Published in Future Work Design·Sep 10, 2020Member-onlyOrganizational Innovation Through Design3 keys for unlocking strategic advantage by adopting design tools — When I began my career in Human Centered Design (HCD), nearly all conversations were about designing better products and services that consumers really wanted. I have always been more curious, however, about the power of HCD to transform the organizational experience. …Human Centered Design6 min read
Sep 9, 2020A Reckoning With My Kids’ BooksA major action-item since digesting Jennifer Harvey’s Raising White Kids (my takeaways here) and Layla F. Saad’s Me and White Supremacy has been to do a proper audit of what my kids are reading. …Parenting3 min read
Aug 19, 2020Race Conscious ParentingMy takeaways from Jennifer Harvey’s Raising White Kids I just finished reading Raising White Kids by Jennifer Harvey and wanted to capture my key insights and action items. Most of these are directly from the book and some are slight reframes as I have been sitting with this material. I…8 min read
Published in Future Work Design·Aug 4, 2020Strategy SprintsThe antidote to pandemic planning struggles — You’ve been immersed in short term decisions: employee safety, redesigning services, rebudgeting, layoffs, responding to customers. On top of that, you’re trying to get a handle on how your long-term strategy needs to change and whether to pursue fundamental changes to your business model. You used to be able to…Strategy2 min read
Jul 27, 2020Setting up a nanny or microschool teacher in OregonWhen COVID19 hit, our kids’ daycare closed. We decided to hire our son’s long-time teacher as a nanny. Since then, many friends have gone the same route and have asked me about the logistics of setting this up. …Covid 193 min read
Published in Future Work Design·Feb 7, 2018Designing Card Decks for Equitythe story of a 24-hr d.school design sprint — This is the story of the process and outcomes of a Stanford d.school Winter 2018 PopOut. PopOuts are short, immersive learning experiences that take place out in the world. If you are interested in using or contributing to the evolution of these prototypes, let us know!Design7 min read
Published in The Deckaholic·Aug 30, 2016Five Card Decks Every Leader Should OwnYou may have read every leadership book on the planet, but did you know that some of the best tools out there are hidden inside card decks? Here are five of the best. For gut checking how you’re showing up as a leader Originally developed for the next generation of school leaders, the Leadership + Design deck hits home with…Leadership3 min read
Published in Future Work Design·Aug 30, 2016How to Scale Up Without Losing Your Culture“How can we scale our company without losing the culture that made us successful?” I get this question regularly from high-growth companies. As the conversation continues, they share remarkably similar stories: The good news is that these companies are not alone. All high-growth ventures seem to hit a culture crisis…Startup4 min read
Published in The XPLANE Collection·Aug 4, 2016Nine Pitfalls of Strategy ActivationStrategy activation is the missing link between strategy development and execution. Over 20+ years helping companies activate strategy, we’ve learned a thing or two about what helps people really live a strategy day to day. We’ve also seen companies stumble at the same pitfalls over and over again. In our…Leadership7 min read
Published in Future Work Design·Jul 13, 2016Fixing the Navigational HairballYou’re a leader at a company, so you have a vision and a strategy. Maybe your company has a mission, or maybe you call that a purpose or a north star. And did you read the latest management book? …Leadership2 min read
