Shared events do not always yield common experiences or perceptions: our design research must keep that in mind. Prior to the global pandemic of 2020 design philosophies tended to view research as ’rounding out’ or ‘filling the gaps’ in our knowledge about someone or something. Designers would assume they had a good read on what …
Marketing is the innovator’s lifeline and without a reliable platform that line is at risk of being severed. Marketing is simply the way we reach out to people and engage them in what we’re doing. Advertising, promotion, graphic design, and social media might have some role, but marketing can simply be reaching out with the …
Transparency without honesty is a way to create illusions under the guise of trust, truth and accountability. Work in human services long enough and you’ll come to learn that transparency is a word made of top-quality plastic — it can be molded into whatever people want it to mean. It’s a feel-good word that gives …
Looking at the extremes in others’ beliefs and habits can help illuminate how we come to believe and act, too. If you’re worried about conspiracy theories there are three things we can do to make them less potent if we are willing to listen to those who espouse them. Community (and connection, self-determination, and game-play …
Those looking to history to shape our future innovations should be wary of the conclusions they draw. Remember the Roaring Twenties? Maybe not in life, but in film, literature, and all of the nostalgic art that has glorified that period of history – that era immediately after the First World War and the Spanish Flu …
Principles of movement, speed, and position can render our traditional sensemaking approaches useless if we’re not careful. Think of the words we use to describe our connection to values or strategy — like ‘grounded’, ‘rooted in’, or ‘anchored’ — they all imply some type of static metaphor. The implication is that we are operating from …
Checking our assumptions about basic things could be the difference between design delight and doom. If you were to tell me that one of the greatest lessons I would take from the pandemic – one of the few globally reaching, shared issues of the last 100 years — was a much deeper appreciation of diversity …
Path dependency is a concept in complexity science that refers to the way in which the past patterns influence current and future actions. Mindful attention to identifying these patterns and use of design thinking can help ensure that the past is not the present, unless we want it to be.
Without connecting monitoring of our programs with our principles and strategy, we are simply creating impotency in our organizations. The events of January 6th, 2021 at the United States Capitol were appalling to anyone who cares about that republic, democracy, and decency. While a mob incited by the sitting president stormed the building and forced …
Turbulence offers a chance to put into place new, better habits, behaviours and structures if we know which ones to freeze into place. Turbulence is a word suited to the times for many markets, human service situations, and communities. The massive jostling of our way of life and the effects on social life and the …
