcast “Regulated and Relational” and speaks nationwide on trauma-informed schools, therapeutic parenting, and community engagement. Ginger is also the author of Regulation and Co-Regulation: Accessible Neuroscience that Brings Calm into the Classroom.Kimberly Smathers brings over two decades of experience in strategy, research, system design, policy, and communications across the health and human service, education, and nonprofit sectors. As Principal and Owner of Flourishing Spark LLC, she collaborates with organizations striving to create supportive systems and environments for human flourishing, especially for those whose experiences are shaped by sociodemographic disparities, trauma and toxic stress, neurodiversity, complex health conditions, and functional limitations.Kimberly serves as the Vice President of the Attachment and Trauma Network Board of Directors and as the Parent Education Programming Chair for the Family Association at Bennett Day School. She holds an MBA from the Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management and a human-centered design certificate from Ideo U. She resides in Chicago with her husband and son.Support the show

IDEO U's Nusrat Ahmed and Coe Leta Stafford share 4 inclusive design mindsets and why they're an important part of any designer's toolkit. View the full recap at https://www.ideou.com/blogs/inspiration/how-to-get-started-with-inclusive-design

Over the last 25 years, Parameswaran Venkataraman has been in design and innovation leadership roles across companies like IDEO, Tata Digital, Fractal.ai, Dr. Reddy's and Sapient. Over the last decade, he has been instrumental in setting up and establishing strategic design capabilities & culture in several organizations. Some of the work Param has led at Studio 5B at Dr. Reddy's is now a featured case study in IDEO U's course on Designing for ChangeParam is passionate about mindfulness and the ‘art of stillness'. At the end of each year, he publishes a toolkit for applying Mindfulness and Design Thinking principles for personal reflections on the year that went past, and to create a vision for the year ahead.We dive into how the more you progress in your career, the more inward you need to look, how coaching and therapy have helped him as a designer, how to think about career milestones, and much much more. ,

IDEO Senior Portfolio Director Katie Soven shares why orienting your team around outcomes is more effective than checking off a list of tasks. This episode revisits one of our favorite moments on the Creative Confidence Podcast around the theme of enabling leaders to bring out the best in their team. Listen to the full episode with Katie and read a recap of the conversation on the IDEO U blog: ideo.in/well-said-katie

Wonderschool CEO and Co-founder Chris Bennett talks about giving his team the freedom and support to approach problems in their own way. This episode revisits one of our favorite moments on the Creative Confidence Podcast around the theme of enabling leaders to bring out the best in their team. Listen to the full episode with Chris and read a recap of the conversation on the IDEO U blog: https://ideo.in/well-said-chris

Michelle Lee, a managing director leading IDEO's Design for Play team, tells us how to create a magic circle and why removing constraints is so powerful in helping your team come up with wild new ideas. This episode revisits one of our favorite moments on the Creative Confidence Podcast around the theme of enabling leaders to bring out the best in their team. Listen to the full episode with Michelle and read a recap of the conversation on the IDEO U blog: ideo.in/well-said-michelle

Serial entrepreneur and venture capitalist Brit Morin shares advice for inspiring a team by nurturing individual needs, creating psychological safety, and giving people meaningful work. This episode revisits one of our favorite moments on the Creative Confidence Podcast around the theme of enabling leaders to bring out the best in their team. Listen to the full episode with Brit and read a recap of the conversation on the IDEO U blog: ideo.in/well-said-brit

IDEO Senior Portfolio Director Dwayne Edwards shares an activity leaders can try to encourage their team to tap into the power of intuition. This episode revisits one of our favorite moments on the Creative Confidence Podcast around the theme of enabling leaders to bring out the best in their team. Listen to the full episode with Dwayne and read a recap of the conversation on the IDEO U blog: ideo.in/well-said-dwayne

Harvard Business School Professor Frances Frei and IDEO Senior Design Director Lauren Collins share advice for inclusive leadership, encouraging participation, and giving attribution. This episode revisits one of our favorite moments on the Creative Confidence Podcast around the theme of enabling leaders to bring out the best in their team. Listen to the full episode with Frances and Lauren and read a recap of the conversation on the IDEO U blog: ideo.in/well-said-lauren-and-frances

Support Independent Podcasts. Join The Community!Denise Truong is the CEO of TYDE consulting and co-representative of Trash Hero Ho Chi Minh City. From coordinator to certified trainer and coach, Denise has acquired the fundamentals of change management. She is certified by IDEO U and HarvardX and trained teams across various industries in Vietnam. She conducts training programs of leadership, communication and management skills.In this episode Denise and Micka talk about;

Denise Truong is the CEO of TYDE consulting and co-representative of Trash Hero Ho Chi Minh City. From coordinator to certified trainer and coach, Denise has acquired the fundamentals of change management. She is certified by IDEO U and HarvardX and trained teams across various industries in Vietnam. She conducts training programs of leadership, communication and management skills. In this episode Denise and Micka talk about;

It's part three of our unintentional "Gamedev in..." series! Your nice hosts speak with Daniela Gamarra about making games in Peru. Daniela shares her perspective on entering the industry, making progressive games in a conservative culture, and being asked "how much do you need to make this game?"Previous "Gamedev in..." episodes: We spoke with Ryan Sumo for: Gamedev in the Philippines We spoke with "Game Devs Kenya" for: Gamedev in Kenya Gamedev in Peru IRLProductionHow Creative Leaders Play the Long Game for Innovation - Ideo UIGDA PeruIGDA Peru - EducationLima Game JamLEAP Game StudiosBamtang GamesDirección Audiovisual, la Fonografía y los Nuevos MediosDaniela GamarraGuest Peruvian game developer and founder of Indaga Studios. External link on TikTokon LinkedInon InstagramIndaga StudiosIndaga Studios on Itch.io

It's part three of our unintentional "Gamedev in..." series! Your nice hosts speak with Daniela Gamarra about making games in Peru. Daniela shares her perspective on entering the industry, making progressive games in a conservative culture, and being asked "how much do you need to make this game?"Previous "Gamedev in..." episodes: We spoke with Ryan Sumo for: Gamedev in the Philippines We spoke with "Game Devs Kenya" for: Gamedev in Kenya Gamedev in Peru IRLProductionHow Creative Leaders Play the Long Game for Innovation - Ideo UIGDA PeruIGDA Peru - EducationLima Game JamLEAP Game StudiosBamtang GamesDirección Audiovisual, la Fonografía y los Nuevos MediosDaniela GamarraGuest Peruvian game developer and founder of Indaga Studios. External link on TikTokon LinkedInon InstagramIndaga StudiosIndaga Studios on Itch.io

I had a chat with Shamir Joseph about his journey as an engineering student all the way to becoming a design thinking facilitator. According to him, “The journey is more important than the destination.”, and I absolutely agree! Listen to this conversation as there is much one can incorporate in companies as of today!

Learn how to use sprints to work smart and upskill with Isabela Sa Glaister, Senior Director of Product Design at IDEO U. View the full recap at ideo.in/isabela.

Human-centered systems thinking is an approach to problem solving that helps you see the interconnectedness of things while also staying grounded in the needs of your stakeholders. Deirdre Cerminaro, IDEO senior director and IDEO U instructor, shares IDEO's approach to systems thinking. Get tools, mindsets and examples you can apply to your own work to help you surface more impactful solutions. View the full recap at ideo.in/deirdre.

We've all been in those brainstorming sessions that consisted of more than a few blank stares or had a number of great ideas with no action steps to actually implement them.  In this episode, David Millay and Katie Rudy share some of their favorite resources and best practices to conduct an effective individual or team brainstorm session.  We cover:Myths of BrainstormingSetting the stage and framework for the brainstormProvocative prompting and challenging the status quoDefining success and following through on new ideas-----Have a topic you want us to go in on?  Reach out to us on Twitter @DavidMillay or @Katie_RudyAdditional info on topics referenced in this episode:IDEO U | 7 Simple Rules for BrainstormingMural: a digital, virtual collaboration toolUnderstanding the 10 Types of InnovationThread: 6 Things Kids Know By Heart That Adults ForgotForbes: 9 Simple Tips for Leading Brilliant Brainstorms

What creative muscle do you want to flex this year? Work toward your goals with one of eight IDEO U courses starting in January. Listen for a gift to apply to your purchase.

Chris Wilson, social entrepreneur and author of The Master Plan, shares the importance of believing yourself. This clip revisits one of our favorite moments of 2021 on the Creative Confidence Podcast. Listen to the full episode with Chris and read a recap of the conversation on the IDEO U blog: https://ideo.in/well-said-chris

Designing Strategy instructor and best-selling author Roger Martin explains how your strategic choices shape where your organization is now and where you'll end up down the road. This clip revisits one of our favorite moments of 2021 on the Creative Confidence Podcast. Listen to the full episode with Roger and read a recap of the conversation on the IDEO U blog: https://ideo.in/well-said-roger

Sacha Connor, founder and CEO of consultancy Virtual Work Insider, argues that snacks are not culture. She says values and behaviors shape culture, especially in a remote world. This clip revisits one of our favorite moments of 2021 on the Creative Confidence Podcast. Listen to the full episode with Sacha and read a recap of the conversation on the IDEO U blog: https://ideo.in/well-said-sacha

Ingrid Fetell Lee, author of The Aesthetics of Joy, helps us connect with physical feelings of joy in this 2-minute exercise. This clip revisits one of our favorite moments of 2021 on the Creative Confidence Podcast. Listen to the full episode with Ingrid and read a recap of the conversation on the IDEO U blog: https://ideo.in/well-said-ingrid

Michelle Lee, a managing director in IDEO's Play Lab, embraces how mixed influences led her down a winding, joyful career path. This clip revisits one of our favorite moments of 2021 on the Creative Confidence Podcast. Listen to the full episode with Michelle and read a recap of the conversation on the IDEO U blog: https://ideo.in/well-said-michelle

Nicole Dessain is the Founder and Chief Employee Experience Designer at Talent.Imperative Inc, an employee experience design company. During her 19-year career in human resources, Nicole discovered design thinking while collaborating on a client project. She became a student of the method and got certified by IDEO U and LUMA Institute and is now a SESP Lecturer at Northwestern University's Masters in Learning and Organizational Change Program which explores how design thinking might be applied to innovation in organizational effectiveness. Nicole runs her own podcast, Talent Tales, where she features leaders who have pioneered design thinking in the field of Human Resources. Time Codes(3:03) - What is Talent Imperative and what do you do?(3:39) - What drew you to this work?(4:20) - Design Thinking(7:48) - What is the process for Design Thinking?(10:35) - Assessing and redefining a problem in Design Thinking(16:04) - Thinking of feedback as data(18:35) - How do you foster the right kind of teamwork going into a Design Thinking project?(21:02) - How do you prime people to get on the same page?(24:46) - The tools people in use in ideation of Design Thinking(27:26) - “Prototyping is NOT piloting”(33:22) - Slowing down is actually speeding up aka Change management 2.0(34:15) - How long does it take for someone to become effective in using these skills?(40:38) - Defining a human experience mindset(41:57) - What have you learned about people in the last 6 years?(43:04) - What does it mean to treat someone as an adult?(44:55) - What are some common mistakes beginners fall victim to when they venture into Design Thinking?(47:10) - What are the misconceptions about Design Thinking?(48:02) - Do you have an example of a group that was apprehensive toward Design Thinking but ended up responding very well to it?(51:52) - Improv & Storytelling(55:28) - What are you sick of talking about?(56:55) - What is the purpose of business?(58:17) - How can people get in touch with you?

If you've applied to a job recently, you've likely seen phrases like "team player" and "strategic thinker" fill the description. But how do you develop and learn these types of power skills? Today, Brit is sitting down with Suzanne Howard, the founder and Dean of IDEO U, a digital learning platform where anyone can learn to solve anything creatively. Suzanne talks about how to lead with passion, create space for innovation, run successful remote meetings, and reimagine how we view female leaders. This episode is full of applicable advice on how to take your ideas and your workplace to the next level. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

How many resumes do you need to see to fill a role? Let’s take it a step further. How many people do you need to interview to fill a role? If you guessed One, you are correct! So, what is wrong with Gloria wanting to wait to interview other people before making a decision on the person that was just interviewed?.......Everything! Waiting to interview other people is a ridiculously clear beacon that you have a weak interview process. Not being able to gather enough data and make a decision within 24 hours is not only a waste of your time, but the other person’s as well.  Comparison shopping is how bad hiring decisions are made. Our guest today: Jodi Brandsttetter, Chief Talent Strategist of Lean Effective Talent Strategist, LLC Jodi is passionate about talent acquisition and uses design thinking in creating selection and hiring processes focused on people and business. She is certified through IDEO U in design thinking.  Jodi is the CEO and founder of Lean Effective Talent Strategies which includes The Hiring Blueprint, talent acquisition consulting firm and Talent Acquisition Evolution, a community for recruiting professionals to connect, learn, and work together.  Today we discuss: The dangers of comparison shopping when it comes to hiring A plan of attack to enable quick decision making for each individual interviewed Why do we feel like we want to see more people before we make a decision? The hiring manager lacks confidence in making a decision with just one interview. Being able to communicate the desire skill set and experience needed to find the best candidate Understanding the motivators Miscommunication between the manager and recruiter on the best candidate for the role Or no communication between the manager and recruiter  Not everyone is the same person- shrug off bad hires Stupid Assumptions! Why is this important to the company? Having confidence in pulling the trigger with the first person will lower time to hire/fill. By hiring the first person who is align with the role, there can be a positive impact on the business in a faster time frame. Builds a stronger relationship with the hr/recruiting team when a hiring manager knows what they need and able to make decisions in a timely manner. People will judge you based on the quality of your questions. Therefore, your interview questions must be intentional and have a specific purpose.  How do we solve the problem? Recognize that you do not have the tools and experience in hiring to have real confidence in your hiring decisions. Join Hiring Managers Anonymous, a community for hiring managers who have a hiring problem. Step 1: Admit that you have a hiring problem  Step 2: Believe that there are tools and training available to help you. Step 3: Find training and tools to help you become a confident hiring manager. Step 4: Start your learning journey with the training & tools Step 5: Make a Candidate Persona to understand who your ideal candidate is and focus on them. Step 6: Communicate with your recruiter/recruiting team so that they can find the ideal candidate for you. Step 7: Use the training and tools to make decisions while interviewing. Step 8: It is ok to fail. Shake it off and try again. Step 9: Be open to feedback and continue to improve. Step 10: Once you become a confident hiring manager, carry this message to other hiring managers and continue to practice these principles. 10  Step Program to Help Build Confidence in your Hiring Decisions In order to have the confidence, you need help. Rick’s Nuggets Interview questions are the root of interview failure Questions must be tied to corporate values Linked questions have purpose & produce evidence Eliminates bias Promotes diversity in thought & experience Train your employees how to interview  Assign interview questions Conversational evidence gathering Key Takeaways -Value: Join Hiring Manager Anonymous and find training and tools that will help you have confidence in hiring. Use a Candidate Persona to create your ideal candidate. Communicate who your ideal candidate is to your talent acquisition team and work in collaboration with them. Be willing to fail. It is the only way you can learn. Links LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodibrandstetter/ Websites: https://letscincy.com/index  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/letscincy Twitter: https://twitter.com/jodi_recruiter YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2BNdy2kafFSs-cimLyBPBA https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCToc02W0GAFHMhXWJZIbhxQ?view_as=subscriber   This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Crop: https://www.criteriacorp.co

First there was IDEO, an award-winning global design firm that decided to take a human-centered, design-based approach to help organisations innovate and grow; you may or may not have encountered its unique approach if you’ve ever interacted with the Stanford d.school. And then, in 2014, along came IDEO U (University), an online school promising to equip learners with the skills, mindsets, and tools to help us stay relevant and adaptive in our modern world. Just on its own, IDEO U would so be worth us looking at it as an example of successful online L&D, as it’s served over 50,000 learners in 100 countries, spawning a community connecting over 200,000 change makers bringing increased creativity, innovation, and modern leadership into their work. But we know that driving principle at IDEO is Design Thinking, which its chair Tim Brown says we should see as “a human-centered approach to innovation” that draws from the designer’s toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success… so what is the connection, if any, between Design Thinking and Purpose? What role does Purpose play in what Suzanne’s been trying to do this past bumpy year of COVID as Managing Partner of that part of IDEO? Given that the organization specifically offers a Power of Purpose course (“A clear purpose guides people through change and motivates them to lead from wherever they are”), we knew we needed to know more. So this week, in one of our final (but not final final!) episodes in our ‘Is Purpose Working?’ Odyssey we meet the latter’s Founder and Dean, Suzanne Gibbs Howard to try and find out. Her work at IDEO U caps a pretty amazing (she’ll tell more of a “crooked path:” we think you’ll disagree) personal and professional journey that involved Anthropology and associated field work, as well as a dip into divinity school, usability and lengthy spells in China and Africa. We learn about that, as well as: why she ended up in that beautiful city by the Bay called San Francisco; how IDEO interprets Purpose—as a way of helping align people toward what's next for them; how our common tough 2020 brought Purpose to the surface for many people struggling to “keep pushing forward;" the role of Learning as a way to spark the engagement that’s the necessary precursor to successful, Purpose-driven engagement; why L&D needs to be a lot more than “just MOOCs and talking heads” from now on; and so much more.

Jodi Brandstetter, SPHR, SHRM SCP is passionate about talent acquisition and uses design thinking in creating selection and hiring processes focused on people and business. She has 20 years of talent acquisition experience and is certified through IDEO U in design thinking. Jodi is the CEO and founder of Lean Effective Talent Strategies which includes The Hiring Blueprint, talent acquisition consulting firm and Talent Acquisition Evolution, a community for recruiting professionals to connect, learn, and work together. Her first book Hire By Design, launched September 2020 and hit best seller in 7 Amazon Categories.

Today's guest is Suzanne Gibbs Howard, Partner at IDEO and the founder and Dean of IDEO U. IDEO U is a learning platform where anyone can learn to solve anything creatively. Suzanne's work focuses on transforming individuals and organizations through teaching and sharing thought leadership. Obsessed with understanding culture and human motivation, Suzanne arrived at IDEO via a crooked path involving anthropology, teaching English, museum-exhibit design and working in tech start-ups. Suzanne has a bachelor's degree from Northwestern University and a master's from the University of Chicago. She is a passionate traveler, educator, research geek, climber, sailor, and mom.

Coe chats with Guy about the key to influencing others and evangelizing products, causes, and yourself. View the episode recap and frameworks on the IDEO U blog: http://ideo.in/guy-recap

"I had this moment of really enjoying the launching of ideas within existing structures " -Karen Holst I'm excited to have Karen Holst with me today. She is an entrepreneur turned intrapreneur and helps companies drive product innovation as a product strategy leader. Karen has deep expertise in human-centered design strategies, creative problem-solving, and product innovation. She worked on Ex-IDEO led innovation at Autodesk, for the CA Dept. of Education and is the co-founder of MyEdu. She currently teaches at LinkedIn Learning, and most recently, we co-authored the book Start Within: How to Sell Your Idea, Overcome Roadblocks and Love Your Job. If there was one thing she could change about meetings, it would be "that everybody comes in with an understanding of the goal,” Karen says. “I think that sounds so simple, but I think that having the same meeting over and over again and feel like you're not moving the ball any further down the field is one of the most frustrating experiences." In today’s episode, we talk about how you can energize the life of your job and the work you are doing. This is advice Karen also gives for using our book, Start Within, and how it can help you at any part of your growth journey. Listen in to find out how you can use an anthropologist's view of running a meeting, how to focus on the one element that can make the most significant impact for leading a meeting, and how to shift your expectations to fit another company’s culture meeting process.   Show Highlights [01:15] Karen’s genesis story. [03:58] How egos can get in the way of meeting productivity. [06:04] How to dive into Start Within. [10:12] Understanding meeting culture for the purpose of co-creation. [16:08] Removing the lense of how to lead a meeting “the right way”. [19:25] Running meetings how your boss expects them to be run. [21:54] Go beyond the cookie cutter approach to meetings to create your own leadership style. [24:50] What Karen learned about meetings during her first start up. [26:55] Being interested equates to asking questions and discovering purpose. [29:55] Tactics Karen has seen groups implement to get unstuck with their vision. [34:52] Other books suggestions to move your vision forward. Links and Resources Karen on LinkedIn Get a Copy of Start Within About the Guest Karen Holst is a product leader with deep expertise in human-centered design strategies, creative problem-solving, and product innovation. She has taken her career from a business strategy and entrepreneurship to strategic partnerships and market communications. Karen loves to create technology with a broader impact. She is a leader in her work, co-founding a startup and launching a new technology within a government agency.  About Voltage Control Voltage Control is a facilitation agency that helps teams work better together with custom-designed meetings and workshops, both in-person and virtual. Our master facilitators offer trusted guidance and custom coaching to companies who want to transform ineffective meetings, reignite stalled projects, and cut through assumptions. Based in Austin, Voltage Control designs and leads public and private workshops that range from small meetings to large conference-style gatherings.  Share An Episode of Control The Room Apple Podcasts Spotify Android Stitcher Engage Control The Room Voltage Control on the Web Contact Voltage Control   Intro: Welcome to the Control the Room Podcast, a series devoted to the exploration of meeting culture and uncovering cures for the common meeting. Some meetings have tight control, and others are loose. To control the room means achieving outcomes while striking a balance between imposing and removing structure, asserting and distributing power, leaning in and leaning out, all in the service of having a truly magical meeting. Douglas: Today, I'm with Karen Holst, entrepreneur turned intrapreneur. She co-founded an education-tech startup in Austin, Texas, and later went on to join IDEO, and then, led innovation at Autodesk. She's currently teaching at LinkedIn Learning, and most recently, coauthored the book Start Within: How to Sell Your Idea, Overcome Roadblocks, and Love Your Job. Welcome to the show, Karen. Karen: Hi. Thank you. Douglas: So, Karen, I'd love to start with a little bit about how you got started. Karen: Sure. So I, my junior year in college, had met two guys at my rival university. I went to the University of Texas, and they went to Texas A&M. I’d heard about a company that they were thinking about starting. And I just had—I was brimming with ideas on what I could do to make this happen. And I approached them and said they needed to bring me on board. And we just clicked, and I became a co-founder, and we launched the company. We, then, grew it through multiple rounds of funding and then ended up seeing a successful exit. So my first job was really a job I created. And then from that point on, saw that over and over throughout my career. Joined the California Department of Education and helping lead educational technology within the state, and that was really about bringing new tools and services into the classroom and figuring out how to make that process more smooth and get through the red tape. After that, joined IDEO and helped them launch IDEO U, which is an online-learning platform, teaching design thinking and creative problem solving. And had this moment of really enjoying the launching of ideas within existing structures, that being an entrepreneur, I thought I needed to own the idea, but it shifted. I could own the idea anywhere that I work. So then I was able to just go follow the shiny problems. Later joined Autodesk in their media and entertainment space and helping them innovate, and gotten to do lots of projects within corporations, nonprofits, government agencies since then. And that all led to writing the book, Start Within. Douglas: Exciting. So if you could change one thing about most meetings, what would it be? Karen: That everybody comes in with an understanding of the goal. I think that sounds so simple, but just having the same meeting over and over and feeling like you're not moving the ball any further down the field is one of the most frustrating experiences. Douglas: Yeah. And I think that aligns with quite a few of our meeting mantras and philosophies about meetings. And two that come to mind is this idea of never starting without a clear purpose. So purpose and goal are at least cousins. And then, also, you talked about how this Groundhog Day kind of feeling, just like the meetings just kind of repeating themselves. And I think, often not being clear on if we're ideating or making a decision, and if we’re making a decision, what's the process by which we're going to make that decision? Karen: Yeah. And I feel like people get in the way of the goals. So even when they're well communicated in advance and alignment, egos can get in the way, where either people are just really married to their ideas and wanting that to try to drive the meeting around that notion, or they're just blindly and accidentally, perhaps, getting in the way of progress because they're just stuck in the ego side of things. Douglas: Yeah. And I didn't intend on it, but the Groundhog Day analogy came out, and we talk about that in the book, this notion of, is everything kind of repeating itself? Are you just kind of stuck in the hamster wheel of the day to day and feeling just inundated with monotony? And so maybe let’s talk a little bit about that feeling and how the book can kind of help guide you out of that feeling in that situation. Karen: Yeah. So as humans, we are wired to innovate. We're wired to see creativity and make the mundane not mundane. And you think about while we're recording this, it's during the COVID pandemic, and we're seeing this everywhere. People are taking up new hobbies. My toddler son is asking me to read the kids’ books in different voices or to change the ending of the book, just because we're so bored of everyday feeling like the day before. And if we're wired for that, what's holding us back from actually doing that? And I think meetings, being such a big part of our work, are a key place to really energize the life and job and work that you're doing. And a lot of what we talk about in the book is to find that purpose and breathe new life into your job so that you love it, so that you feel passionate about it. So there's lots of steps in that process in how to make that happen throughout the book. Douglas: And when you think about all the steps and someone wanting to just get started, in your perspective, is it just to pick up the book and jumping into the first chapter, or is it more of a choose-your-own adventure, where it’s like, this might apply more to me? Maybe help guide the reader, the doer, into how they might dive in. Karen: Yeah. That's a great, great analogy, the choose your adventure. I say it’s more like that. The process and work of bringing an idea forward is not linear, so there's different places that you're going to start from, and that you're going to get stuck and need assistance. The book reads that way. You can just jump in where you need to. And then I say proceed with caution, because as humans, we're also wired to kind of go after the things that we're most comfortable. And that's okay to start where you're comfortable, but not to ignore the places where we need to grow. So as an example, I think about the structure of the book. It's set up in three sections: get ready, get set, and go. And I am a “go” gal through and through. I want to start prototyping and experimenting my way forward. And it takes discipline to do the work of the “get ready” and “get set.” And if I pick up the book as a lay reader, I might just dive right into the “go” because that's where I want to get started. But that's a place that I'm already pretty skilled at, and where I would really benefit is perhaps starting there, but then making sure that I'm going back through the other sections and phases of this work and building those muscles as well. So it's very similar to working out, you know? We feel great when we do that same elliptical machine or whatever, weights that we're into, but when we challenge ourselves to do a new machine or new exercise, our muscles start to learn new ways of working. Douglas: Yeah. I love that analogy of kind of cross training. It's incredible. And I often like to think about the maturity of a project. And so if we're two years into something, the book might mean something different to us than if we're about to start something or we’ve been afraid to start something. So I like the fact that can really help folks no matter where they are in the journey. Karen: Yeah. That's so true. I was talking to someone about this. And in the book we talk about when you're doing a new idea and trying to push something forward, that there's this, for every 80 hours of work that you put towards your project, there's two hours of work in communicating that with your team and bringing along stakeholders. And I've gotten pushback from people that said, “Wow, that's a lot of communication that you're spending time on,” and then others saying, “That is totally not enough to bring stakeholders along.” And I think that rule of thumb can be shifted based on where you're at in the project and trying to make new things happen, and that context is important as you go through this work, right? You’re going to have a playbook through things like Start Within, and then you have to intuit what is and isn't working, and then, kind of fine tune things beyond that. Douglas: Yeah. Also, think about—was it Malcolm Gladwell that said 10,000 hours of anything will make you an expert? And there have been people that have pushed back on that concept, like, “Well, if you're doing it wrong for 10,000 hours, you’re just going to become an expert in doing it wrong.” And I like to think that this book has provided folks with some real tactical and very actionable advice to where, as you're getting your reps in, you can start to tweak the way you go about it. Karen: Yeah, absolutely. To that point of the 10,000 hours, it's definitely about the practice of doing the work, and it's also letting go of the idea that this is only for the charismatic, extroverted people, that the one that you see standing out there and getting to do new things, it does not have to be exclusive to certain types of people. It can be learned. Douglas: Yeah, I love the idea that we can put it into practice, and we can hone that skill—to bring back the fitness analogy—we can strengthen those muscles. Karen: Right. Right. Douglas: So, you've had experience at small companies and big companies, public and private, even consulting and in-house. I’m really curious. With your vantage point across all these different types of companies, what are some of the differences that you've seen as far as meeting cultures and ability to co-create and collaborate? Just what kind of patterns have you noticed? Karen: Yes. I love that idea of a meeting culture, because going in, understanding that and even using that term for yourself really allows you to then go in with the anthropologist view of, like, here's how it's done, and where can I find opportunities of changing that and making it better? So every company I've ever worked with—nonprofit, large, big, small—have different ways of doing their work, right? The informal and written rules of how meetings should run, it changes based on team, it changes based on who's running it. But the theme at the bottom of all that is you're having these meetings in expectation that it will lead to something. So if you can take a step back and look at how meetings are being run and how efficiently and quickly you're able to go out and do the work post meetings, then you have the opportunity to reflect and say, “Where are there opportunities to make the improvements?” I think the most stark difference was at the California Department of Education. So I was coming from a startup, where we're doing scrum, we're doing standup, we're doing lots of fast-moving meetings. And then at the California Department of Education, they weren't. And it wasn't a criticism; it was a different way of thinking, a different framework, that when I went in, felt so uncomfortable. I was like, “Hey, when are we going to start picking up the pace and start taking action?” And if I went in there and behaved like that, like a cowboy here to change things up, it would have really turned people off. I needed to learn how they did things to then be able to create the right changes and grow together. It allowed me to be more thoughtful in my approach. It also allowed the team to evolve in how we did our meetings. Douglas: Yeah. And that's something we've talked about extensively, and I think it's a really keen insight that people really need to consider, which is you can change the process. You can change the method. You can change the corporate goals and objectives. But if you seek to do those things, that's going to be really difficult to also push your idea. In fact, the method, the process, and the goals and objectives, those are two separate things that are best done in isolation. If you're trying to change all that at the same time, you're going to be fighting an uphill battle. It's hard enough to make any change, much less just blowing a bunch on at the same time. Karen: Imagine going into a room, and you look at a person who is writing with their right hand, and you say, “All right, switch. Switch to your left hand. And I want you to close your eyes. And instead of writing in English, write in a different language.” That would just overload the person. How do I think about all three of these things you're trying to get me to do? And in pushing an idea forward within an organization, whether that's improving meeting outcomes all the way to launching a new idea, if you're trying to bend and shape things in multiple areas, you're just going to overload the humans that you're trying to bring along in this. So it's really about focusing in on the thing that can have the biggest impact, and then you can go back and after having made that change and seeing the change in place, reapply and do different layers of changes. Douglas: That's right. I'd even take the analogy one step further, which is, if they're doing all those things, and then we're also trying to tell them, “Let's actually write some different things on the wall. Let’s bring on a whole new concept and put that up there,” you can see how it just starts to get absurd. And yeah, that's a trap that a lot of people fall into because when—it's almost like, well, we've got the patient open; let's go ahead and make all these changes. Like, we're operating on their lungs; let's work on their heart, too. It’s maybe not the best decision. Karen: Right. Yeah, I mean, meetings, it is such a part of our work and the culture of where we work that at the very root could be the cause of dysfunction in what's going on. So I love that being in a place of leaning in and trying to improve. Douglas: So let's also take a step back and think about—I love this notion that you talked about, being an anthropologist. And in the book we talk about this element of house rules and understanding how things work at your organization so you can navigate it better. Then, we were just discussing this need to clarify and understand, are we changing the process, or are we pushing some other idea forward? And I think that metaphor of the anthropologist is really powerful because we at Voltage Control do a lot of work where we're were analyzing the meeting systems or helping people understand it, and what does that culture look like, and what sort of systems are going to support a culture that we are aspiring to be, to have? instead of just kind of going full force into the change. Like, really thinking about, do we need to be that anthropologist, or are we actually going in to make change? And so if we're in that mode of anthropologist, what sorts of things do we need to do? How might we put that anthropologist hat on and be really successful at understanding what's in front of us and how we might take advantage of it or how we might just respond to those understanding? Karen: So in doing this work, it's very hard, but you have to take out your experience elsewhere. So typically, when I coach people through trying to do this kind of work, there’s an urge to think back to where you saw it working. Like, great meetings, so we want to do it like that. I came from Amazon. We did it like this, and it was great. We got really far, and we were able to make changes and go out, do quickly. That doesn't mean it's going to work somewhere else, so you have to remove that lens of what I've seen is the right way, and I'm going to figure out how to force that fit, that puzzle piece. Instead, being an anthropologist is really trying to just open up and learn. So it's not directing learning. It's not that one person’s going to teach you, so you want to lean in on that person. It's really just trying to open the aperture and figure out where are there these aha moments on what is and isn't working? And, you know, just going back to the root of that word. If you are going into a village, you wouldn't go into a remote village and expect to be able to instill your values and how you do things and expect this group of people that have a completely different background to take that on. Instead, you're going in to learn from them and build something together. And I think that's hard to do. So it's starting with that beginner’s mindset. Douglas: We also talk about cross examining the silos and then questions that get to real learning. And I think that questions can be really powerful, and listening and observing, as kind of the anthropologist hat that you kind of speak of. And my perspective, if you can get down to actual first principles and understand what are people already upset about, if there are things about the meeting systems or the methods and the process that your organization is using that everyone's already disgruntled about, then that's low-hanging fruit to go after. But you can't learn that stuff unless you get curious and start to examine the silos and start to listen and learn. And to me, I think that's a real powerful opportunity. I'm just curious to hear if you have anything to add there. Karen: Yeah. I think the other opportunity in all this, if you're going in with this mindset, it allows you to make changes without authority. So even if you're not the person who's running the meetings, you can affect how they're run and how effective they are over time. Now, certainly it might be easier if you're the person of authority to do this work, but it's not a barrier to making things change and happen. You can lead by example. And this all starts with learning and listening and figuring it out as you go forward. But I think that is one of the biggest barriers to this kind of work. And making change within an organization is the belief that if you don't have a title or permission, then you’re just kind of an active participant that has to go along with the way things are. Douglas: Mm, yeah, that’s an interesting meeting dynamic, too. Like, if the meetings are set up such that there are active participants and not-so-active participants, the distribution of control and influence and participation can be quite skewed. I'm just curious if you’ve experienced that, and what thoughts you might have to offer there. Karen: Yeah, of course. I mean, whenever you're not in charge and someone else is, it might be a meeting you called, but your boss or leadership come into the room as well, that shifts everything. You look at them, and they have an understanding of how the meeting should go, and you report to them, so there's an understanding that you will run the meeting the way they expect it. So you kind of have to shift your own expectations and your own approaches to fit what they believe is the right way forward, even if it isn't sometimes. And so all of that just points to these baby steps, these baby experiments, that can get you closer to making those changes if you don't have the authority to make it happen, and even when you do, that there's, again, ego in the room or belief systems in the room that there's a way to do it. The little experiments, the small steps, are what can lead to big change over time. Douglas: You know, it's funny that you say that because it reminds me of times as a leader when my intention was to coach and to show alternative ways of doing things, but I basically just created a little mini-me versions of me, and that can be difficult to notice sometimes. And so we talk a lot about how the book was really inspired by this idea that so many innovation books are focused on the leader and innovation culture and this kind of top-down, like, how are we to shift the organization? And our belief was the best way to shift an organization is a direction from leadership, but empowering the doers to go do the work. And so we really wanted to have a manual for the doer. Now, even though it's a manual for the doer, this is a great tool for the leader because they can take this book and give it out to their folks and use it as a guide for them to be a better coach. And as I've thought about my coaching, even sometimes the best intentions can backfire, and just really paying attention, that have I created a mold of myself that needs to be broken so that they’re free to go about doing things the way they would do them so that we have true diversity? Karen: Yes. I advise startups, and I just had a session this week with a startup that is in the educational technology space. And so it was one that I was really well versed, but also a few years removed. And he wanted to talk about some of the approaches to funding, and then later, marketing that we did. And I went into some coaching lessons, and then I paused and said, “You're in a different time and different products. So here's what we did. Now I’m going to start asking you questions that are kind of the extreme other sides to this. Don't just follow the cookie cutter of what I just shared with you. What are ways that you're going to be different?” And I think if you intuit your way that you're creating many yous—which is a great eye opening, like, how do I not do that? because we just don't want a world full of people like ourselves—a lot of that is because we've got experience in what does and doesn't work for ourselves, and so we reflect that on others. But if we can pause on that and say, “What did and didn't work on me might be in opposition to the person I'm talking to,” can we just reframe the question to say, “How might we…” and then don't lead it towards your solution. Instead, think about these might be the ideas that do work for them, or what worked for me is not going to work for them. Douglas: There’s another really beautiful way to approach that, which is just being appreciative. Karen: Right. Douglas: Recognizing and being appreciative of everyone's input and contributions. And sociologists have a term called positive deviance, and basically, it sounds almost like deviant, but it's really about making sure that we look at those positive differences. Like, what are those deltas that are positive. So when things have been working well, what were we doing? And often, I think it's easy to look at, “Well, when I did it this way, I got this positive outcome.” Having that dialog with others can be really powerful and really kind of lifting them up on a pedestal, and then it kind of relinquishes that burden to feel like, “Hey, here's this process that I need to burden you with.” Karen: I love that. Yeah, that word needs to be rebranded so that people will be more open to it. But yeah, I think there's opportunities to reflect on what does and doesn't work and how that reflects on yourself and the people around you. So, again, it's not the cookie-cutter answer and formula that works for me will work for these other people, but instead, it's framing it in questions to allow them to explore that on their own. Douglas: Yeah. I love this. I’d already written down questions and underlined it because I wanted to come back to that because you were starting to give some advice to your mentee, and then you stopped yourself and said, “Well, let me ask some questions.” And I think that is the hallmark of a really great leader and a great facilitator is to ask really incredible questions. And I think this advice—it just dawned on me—can apply to not only the leaders—because it's very clear, like, “Hey, leaders, ask more-provocative questions of your people,”—and for the doers, it can be equally as powerful, because if your boss, if your leader, is not asking you tough questions and they're doing nothing but giving you advice or criticizing, perhaps you can prompt them to ask you questions. Karen: Ooh, I love that. Yeah, get them curious. So, in my startup days, there were really tough meetings with our board, with our investors, and I learned early in my career how to handle those types of meetings. And then later, I started working at IDEO and had a meeting with Tim Brown and other people that were—I'm doing air quotes—"invested in our idea” because we're launching this idea within the company. And so I was ready for what questions I would hear based on that experience of these tough investors and what they asked me in my years prior. And Tim Brown and the leaders there asked such thoughtful questions that floored me, and it really shifted my thinking in how to do this work. I thought it had to be bottom-line growth. And there's other questions around this kind of work and pushing ideas forward that are far more thoughtful around the humans you're building it for that will lead to growth and business strategy. So it's not leaving it up on the table. But instead, it's more thoughtful and deeper than that. And I think when we have productive meetings and great purpose in our work and what we're doing, at the root of it, somebody was asking very thoughtful questions. And you can choose to be that person. And if you are that person, I think, to your point, you can get others around you very curious. Like, it's contagious. When you're being a thoughtful person and really trying to understand things, you'll start to see that shift among others as well. Douglas: You know, I think that, especially in your LinkedIn Learning course, and a good chunk of our listeners are product people, and I once heard this really profound description of a great product person. And it was that a product person is interested, not interesting, meaning that if you come to a conversation and you try to be interesting, then you're going to share a lot of things. You're going to talk a lot. You’re going to tell stories. You’re going to try to be cool and hip and, like, “Oh, I know this. I know that.” Whereas if you're interested and you're curious, you’ll ask lots of questions. You discover all the pertinent things. That always just really stuck with me is that even if I'm in the room with someone who is intimidating and I feel like I need to impress, the best way to impress them is to ask them great questions. Karen: So, I went to a Super Bowl party. I was living in Canada, and it was at my neighbor's house. And they're not really into American football. It was just something to do on a Sunday. And in the room was a former astronaut and minister, I believe, of transportation—I'm sorry, I don't know his title—who has one of the most fascinating backgrounds. And he asked me—I couldn't get to questions about his background and what he did. He wanted to know more about startups and the book I was writing. And we get about an hour in. I'm like, “Okay, can we talk about what it's like to be an astronaut?” And I just remember leaving there, thinking he was so gifted in exploring the world around him. And it made complete sense that he had gotten to the point that he had in his career, but that he could have very well have been a person that was full of himself and talking about all the important things he's done. And instead, he wanted to learn about me. Douglas: That's the hallmark of an amazing person. And that's cool that you got to witness that, especially with someone who has already made such great accomplishments, because sometimes those traits, that innate curiosity can wane with popularity and accolades. So it's always amazing when I find someone that's had some amount of fame and notoriety and they've held on to that, because it's a gift, and it's pretty rare. Karen: I think they're also gifted at finding time and space for allowing those conversations. So, on the other end of the spectrum, a CEO or someone very busy and important can brush you off and make you feel unimportant and not be listening to your answers or not even interested in having the conversation in the first place. And when you are tight on resource for time, that can change who you are, and you have to find opportunities to still be productive, but also learning and listening from each other. Douglas: Yep. That aligns with one of my philosophies, which is that when you create space, that's when innovation can rush in. If you're constantly whizzing and whirring to and fro the next thing and pressing the buttons, there's really no opportunity for change or new things to develop. Karen: Yep. If you think about it in meditation or yoga, it's the space between breaths. We're doing this work of breathing and being thoughtful, and then it's in between those moments that you have these eye-opening, kind of out-of-body experiences. Douglas: So, I’m going to shift gears a little bit here and just talk about tactics. So really curious about what you've seen teams use to get unstuck and start building on their vision. Karen: So, we recently talked to a woman within a software company, and they're a very large company and been around for many years. And she was really excited about bringing back to her product teams our chapter in work around busting assumptions. And that was so refreshing. You know, this is a company that has figured out a way forward. They can continue to build and move beyond doing things the way they had been. But instead, she and the organization realized they needed to reflect on what's holding back their ideas, what's holding things from becoming something bigger, and how they're holding back innovation. And I think that's an exercise we could do with our teams—get out of the rut of what things should look like and have looked like, and how you might do things differently. In thinking about assumptions, there's this onion of layers, right? At the very core is the assumptions that you hold on to. And then as you build out, it's the assumptions of the team, of the organization. And then you go all the way out to the world that we live within. And if you can think about each of those layers and how they're blocking you from change, from seeing things, from understanding each other, then that can unlock you, the team, and how you work together, the work that you're doing. There's so many—it's exponential levels on ways of thinking. And it's a great framework for just moving forward and doing things differently. Douglas: It makes me think that earlier we were talking about meeting systems and meeting culture, and when and why we meet, and what's the goal, and what's the purpose. And so often meetings are just called to discuss something or make some quick decision. I get really excited when people start to open the aperture and to think about, “What if we meet to talk about our assumptions?” or “How about we make a team charter?” so these more kind of meta conversations about the team, the way we work, and things that might be getting in our way, because those types of things can have really profound ripple effects versus just being so into the tactical, like, moving things forward or, heaven forbid, a status report. And so this idea of coming together around assumptions, even applying some of the tools in the book that are designed for an individual, just kind of repurposing that for the team. Karen: Yes. Going back deeper into the tactical and beyond assumptions, one of my favorite exercises in the book that you can do solo or that you could bring to a team and do together is “No, because. Maybe if. Then, what?” And you start with these three columns of “No, because. Maybe if. Then, what?” And you think about something that's blocking you and your team from moving forward on something, and you just brainstorm all the “no, becauses.” No, because we don’t have the resources. No, because… You capture each one of those on a Post-it Note. And then you pause and you go into the next column, “Maybe if.” So, no, because we don't have the resources. Maybe if we prototype this smaller, that didn't require as much resources. Or maybe if we found funding outside of our organization. Or maybe if… You go through that same exercise for each “no, because,” and you start to brainstorm the “maybe ifs.” You can take a step back, and when you're doing this by yourself, kind of circle where there's heat, or if you're doing this with the team, you could do voting, but moving beyond and really counter attacking the “no, because” with a “then, what?” You know, what are the small experiments that you could be doing to get past this roadblock, if you could pass the barrier that is seemingly holding everybody back? And doing this work over and over with different people in teams, you see this very simple exercise open up people's thinking and to, “All right. I tangibly have something to go after.” This feels so much better than the crossed arms, and “This is hard,” and the roadblock being right in front of them. Douglas: It's really cool. And I'm excited because we're working on some templates on MURAL. They'll be launched. And if someone's listening to this in the future, I would say just go and check out the MURAL templates, because they're probably ready at that point. Karen: Yep. Start within. Douglas: The other thing I was thinking about was this notion of unlearning and constantly be curious and open to reinventing ourselves. And I think that kind of aligns with a lot of the stuff we've been talking about today, whether it's creating that space as a leader or coming together as a team to look at these assumptions, and just making sure that we've got some time reserved to just allow some of that stuff to happen and being curious about what we might not realize about the world or about our idea or about our team. I guess I'm curious to hear of what else folks should be thinking about in that regard. Karen: So I do have on my reading list Barry O'Reilly's book Unlearn, and so I haven’t read it. I'm going to stop with that because I think that is so hard to do. Even when you say it, you think, “Okay, I've accepted that I'm going to let go of my assumptions and try to lean in and unlearn some of the bad habits, or maybe good habits, so I can find new ways of doing things.” We are, again, we are wired to take the inputs that we've had over our lifetime and have that help us move forward. And it is not always obvious where those are, how they're holding you back, or how they might be helping you, too. So that's a book I want to lean into this year and see if that's a place of exploration. But where I try to do that is stepping back and creating different roles for myself. So when we talk about this in the book, if you're a person who is very positive, a “yes, and,” and trying to push things forward, could you go into a meeting before it even starts, say, “I'm going to be the naysayer. I'm going to poke holes in some of these ideas. And you, person over there, you're going to be the positive person.” Or we have different roles, and maybe we're shifting what we typically lean into and think about things differently. And how would that dynamic change the meeting? It's not meant to be comical and necessarily a strange meeting that is just run amuck and feels like a comedy show because you're trying to be a naysayer and you just aren't. It's really just about trying to turn your brain into thinking one way, into thinking a different way, and how that helps lead the team in a different direction. Douglas: I love this idea of examining the roles, and even shifting them and trying on different roles, and I think, not to overload the term role, but role playing can be really a phenomenal way to have a new lens into the world, and also, certainly will disrupt how your teammates think. And we also have talked about the idea of taxonomy, and so how can even the words that we use to talk about meetings can have an impact? So, for instance—the problem is that we just gravitate to using the word meeting, and it's just what we naturally do. And so it doesn't matter if we're assembling 20 people to talk about how well the product went or it’s just two of us having a quick chat about what we're going to have for lunch; we call it a meeting. And I think that is a disservice because it doesn't allow for a clear understanding of the purpose. And that's something we kind of started off with when I asked what was the one thing you would change about meetings is about, you said we need to be more clear about the goals. And so I really love this concept of shifting the roles, examining what those roles are, and trying new things on, because that can really align with us understanding our purpose and even pursuing our purpose more deeply. Karen: Yes. And that jargon, again, comes back to the meeting culture. So you say meeting. It means one thing at one company; it means another at another. And I saw this happen with calling it brainstorm. So doing a brainstorm from one company where we're standing up, we're active, we're putting Post-it Notes up. There's lots of conversations happening, lots of ideation. And then you go to another company that doesn't brainstorm that way. They do have brainstorm meetings. You go into it, and people are sitting, they’re taking notes on their little notepad, and it can be frustrating if that's not—it was frustrating to me. I was like, “Why aren’t we all standing up and talking?” And to them, they're like, “Why are you trying to force this other way of doing a brainstorm?” So I think the terms also have different meaning within teams across an organization and certainly within an organization. Douglas: So, Karen, in closing, what would you like to leave with our listeners? Karen: I think what's key in this moment, whenever you're listening—if it's recent to when it's posted, it's around the COVID pandemic, and we're working from home, and things are very confusing. Or we're beyond that—there's going to be these times of uncertainty and wanting to hold back on changing things within our team, our organization because we're waiting for things to smooth out. And this opportunity for while things are uncomfortable and uncertain to be when you make the changes and be thoughtful on how big those changes are and how you move forward into them, but that's really what Start Within is all about, and the importance of finding in yourself, that you can affect the change and with the right playbook and tools in hand, you can see it through. Douglas: Karen, I wanted to double stitch on something you said there, which was, we are living through an unprecedented time right now, and I just wanted to say that I've been grateful to have you as a copilot through some of this, especially as we've looked at inspecting and exploring our own white privilege together, what that means for speaking out around the book and the work that we're doing and supporting others who are struggling through this and needing the help, and how can we be better allies. So I just want to express a little gratitude on the air that it's been phenomenal to work through these challenges with you. Karen: Yes. I echo that as well. It's uncomfortable and challenging, for lack of better words. And just finding other people that are struggling through this is—finding your community and knowing that you're not alone and doing this kind of work is so important. Douglas: So, Karen, in closing, how can folks find you and find out more about the book? Karen: Sure. I'm on LinkedIn, very active there. So, Karen Holst. You can find me. We also have, for the book, the website is start-within.com. You can find it on Amazon to purchase it. And yeah, we have lots of conversations with people that are trying to affect change and bring new ideas forward within organizations. So love connecting with people on that front. Douglas: It’s been great having you, Karen. Karen: Thank you, again. Outro: Thanks for joining me for another episode of Control the Room. Don't forget to subscribe to receive updates when new episodes are released. If you want more, head over to our blog, where I post weekly articles and resource

Karen Holst, co-author of Start Within, shares practical techniques to help you move from idea to action. View the full recap on the IDEO U blog: https://bit.ly/2ZS0gr8

Jake Trussell is the founder and principal of Metabolize, a human-centered experience design and brand strategy consultancy.   He organizes diverse coalitions of government, civic, and private sector stakeholders around shared goals to make award-winning digital products and experiential marketing campaigns that create value and drive awareness.   As Creative Director at World Business Chicago — the City’s economic development organization chaired by the Mayor — Trussell managed the brand of Chicago as a global business destination (#1 for corporate investment for 6 years in a row). He serves on the board of directors for the Arts and Business Council of Chicago, is a mentor at the 2112 creative industry business incubator, a member of the GreenHouse Innovation Braintrust, and a member of the Chicago Ideas Radical Creators.   He's also an award-winning web designer, DJ, recording artist, event producer, record label founder, and writer.   Trussell has a BFA in Interrelated Media from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, an innovation certificate from IDEO U, and a blockchain certificate from the Linux Foundation.    

Design thinking and mental health: Episode Notes Leaders often miss the close connection between design thinking and mental health. This happens mostly because they think of design as something purely aesthetic that is not relevant for their business.Design thinking is a hyper-iterative process that encourages individuals to fail fast in order to keep experimenting and improving over time. Specifically, design thinking helps cut through rigid frameworks and radical systems by making use of creativity and navigating new processes of creation through three key lenses:ViabilityFeasibilityDesirabilityBecause of the dynamic nature of design thinking, individuals understand that it is ok to make mistakes and deliver suboptimal performances in the initial stages of any process. On top of that, people who embrace this mentality learn to value the power of human-to-human connections that stem from open-mindedness and collaboration. Ultimately, to design an organization around people means to create a safe space where all stakeholders have their own voice.In order to achieve that, managers need to act as sponsors and lead by example, so that everyone around them is drawn to help co-create a new structure based on the right values. By the end of our conversation, Emily suggests a practical way to re-assess your personal balance in a few easy steps:Get a hold of (sticky) notesWrite down what areas in your life are consuming too much energyWrite down what areas in your life take little energyCompare steps 2 and 3Should there be a significant imbalance, redesign your personal system Our Guest: Emily Anding Emily is a thought leader in design thinking and learning, with a background in organizational & experience design, change management, and strategy. She has led projects around the globe for Lyft, IDEO U, GE Digital, and General Mills (the most exciting in Saudi Arabia, although the best street food goes to Bosnia), across industries including digital transformation, aerospace, manufacturing, higher education, oil and gas, and transportation. She believes that innovative solutions are created by leading with empathy, spotting patterns among disparate data points, and thinking beyond seemingly disconnected lenses.Emily is on a mission to bring authenticity, silliness, and play to her teams, empowering people to do their best work. Outside of the office (virtual or brick and mortar), you can find Emily rock climbing somewhere in the desert, fossil hunting, playing banjo, propagating plants, or trying a new combination of spices to make the best sourdough pancakes in the world. She holds an MBA from the College of William and Mary and a BA in Environmental Policy from The Colorado College.References:Emily Anding Linkedin profileBraiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall KimmererUntamed by Glennon DoyleWomen who run with the wolves by Clarissa Pinkola EstésBrené on FFTs (from the Unlocking Us Podcast by Brené Brown)  Listen to the next Episode All Podcast Episodes

Design thinking and mental health: Episode Notes Leaders often miss the close connection between design thinking and mental health. This happens mostly because they think of design as something purely aesthetic that is not relevant for their business.Design thinking is a hyper-iterative process that encourages individuals to fail fast in order to keep experimenting and improving over time. Specifically, design thinking helps cut through rigid frameworks and radical systems by making use of creativity and navigating new processes of creation through three key lenses:ViabilityFeasibilityDesirabilityBecause of the dynamic nature of design thinking, individuals understand that it is ok to make mistakes and deliver suboptimal performances in the initial stages of any process. On top of that, people who embrace this mentality learn to value the power of human-to-human connections that stem from open-mindedness and collaboration. Ultimately, to design an organization around people means to create a safe space where all stakeholders have their own voice.In order to achieve that, managers need to act as sponsors and lead by example, so that everyone around them is drawn to help co-create a new structure based on the right values. By the end of our conversation, Emily suggests a practical way to re-assess your personal balance in a few easy steps:Get a hold of (sticky) notesWrite down what areas in your life are consuming too much energyWrite down what areas in your life take little energyCompare steps 2 and 3Should there be a significant imbalance, redesign your personal system Our Guest: Emily Anding Emily is a thought leader in design thinking and learning, with a background in organizational & experience design, change management, and strategy. She has led projects around the globe for Lyft, IDEO U, GE Digital, and General Mills (the most exciting in Saudi Arabia, although the best street food goes to Bosnia), across industries including digital transformation, aerospace, manufacturing, higher education, oil and gas, and transportation. She believes that innovative solutions are created by leading with empathy, spotting patterns among disparate data points, and thinking beyond seemingly disconnected lenses.Emily is on a mission to bring authenticity, silliness, and play to her teams, empowering people to do their best work. Outside of the office (virtual or brick and mortar), you can find Emily rock climbing somewhere in the desert, fossil hunting, playing banjo, propagating plants, or trying a new combination of spices to make the best sourdough pancakes in the world. She holds an MBA from the College of William and Mary and a BA in Environmental Policy from The Colorado College.References:Emily Anding Linkedin profileBraiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall KimmererUntamed by Glennon DoyleWomen who run with the wolves by Clarissa Pinkola EstésBrené on FFTs (from the Unlocking Us Podcast by Brené Brown)  Listen to the next Episode All Podcast Episodes

En este episodio hablamos acerca del proceso de ideación en el UX Design y comentamos algunas herramientas que se utilizan para ejecutar este proceso. También hablaremos de algunos de los métodos que siguen en IDEO U a la hora de ejecutar su Brainstorming.

What is design thinking? Why does it work? How do I get started with it? Our community had so many great questions on the power and potential of design thinking that we hosted an Ask Me Anything session on the topic with IDEO partners and IDEO U leaders Suzanne Gibbs Howard and Coe Leta Stafford. View the full recap at ideou.com/blog.

Brendan Boyle, IDEO partner and founder of the IDEO Play Lab, joined us on the Creative Confidence Podcast to share how to bring more playfulness into your work. Get into a creative mindset and generate an abundance of new ideas with his favorite creative warm ups and group activities. See more on the IDEO U blog.

An IDEO partner and global director of design, he’s also a lifelong musician and associate professor at the Berklee College of Music. He’s spent many years studying the shared mindsets of musicians and designers and is in the midst of writing a book on the subject to come out next year. He joined us on the Creative Confidence Series to share more about what the business world can learn from the musical one. To learn tactics for experimentation and generating new ideas, check out IDEO U's 5-week online course From Ideas to Action: https://ideo.to/fFtiIN

Welcome to the Process Hacker News, your weekly roundup of useful news and updates from Process Hackers who have been guests on Hack the Process with M. David Green. This week we’ve got sabotage, inclusivity, transformation, and more. For all the links, check out the show notes: https://www.hacktheprocess.com/sabotage-inclusivity-transformation-and-more-in-process-hacker-news/ Enjoy! Events Enroll for Designing Strategy from IDEO U, a limited-time course that will help enrollees build human-centered and business-focused approaches for teams, organizations or companies. The course is taught by Roger L. Martin and Jennifer Riel, and runs from September 26 to November 3. Come attend the 2019 PMI Silicon Valley Annual Symposium from October 14 to 15, where speakers such as Kimberly Wiefling will cover the topic of digital transformation and its impact on business and project management. Leading the Product is a product management conference set to happen in Melbourne, Australia on October 17 and in Sydney on October 22. Rich Mironov will be hosting the event. Media Rent the Runway, a designer clothing rental company where Hampton Catlin is VP of Engineering, was recently featured on the Today Show. The Enterprise Podcast Network talks with Kami Anderson and Joy Wiggins about how women can go from sabotage to support and how to improve conditions and reduce bias in the workplace. Find out more about brand positioning and how to differentiate your business from others by tuning in to April Dunford‘s episode of the Live in the Feast Podcast. Safi Bahcall returns to the Tim Ferriss show to discuss hypnosis, conquering insomnia, and his thoughts on depression. Writing If you want to capture user and customer experience, you can build a website using behavioral design. The latest Hack the Process guest, Will Leach can teach you how in his Forbes article. On Associations Now, Kristin Clarke lists a few world-changing books, including Success is in Your Sphere by Zvi Band and Connected Strategy by Christian Terwiesch. Shackled, by Adam Siddiq, has received another award, this time from the Readers’ Favorite Book Reviews and Award Contest under the non-fiction category. Congratulations, Adam! Recommended Resources Evolve 2019 is coming to Long Beach, California from October 18 to 20. Dr. Shefali Tsabary, whom Heather Chauvin recommended, will be leading this four-day summit of meditation and connection. Join Chris Coyier and other experienced speakers at Artifact in Austin, Texas from September 30 to October 2 to learn about design systems, lean approaches, accessibility, and inclusivity. Chris Coyier was mentioned by Jina Anne during her Hack the Process interview. Thanks for checking out this Process Hacker News update from Hack the Process. If you liked what you saw, please leave a comment to let us know what processes you’re hacking.

鶴田が受講中のIDEO U Insights for Innovationコースレポートとそこで発見した電車内での心理、デザイン思考とは何か、Webflowの凄さ、若松くんのインスタアカウントについて語りました。

In our most recent Creative Confidence Series chat, David Kelley, founder of IDEO and the Stanford d.school, and IDEO U Dean Suzanne Gibbs Howard sat down to discuss the core abilities of the most successful design thinking practitioners and personal stories and learnings from David’s friendships with several of today’s most innovative CEOs and leaders. Hear from more innovative leaders on the IDEO U podcast. Learn more about building the skills and abilities to deepen your design thinking practice with our Advanced Design Thinking Certificate: ideo.to/y4EyDx

In a special episode of our Creative Confidence Series podcast, IDEO U co-managing directors Suzanne Gibbs Howard and Coe Leta Stafford answered questions from our community of learners on how to overcome barriers to creativity at work with tactical examples, stories, and tips. For more tips on activating creativity within yourself and others, check out our on-demand class, Unlocking Creativity: https://ideo.to/KXWA1w

About Danoosh:Danoosh joined XPLANE as the Vice President of Business Development in January 2018. He manages North American Business Development and Product Development for the firm. Danoosh works with XPLANE's key clients to understand the complex change their organizations are facing and works collaboratively with clients to transform their business and accelerate results.Prior to joining XPLANE, Danoosh was the Head of Business Development and Partnerships for IDEO U - the educational arm of the award-winning design and innovation firm IDEO. Before that, Danoosh helped build the company General Assembly - an education-technology start-up that teaches the most relevant and in-demand digital skills across data, design, business, and technology.The early part of Danoosh's career was spent as an Industrial Engineer designing industrial products for critical applications in oil and gas, chemical, and power where safety and reliability were paramount considerations. Danoosh holds a BS in Industrial and Systems Engineering with a minor in Business Administration from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia.When he's not meeting with clients, you can find Danoosh at Alamo Square in San Francisco prototyping innovative ways to make his toddler son laugh.LinkedIn: @danooshk

In our latest Creative Confidence Series Chat, Suzanne Gibbs Howard, Dean of IDEO U, chatted with Mathew Chow, Director of Organizational Design at IDEO San Francisco, about prototyping organizational change. Mathew Chow is one of IDEO’s first formal organizational designers, helping clients create and define the values, incentives, rituals, teams, and spaces that drive their culture and behavior. It’s a process that he says starts with understanding the human needs at an organization, and learning how they play into its ultimate goals. If you’re curious to go deeper into the topics of this webcast and learn more about IDEO’s tools and mindsets for organizational design, join our Designing for Change online course: https://ideo.to/WybaDX

In our most recent Creative Confidence Series chat, IDEO managing director and Human-Centered Service Design instructor Melanie Bell-Mayeda and IDEO U’s Coe Leta Stafford shared stories and tips about how to use service design to bring more meaningful experiences to customers and organizations. Melanie is a Partner and Managing Director at IDEO San Francisco. She’s responsible for helping lead the firm's design for change work, which focuses on helping organizations and leaders realize their creative potential. In over a decade at IDEO, she’s played several roles leading different areas of the business, including those where design is bringing value to new and emerging markets. Her client portfolio includes the North Face, Gaiam, Citibank, Chase, and T-Mobile. Melanie is a Harvard College and Harvard Business School alumna. Learn more from IDEO Designers and get hands-on practice alongside a global community in our new Human-Centered Service Design online course: https://ideo.to/i3eOXd

In our most recent Creative Confidence Series chat, Coe sat down with IDEO Play Lab founder Brendan Boyle and Suzanne Gibbs Howard, Dean of IDEO U, to talk about the importance of creativity, and exercises that can help you tap into it. Our new Unlocking Creativity class has 11 hands-on activities to help you tap into the creative potential of your team, break past creative blocks, and advance new ideas. Learn more: http://ideo.to/PSt47o

IDEO Partner Luis Cilimingras and IDEO U Dean Suzanne Gibbs Howard discussed how technological and cultural shifts are affecting business in Latin America, and shared tips and tricks for implementing design thinking from IDEO U alums and practitioners working in the region. Interested in learning the foundational methods and mindsets of design thinking and creating a shared language among your team? Find out more about our introductory Hello Design Thinking class, launching soon in Spanish: http://ideo.to/9aEEkF

Designing for change is about helping leaders transform their organizations’ cultures and businesses in pursuit of innovation, adaptability, and impact. Join IDEO Partner and Managing Director Bryan Walker and IDEO U Managing Director Suzanne Gibbs Howard as they discuss a human-centered approach to change and give a sneak peek into IDEO U's newest course.

After two years of sailing 15,000 miles around the globe with her husband and seven-year-old son, Jennifer Massaro returned home with a new perspective and a story to share. Armed with her desire to convey her learnings from two years at sea paired with a belief that storytelling is a muscle that must be constantly exercised Jen enrolled in Storytelling for Influence. Hear about Jen’s adventure and how she crafted a relevant and empowering story that led her to the TEDx stage.

Coe Leta Stafford is a Senior Design Director at IDEO and instructor at IDEO U where she specializes in Design Research, insights and innovation. Since joining IDEO in 2006, she’s been leading teams to solve problems more creatively in industries such as Microsoft, eBay, Target, Bank of America, Sesame Street, Electronic Arts, non-profit foundations, and government and healthcare groups. Her work has won several international awards  been featured in the New York Times and Wired. Kat Chanover is a creative producer and designer who has worked in hi-tech, consumer products, and film. She loves bringing ideas to life and making sure that IDEO U’s video content is always polished, inspiring, and playful. In this episode, we’ll speak with Coe Leta and Kat about IDEO U, an online school where anyone can unlock their creative potential through design thinking and collaboration.

"Take a chance and try some things you didn't try because that may be the thing that works for you." With a style that is as abrasive as it is welcoming, Emmanuel ’DDm’ Moss is one of the most idiosyncratic voices on the burgeoning Baltimore City rap scene. The Baltimore native, who made his name on the local battle rap circuit, manages to straddle the fence between cool kid and weirdo with a charming accessibility. In this CreativeMornings/DC talk from January 2016, DDm tells us how he got to be the shiny rapper that he is today and shares his thoughts with us on the power of language and how using it mindfully and intentionally can change how people receive you and perceive you. This episode was made possible by our friends at MailChimp and IDEO U.

Suzanne Gibbs Howard and Coe Leta Stafford join us to talk about the process of bringing IDEO U (ideou.com) to life. Both Suzanne and Coe are design researchers and have incredibly sharp insights about the entrepreneurial journey. To build on the idea of creative confidence and creative leadership, we also have a segment about creativity and inspiration from a recent gathering of the kyu collective (kyu.com). As always, we love hearing from you: futures@ideo.com or @ideofutures.

A lot has happened since we last met during Episode No. 20! The Bits + Blocks Lab at Harvard had its finale at the end of July, IDEO U shipped its second course, and we've been working on a lot of soon-to-be-announced Futures things, too. Plus, during one of our July visits to Boston, the last dregs of 2015 Winter snow officially melted. Closure is a wonderful thing, no? 21! It's such an evocative number. If visions of casinos and gambling are floating through your head right now, keep on going with it. This podcast — as with all 20 of those which came before it — is such a big gamble on so many fronts for both you the listener, and for us, the podders: will we ever find the "Perfect 10" VDTBOM? Will an interview guest finally walk out on us after one too many Bitcoin-related questions? Will Joe ever not wear shorts? Should we publish a book about the Bitcoin Diet? Might our pod sound quality ever approach that of NPR? Actually, on that last front, in celebration of our XXI milestone, with this episode we mark the debut of our super phat new microphone arrangement. Enhanced for your listening pleasure. We think you'll agree that it's a big step forward over our last ten pods, certainly over our first ten. Who knows, maybe Ice Cube will get wind of our sound quality and want to join us for an episode or two? We're game. Speaking of the wearing of short pants, Episode 21 is also a celebration of Bartholomew Jojo Simpson, also know as "Bart". But, you ask, "what's the connection between Bart and Bitcoin?". Listen and ye shall be enlightened. Someone with a much more self-evident tie to Bitcoin is Andreas M. Antonopoulos, who joins us for an interview here in Episode 21. It was a true honor to have Andreas speak to our design entrepreneurs as part of our Bits + Blocks Lab, and we took some time with him afterward to go even deeper into the world of Bitcoin and the blockchain. We'll be posting our full interview with Andreas in a separate podcast, so in this one you'll hear some highlights along with commentary from Bart, we mean, Joe. Andreas wrote the book on Bitcoin, and we heartily recommend adding it to your library. It's a keeper. By the way, can we mention how much we love skeuomorphism as a design topic? But wait, Bitcoin lovers, there's more! At the risk of morphing into the "Today in Bitcoin" podcast (if we haven't already), Pod 21 also features another installation of our "Bits + Blocks Byte" series. Super interesting stuff coming out of Cambridge (Our Fair City), Massachusetts, as always. To round out our score to 21, let's talk Foo Fighters. We're lucky to count among our colleagues Ian Schon. By day he's an ingenious engineer working out of IDEO Boston. By night he's a meticulous designer of inventive horology. His father is Dr. Lew C. Schon, who happens to hang out with the Foo Fighters. Was there ever a better ode to creative confidence than this (https://youtu.be/mmbSka35F7I)? Dr. Schon, you are indeed a total badass.

It's our lucky pod! Number seven is here! This one has a heavy and roll + pop star theme running through it, as well as an Oprah Winfrey reference which will surprise and delight. We guarantee! We crank up this week's venture design fiesta with an update on IDEO U (our new online learning platform) and the launch of its beta. We're learning a lot, and trying to practice what we preach. Spoiler alert! Justin Bieber is following IDEO Futures on Twitter. Joe and I discuss this supernatural occurrence with IDEO's own Piper Loyd. How might you use Twitter to grow and develop your new venture? From a venture design point of view, there's a bunch to learn about how and why it came to be that this great Canadian is now our follower. Joe and I also discuss two things which recently blew our venture design minds, Better All the Time by James Surowiecki, and a new video from OK Go. Along the way we talk about incentives and organizational structures, and how those fit into the innovation equation. From that point of view, it's really interesting to figure out why things like the UNI-CUB pop out of a place like Honda and not out of other similar (at least on paper) corporate entities. ------------------------------------------------------ Music: "Jimmy H. Boogaloo" by Juanitos with a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 France License Image: video still from I Won't Let You Down