Categories: Articles

Design Your Thinking Differently

How often do you think about design?

It could be the use of a font, the architecture of a building or why someone hasn’t designed something to improve the zipper or the spoon (perhaps there is nothing to improve upon?). Be it aesthetics or the simple fact that everything beyond nature that we see around us was designed by someone, design is everywhere. It’s not just art. The pylon on the street to the straw for your drink to the business strategy that governs your brand. I’ve watched documentaries like Helvetica and Urbanized, which have grown my interest in design and the human desire to design things better. There are two people in this world who understand design like no others. They happen to be brothers. They happen to own IDEO, one of the most innovative design agencies in the world. They are David Kelley and Tom Kelley. They have written incredible books like The Art of Innovation and The Ten Faces of Innovation (go read them). Recently, they spoke at the MIT Media Lab and were hosted by Joi Ito. This is a conversation that lasts a little over an hour, but it is well worth each and every minute. Unfortunately, they do not allow the video to be embedded below, so please click this link… and enjoy:

Media Lab Conversations Series: IDEO’s David and Tom Kelley.

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.