00:09KAI HALEY: I'm Kai Haley, one
of the creators of this series.
00:12And for many of you who have
joined us over the last couple
00:16years, we started this--
00:18you're familiar with the
premise of this series.
00:21We started it to create a
space for the design community
00:25to come together and
explore the role of design
00:28in crafting the future,
particularly one that we all
00:32want to be a part of.
00:33And dreaming, the
topic today, can be
00:37a powerful tool for doing that.
00:39I'm really excited to have
Kevin with us, Kevin Bethune.
00:45He has an incredibly
diverse background,
00:48including mechanical
engineering, business,
00:52and design, and he's
going to take us today
00:55through his journey and share
with us the tools and processes
01:00that he has created and uses
with enterprises to help them
01:04cultivate new capabilities
to be able to disrupt
01:10and shape and form
emerging realities.
01:16And hopefully, we will also
gain some inspiration and ideas
01:21for how we can evolve our own
careers to be future ready.
01:28So with that, please join
me in welcoming Kevin.
01:33KEVIN BETHUNE: Thank you.
01:40So thank you very much, Kai.
01:42It's an honor and a privilege
to be here with you.
01:44Thank you for sacrificing
your evening to be with us.
01:47I really appreciate that.
01:48So again, my name
is Kevin Bethune.
01:50I'm the founder
and chief creative
01:51for Dreams, Design, and
Life, a design and innovation
01:54think tank down in
Redondo Beach, California.
01:58I should also say that I'm also
the board chair for the Design
02:01and Management Institute, a
professional society that I
02:04would highly encourage
everyone to take a look at.
02:06If you want to find
out more information,
02:08you can go to dmi.org.
02:11But again, thank you
for this opportunity.
02:13It's just great to share just
some perspectives with you
02:15to hopefully inspire
your journeys ahead.
02:18We're calling this talk
Design is Dreaming.
02:22And honestly, I want
to encourage everyone
02:27to sort of be introspective
about your own journeys
02:30as we sort of talk this through.
02:31I'm going to share a bit of all
my different inflection points.
02:35And it's kind of been
a crazy and wild path,
02:37but it'll be some fun
to share that with you.
02:40But think about your own
dream and your own journey
02:46And I think we start that
off by asking a question,
02:48and I want you to do
an exercise with me.
02:51The first is I want to ask
you, do you still dream?
02:56Do you give yourself
license to dream?
02:59Do you imagine
what you could be,
03:01what you could achieve,
who you could impact,
03:04who you could affect
in terms of not only
03:06yourself, but maybe your
family, maybe broader society?
03:09Are you asking those questions
of yourself regularly?
03:13So if you could
actually bear with me.
03:16We passed out some
pens and paper.
03:18I want each of you to
just spend a minute
03:21to capture your dream, the dream
that's on your heart right now.
03:28Take a moment, just do
a little reflection,
03:31and jot down what you
believe your dream is
03:33at this point in time.
03:36There's no right
or wrong answer.
03:43Looks like we're pretty good.
03:46Got some essays being
written right now.
03:52So not to be cliche, but
I've got to take you back
03:54to my very beginnings.
03:56And it started, I
think like a lot of us,
03:59having an early
creative volition.
04:01For me, I drew for
hobby all the time,
04:04but I didn't
necessarily know what
04:06to do with that energy,
that creative energy that
04:10I spent the majority
of my childhood
04:12in Detroit Downriver region.
04:17And I would say
that we were sort of
04:20located in the
heart of big auto,
04:23the big automotive industry.
04:25And the paths of
engineering and business
04:28were probably the
more celebrated paths.
04:30Design was a distant
notion that I didn't--
04:33there was no way to
really fully comprehend
04:35what that could mean for me.
04:37And because of my
affinity for drawing
04:39as well as the intersections
with science and mathematics,
04:42engineering made the
more pragmatic sort
04:44of option and choice that
was appropriate for me.
04:47And so I decided
to pursue a degree
04:49in mechanical engineering.
04:50I attended the
University of Notre Dame.
04:53And as companies
were coming to campus
04:55to entertain the
start of our careers,
05:00the typical engineering
pitch was, well,
05:02you could come on to the
factory floor for a while,
05:05maybe work 8 to 10
years before we let you
05:07do any solid engineering work.
05:10And it wasn't necessarily
the most inspiring pitch
05:12that one could hear.
05:14But there was one
industry in particular,
05:16the nuclear industry, that
had a different message.
05:20They were very much facing
what I would call a knowledge
05:23crisis in that they hadn't
hired young talent for the 10
05:26to 15 years prior before
I came out of school.
05:29So here you had
this wide open door
05:31where this industry
is looking for people
05:32to come in and immediately
learn the know-how of what
05:35goes into making these
nuclear power plants
05:38and making them safe
for the general public.
05:41An amazing opportunity
to walk through that door
05:43and engage and feel the
mentorship right away
05:46to get on top of
some gnarly problems.
05:49So I spent the next five
years staring down the barrel
05:52of these open reactor vessels.
05:55So what you're looking at
is an actual open reactor
05:58vessel with the head, the lid
of the reactor set to the side,
06:03and the coolant in
the system is actually
06:05flooding the actual refueling
pool, the cavity that
06:10allows us to basically
move fuel assemblies in
06:13and out of the open core.
06:15And that water is
necessary because it
06:17serves as an effective
shielding agent
06:19to protect us from the
harmful radiation below.
06:22Otherwise, we would
meet our demise
06:23if we didn't have
that water there.
06:25And the fuel actually looks
that way when we're refueling.
06:28It glows that weird blue.
06:30And the work was very dangerous.
06:35I would say the
environment that we worked
06:37in was very militaristic.
06:38Everything was on
a critical path.
06:40And imagine the
situation where a plant
06:42is up and running for
18 months at a time
06:44before it comes down
for maintenance.
06:46And every day that it's
down for maintenance,
06:48that's an opportunity cost
of a million dollars a day.
06:51So if you're done early,
you're in trouble;
06:54if you're done late,
you're in trouble,
06:56because you're upsetting the
critical path scheduling of all
06:59these vendors that are trying
to get all this work done.
07:01So the implications
are rather severe.
07:05And this picture to the
left is a much younger
07:08me on the left-hand
side of the wall.
07:11I'm tasked with supervising
other engineers and technicians
07:15as we're working to
refurbish this reactor
07:18and incorporate
hardware upgrades that
07:20will extend the life of the
plant another 20 to 30 years.
07:24And actually, we built
this giant yellow crane.
07:27Half of it sits in
the water on top
07:29of the actual
mechanical internals
07:31package of the reactor, and
the top half of the crane
07:34sits above the water so that
the cranes and rigging allow
07:37us to move the right
robotics and camera
07:39systems and long-handled
tooling into position
07:42to be able to service
the parts below.
07:44And that metal is
screaming with radiation
07:47as well because it's
been sitting decades
07:49next to active uranium.
07:53So it's, again, mission
critical work, very dangerous,
07:56we had to be very mindful
of the work that we did.
07:58And what this
experience taught me
08:00was what it meant to actually
create great product,
08:02and build trust, and learn how
to work with high performing
08:05teams at a very high level.
08:08Well, through this experience,
I would say a natural curiosity
08:11for business arose because
I was wondering, like,
08:13why is the company navigating
and making these choices,
08:17as an engineer, and how
do I garner more license
08:19for my career than
just being expected
08:21to execute these engineering
sprints over and over again?
08:25And so that curiosity
for the business acumen
08:28that I lacked coming
out of college
08:30drew me to look into
pursuing an MBA.
08:34So fast forward, navigated
through the business school
08:37And that was a two-year
sort of reset for my career
08:40where I was able to take a
step back and look at things
08:43with a fresh perspective.
08:44Mind you, that creative
itch from my youth
08:47was scratching even more because
now I had two years of runway
08:50to think about my
choices moving forward.
08:54And I allowed that creative itch
to inform the type of companies
08:57I would seek come graduation.
08:59I could have easily went
back to my comfort zone
09:01and joined an engineering
company with this new business
09:04language, but instead, I
wanted to join a company that
09:07embodied the strategy side,
the technological side,
09:10but also the creative elements.
09:13Not having any idea of what
I would even do with or what
09:16I would even-- how I
would even react to being
09:19around those capabilities.
09:20But that's where the
heartstrings were tugging me.
09:23And companies like
Nike were at the top
09:24of the list at the
time of, wow, you
09:26could find all those facets
in that organization.
09:29And thankfully, come
graduation, they
09:31gave me an opportunity
to join their fold.
09:34I started in the corporate
planning group, which
09:36was a common destination
for post-MBA grads,
09:40moved up to Beaverton, Oregon,
worked at world headquarters,
09:44and joined the fold
where we were looking
09:46to really help Nike optimize
its financial and operational
09:52So this was a great
experience to really solidify
09:55the language of business
in the real life
09:58publicly traded company
setting that is Nike,
10:00and all the demands that
you get from Wall Street,
10:03from investor relations,
from Nike senior leaders
10:05that are trying to
understand the performance
10:09Well, the product person within
me was kind of going crazy.
10:11I mean, that experience
is good, but I
10:13wanted to figure out where
was the cool stuff happening
10:16across the Nike organization.
10:17Some of you might think
spreadsheets are cool,
10:19and that's fine,
but I wanted to go
10:21find the product opportunities.
10:24And thankfully, this sort
of collegial environment
10:27that was Nike WHQ was very
much a coffee chat culture.
10:33You would sort of have
coffee with someone
10:35and they would recommend that
you go see another person,
10:37and the chain kind of continues.
10:39And over time,
those coffee chats
10:41turned into opportunities to
actually offer my services
10:45to demonstrate that I was
really committed to learning
10:48what those product
organizations were about.
10:50So the stretch assignments
were essentially
10:52side hustles on top of the
day job to garner trust,
10:56to show evidence, and
to broker relationships.
10:59And after about 18 months,
I was able to move over
11:01to the global footwear
product engine.
11:03It wasn't easy because
they saw numbers guy.
11:05They didn't care that I
was an engineer before.
11:07You were a numbers guy.
11:10What are you doing over here
was the typical feedback.
11:13But 1 out of every 10
people that I encountered
11:16did sort of find interest in
what I could potentially offer,
11:20and they let me do some
things, which is pretty cool.
11:23So when I entered
the global footwear,
11:26I entered in an operational
sort of context,
11:28and the charter was to
help the creative product
11:31community figure out more
advanced ways to manage
11:34their product process,
leveraging advanced tool
11:37sets to take out a
lot of ways, take out
11:39a lot of just friction
in the process
11:41to allow them to focus more
time on making better product.
11:45And at the time, Nike was
very interested in taking
11:49some of the philosophies
from lean manufacturing
11:54and moving those philosophies
into the upstream product
11:58So from the span of time between
a designer putting pen to paper
12:01all the way to the time where
we actually confirm a sample
12:06shoe for mass production,
that window of time
12:10we were introducing
new digital tool sets
12:13into what was previously a very
analog conventional process.
12:17The conventional process
was very much a designer
12:19sketching on a napkin,
sending that sketch
12:22to an offshore partner overseas,
and getting back a sample,
12:27and waiting weeks for
that sample to come back.
12:29That sample was probably 30%
correct to the initial design
12:34The designer would tape up
the sample with masking tape--
12:37literally-- redraw
the lines of what
12:39they wanted in the first
place, send it back
12:41to the offshore partner,
wait for another sample.
12:45So it was just hard
to believe that it
12:47would take 18 to 24 months
just to get a shoe ready to be
12:51merchandised on a store shelf.
12:54An incredibly arduous
process for any shoe
12:58to make it out of the
engine to have a customer
13:03And what we were then asking the
designers to think about was,
13:07you can still start
with a napkin sketch,
13:09but get into the 3D tool
sets, lay your design intent
13:12on a three-dimensional
last, have that
13:14and form the tech pack,
and ask the factory
13:17to execute a sample that's
90% correct to the volition
13:22And so we can spend
less time guessing,
13:25took out weeks and weeks
of friction and high cost,
13:28and spend more time finessing
the soul, the final details
13:31of the product experience.
13:33And so to this day,
they're proliferating
13:36a lot of deep, advanced
digital creation tool
13:38sets to just get the process
more close to the insights
13:44Well, mind you during
this experience,
13:47I met all kinds of
newfound creative friends
13:49that I had never
met or seen before,
13:50and I became very curious
about what they were doing.
13:53And my newfound creative
friends saw the drawings
13:56I was doing for hobby
outside of work,
13:57and a few creative
directors basically
13:59said, you got a
little raw skill,
14:02we'll let you try your
hand at footwear design.
14:05So the Jordan brand
was the first category
14:07that gave me a shot.
14:08They had too many briefs,
not enough resources,
14:10not enough designers.
14:12And the creative director
at the time, his name
14:14is Dwayne Edwards, he's
like, I'll give you a shot.
14:18You can do a shoe or
two under my mentorship.
14:21You basically need to meet
me in the morning at 6
14:24AM in my studio, we'll
commiserate together,
14:27I'll show you what you need to
do, we'll go do our day jobs--
14:29I've got a team to manage,
you got to go do your thing--
14:32and then you're going
to do my assignment
14:34until you're finished at night
and come back the next morning.
14:38So we worked that way for
a better part of a year
14:40and we executed
two shoes together.
14:43He allowed me to have my designs
make it to the store shelves
14:46and in the hands of consumers.
14:48So the brief that he gave me
was a very weird one in that
14:52at the time, Nike
was celebrating
14:54the anniversaries of two
iconic shoes at the same time.
14:58And they wanted to create
these hybrid stories of what
15:00you get when you mashed
together the iconic Air Force
15:03One with the Air Jordan
8 basketball shoe.
15:07You couldn't pick two
remarkably different shoes
15:10to try to mash together
and create a story that
15:13was authentic to the
shoe heritage of both
15:17So I had to learn the Jordan
process of navigating,
15:22the inside collecting, the
divergence of all the ideas.
15:25These are just a few of
the divergence sketches
15:27of different ways to
combine the iconic heritages
15:31And then converging
on two directions
15:33that we wanted to
take to market.
15:35So we agreed to execute
a mainstream mid-top
15:39in regular materials
on the right,
15:41and on the left,
a premium high end
15:45high top of a limited quantity
that would be more exclusive.
15:50And we agreed on both
of those directions.
15:52And because we were asking all
the Nike categories to adopt
15:57all these 3D tool sets
and experiment with them,
16:01I had to take my own
medicine, because we
16:04were asking them to do it,
I had to learn how to do it,
16:07and I had to learn the
footwear programs to articulate
16:09the design intent in 3D as well.
16:12And we ended up making them.
16:14We executed four color ways
in the spring and summer
16:19They sold really, really
well with sneakerheads
16:22and all kinds of folks.
16:24And then we followed up
with the high end version
16:26and sold that with
limited quantities.
16:27So it was a top seller
for the Jordan brand
16:30for my first hit as a
fledgling sneaker designer.
16:34And this door led to
many more open doors
16:37across the Nike portfolio,
where categories
16:40were willing to let me just
sort of pick up a brief
16:43and try my hand at something.
16:46And I'm forever thankful.
16:48So you can imagine
the creative appetite
16:51that was now like a forest fire
in my mind of all the things
16:55that are exciting about
design and innovation
16:59and how do I get even
deeper in this work.
17:03Super, super thankful for that.
17:06But beyond that,
outside of Nike's berm,
17:08outside of the
world headquarters,
17:09the world was changing, too.
17:11I mean, no better place
than Silicon Valley then
17:13to exemplify the change
that was happening
17:15with the advent of
mobile technologies,
17:18this multidisciplinary
convergence that was brewing.
17:21And you're starting to
see design celebrated
17:22on the cover of business
magazines, organizations,
17:26artists, and media
producing these commentaries
17:30around the value and
the power of design.
17:33I highly recommend
you see "Objectified"
17:34if you haven't already--
17:37an amazing body of
work to just continue
17:39to fuel and fire up my
curiosity for design.
17:44And what was brewing for me was
this convergence that I started
17:48to see a little
bit of myself in,
17:49and I wanted to continue
to sort of hone that.
17:53But I had to be a bit honest
with myself and say, you know,
17:56with the engineering and
business legs of the stool sort
17:59of rationalized, a
few shoe projects
18:01wasn't going to
necessarily answer
18:03the design leg of the stool.
18:06I had to be more mindful.
18:07And I was facing a
choice, honestly,
18:09a big fork in the road.
18:10I could continue
to claw and scratch
18:12in the Nike environment for
another 10 years with side
18:15hustle shoe projects
before perhaps they
18:18would credential me as an
esteemed footwear designer.
18:21Or I could perhaps think
bigger than just shoes and say,
18:26I want to build out my creative
toolkit, my creative foundation
18:29more robustly, and
really position myself
18:31at the intersection
of this Venn diagram
18:35and work on innovation
for the rest of my career.
18:37So this was the
bigger dream that
18:39was coming to fruition for me.
18:42And around that time, I
was looking at schools.
18:46I thought I was
done with school.
18:48My mentors and friends said,
you're done with school.
18:51Why are you thinking about
going back to school?
18:53But as you're experimenting,
and shoe projects like this,
19:00Like it becomes like you've
become so hungry that you just
19:02want to fulfill on it.
19:04And upon navigating the Nike
network, I met a lot of alums
19:08from Art Center
College of Design,
19:10and I found myself really
gravitating to the ethos
19:14of what the school represented.
19:16So thankfully, applied,
was able to get accepted,
19:20and packed up the house
in Beaverton, Oregon,
19:23and moved down to LA to
begin another chapter
19:26of graduate study
at this institution.
19:29And the real heroes of this
story are my wife and son.
19:35My son wasn't even one yet when
we decided to pack up and--
19:39Sorry about the emotion.
19:42But they're the true
heroes of the story,
19:44to be able to see this
dream and encourage
19:47me to really go for it.
19:50And it was just a quite
fascinating inflection point
19:54in my life and one that
I hope inspires my son
19:57for the rest of his life.
20:01But anyway, Art
Center had very much
20:07gone through a metamorphosis
around the same time, too,
20:09so serendipity
through this story
20:11was quite constantly my friend.
20:13Art Center had sort of
changed from this sort
20:17You had to come from
design, historically,
20:20to participate in the graduate
programs at Art Center,
20:24but with my cohort of applicant,
they opened the aperture.
20:28They were willing to entertain
other disciplines in the mix.
20:30So my cohort of student
as we were entering in,
20:34I was joined by folks that had
come from places like Coca-Cola
20:39Like, one guy was a marketing
director for Coca-Cola
20:42Another person had traversed
their Harvard Medical School
20:47program two to three years in
and decided to pivot and change
20:52the medical arena
through design and not
20:55continue to be a surgeon.
20:57He saw more effectiveness
of going that angle.
20:59So he pivoted and restarted
his graduate education.
21:02So this was the
cohort of 14 of us
21:04that were sort of
mired together with all
21:06of our visions and big dreams,
and we rationalized our way
21:10through the program.
21:11And it was half industrial
design practicum
21:14but it was also half
venturing, like, how do you
21:16leverage your design
capability to provoke a venture
21:20opportunity and speak to the
desirability, the viability,
21:23and the feasibility
of a new innovation
21:25and actually go build it?
21:28So that was sort of
the school of thought.
21:30And this notion of
designer-as-entrepreneur
21:33was becoming front and center.
21:36And as I was rounding
the final semesters,
21:39wondering if a full-time job
would be waiting on the other
21:42side of this experience,
especially after such a big
21:44career gamble of leaving
a place like Nike,
21:50that volition to
want to be helpful--
21:53I was freelancing for
venturers and entrepreneurs
21:57around the LA area and that
networking and that work
22:02brought me in front of a
small handful of players
22:06that have come from long
histories in the management
22:08consulting and
private equity spaces.
22:11They knew all too well
the perils of waterfall,
22:14where big enterprises work
with perhaps a strategy
22:17firm for a while, then
they hand off the ideas
22:19to a design firm for a while
to flesh out the experience.
22:22Then they hand off the
idea to an implementer.
22:25And it might be
a couple of years
22:25before you even see
a prototype in market
22:27for a lot of big companies.
22:29That's proverbial waterfall.
22:31But I'm preaching to the
choir within Silicon Valley
22:34in that there is a
startup audacity that we
22:37wanted to help large
companies begin to garner.
22:40And so our thesis as we met each
other was, well, why don't we
22:43just get the disciplines sitting
around the table from day one,
22:46have that team get to an
integrated vision much faster,
22:49and then have that same team
just go build the offering,
22:52go build a solution,
go build the business
22:54around the solution, and get
in market as fast as possible
22:59And so our efforts, we
helped a few large companies
23:01in their Rolodex, created
a lot of value quickly,
23:04and we garnered the attention
of some very big players
23:06in the management
consulting space.
23:08Booz & Company was the
first global platform
23:10to take a bet on our small team.
23:12We've created a lot of
value very quickly for them,
23:1610 months into the
journey with them,
23:18they got absorbed by
PricewaterhouseCoopers.
23:20And it wasn't necessarily the
right fit for our maker group.
23:24And so we started
pursuing our options.
23:26So BCG watched all
this happening,
23:28the Boston Consulting Group.
23:30And they invited
us into their fold.
23:32And they said, you know what,
you guys have demonstrated
23:34product market fit already,
we're very excited.
23:36Let us know what you need.
23:38And that's what they did.
23:39So they brought us
on board, we were
23:40called BCG Digital Ventures,
a wholly owned subsidiary.
23:43And we were a new
venture platform
23:46for this very established,
esteemed management consulting
23:51And we were a bunch
of makers coming
23:52into a management consulting
party trying to understand.
23:56But based on our learnings
prior, we knew what to ask for.
23:59We said, we're
actually not going
24:01to join BCG teams out in the
field at the client site,
24:05and just join the BCG case.
24:07We're makers, we have a
different way of working.
24:09So instead, we need to have
you invest in us by building
24:14innovation studios strategically
located around the world, where
24:17we ask the clients to
come live in residence
24:19with our
multidisciplinary teams.
24:22And so it was a much
different way of working.
24:24And to give you a sense of
the space that we created,
24:27we worked with a
very bold architect
24:29to rationalize venture
spaces for these teams,
24:32these multidisciplinary
teams, to be
24:34able to function
the way they need
24:35to function like true startups.
24:37And we asked every client
to send three to five
24:41of their people to join that
team and live in residence
24:45for the next many months, if
not over a year, before they
24:48actually cooked the business
and spun out the business,
24:51either in a JV scenario,
joint venture scenario,
24:55or perhaps as a new business
unit that eventually gets
24:57plugged back into the
larger client enterprise.
25:01So we had to create
spaces for our new experts
25:03that are part of this platform.
25:05So giving designers
a village to be
25:06able to rub elbows
with fellow designers
25:08and share best practices
was very important.
25:11Allowing coders to code and
engineers to do their thing,
25:14and the right modalities that
made sense for each expert.
25:17And because BCG was
so hypothesis-first
25:20in their problem-solving
approach,
25:22we had to carve space and
push on the walls to say,
25:26you know what, we have different
experts that need to problem
25:28solve in different ways.
25:29Perhaps there's a
deductive or inductive way
25:31of problem-solving that
we need to appreciate.
25:33And we need to give
these experts the space
25:35to function and thrive.
25:39So in essence, we were turning
in this theory, this utopian
25:43notion of the
multidisciplinary Venn diagram.
25:45We were living it by reality.
25:47My time going through Nike,
this was the exception, not
25:51Most large companies,
this is the exception.
25:53Very few people get
to work this way.
25:55We got to wire ourselves
to work this way
25:57all the time, which
is really fascinating.
26:00But it wasn't easy,
because when you
26:02bring these different
disciplines together,
26:06we have to be conscious
of all the baggage
26:07that each person was bringing
into this very new platform,
26:10with a very new environment
surrounding the teams.
26:13And we have to look at
the historics of where
26:15each of these folks are coming
from when they form a venture
26:19The business side, the
conventional disciplines
26:22of strategy, marketing,
finance, they've
26:25commanded a lion's
share of influence
26:29in how enterprises are
managed, how enterprises
26:32are strategically oriented
for their future trajectory.
26:37To technology, maybe
to a lesser extent.
26:41And here in the Bay
Area, we see a lot
26:44of engineering-led companies.
26:46And that's a good
thing, and there's
26:48familiarity at the
large corporate level
26:50with a lot of
technological platforms
26:52and key intellectual property.
26:57But there might not
be as much familiarity
26:59with some of the fringe
technologies coming
27:01over the horizon, like
blockchain or deep learning,
27:04or some of the more
advanced things
27:07that are yet to be
commercialized fully.
27:10But design, I think has
faced a beleaguered set
27:14of misperceptions and
misnomers around its value.
27:19For large enterprises,
unfortunately, there's
27:21still the stigma of it being the
last step in the value chain.
27:24All the good thinking
was done, please
27:26put beautiful form
around the function
27:28that I thought of in advance.
27:30Putting lipstick on a
pig, some of these notions
27:33that we're familiar with.
27:35And then when it
comes to design,
27:36like what type of
design do we need?
27:39And the lack of
understanding definitely
27:41feeds into this
misperception of design
27:43being a fragmented notion.
27:45I honestly believe this audience
knows the value of design.
27:49But you know as
well as I do that it
27:51takes a tremendous amount
of educating and advocacy
27:56to make sure that design has
that seat at the strategy
28:00And it takes a lot of energy to
keep that seat once you get it.
28:03[LAUGHS] So building
community, building trust,
28:07showing evidence are all
parts of the equation.
28:10And so we had to work
hard to get those venture
28:12teams to build their chemistry
so that we could actually
28:15unlock the intersection
of overlap.
28:19And because we brought
the client into the party,
28:22they were living literally
in residence with us,
28:25now this venture team starts
to take on a unique advantage.
28:28We had them basically connected
to a larger client enterprise,
28:32and now that venture team
could actually leverage scale.
28:35They could leverage the subject
matter expertise of that larger
28:39They could leverage the
distribution channels,
28:41they could leverage their brand.
28:43And for a new venture, we
might create a sub-brand
28:46that keys off the parent brand.
28:47And all of a sudden,
we're garnering
28:49this corporate partner
alignment, which
28:50is quite interesting, that we
can leverage the assets that
28:54would form the
core of the client
28:56and have that be a
unique advantage compared
28:58to a startup being birthed
out of a garage, let's say.
29:02So a very cool sort of
experience to sort of witness.
29:08And I think that
multidisciplinary teaming
29:09allowed us to show up to
the marketplace differently.
29:12If we compare that to a strategy
team going out into the field
29:15to engage a market
opportunity, they
29:17might come in with
a research plan
29:19to do a bunch of focus groups
and surveys to get data.
29:23But for us, we could
show up very differently.
29:27So if we want to provoke this
notion of pet health care
29:30and well-being for your
pets and engage pet parents,
29:33we can actually make a
prototype within days
29:36and come out and engage
people and really
29:39test attitudes and have honest
conversations with them,
29:43and co-create a better
answer than what
29:44we provoked in this prototype.
29:46And I promise you,
no pets were harmed
29:48in the making of said wearable.
29:51Another fun venture that was
one of my favorites to witness
29:57was one that came out of our
Berlin Innovation Center.
30:01Bosch Engineering came to
us with curiosity around,
30:04how do I get into mobility?
30:05That was it, that was
the hypothetical question
30:08that we needed to wrestle with.
30:11And again, we ringfenced
the multidisciplinary team,
30:15we gave them the
right nutrients,
30:16we gave them a
methodology to follow,
30:18they trusted the process.
30:19And they diverged all
kinds of wild ideas
30:22and converged on this e-scooter
sharing platform called Coup.
30:28So they've since deployed
thousands of scooters
30:30across four major
European cities,
30:32where all you need
to do is actually
30:35pair to a scooter with a
normal driver's license,
30:37you don't have to worry
about parking because you can
30:38park a scooter on the sidewalk.
30:40It's not illegal to do so.
30:42Creating very simple mobility
for the modern urban commuter.
30:48And it was just
a fun experience.
30:51And that business
actually spun out.
30:52It's operating on its own.
30:54It's a very joint venture,
where all stakeholders
30:56are enjoying the financial
upside of this business.
30:59So this wasn't theory.
31:01This was creating a real
business that had to function.
31:05And creating value for
all the stakeholders
31:08that believed in the mission.
31:10Meanwhile, we were
juggling, let's say
31:135 of these at first, then
10, then 50, then 70,
31:17on the order of 70 new
ventures at any given
31:19time, at various
stages of incubation.
31:22And the question
was, well, what was
31:23my role in that soup of
multidisciplinary recipe
31:28I was tasked to
serve as the vice
31:31president of strategic design.
31:33And so every venture got a
couple strategic designers
31:37to join the fold, to really
manage the creative navigation
31:40of that team through
the creative process
31:42and approaches, and also
to go deep or necessary,
31:45whether it was ethnographic
research or industrial design
31:49And we would team quite closely
with experienced designers
31:52that came from the digital
UX UI side of the coin.
31:57So what was strategic design?
31:59For us, it meant the study
of human behavior in context
32:02and the design of
holistic solutions aimed
32:04to satisfy those latent
unmet needs that we
32:06discovered in the marketplace.
32:09We really doubled down on
finding those implicits,
32:13those latent sort of attitudes,
behaviors, motivations,
32:17the thick substance
that we needed
32:18to garner to be able to craft
a transformative solution.
32:22And design thinking
was especially helpful
32:24for us to bring those
insights together
32:26and to get the team mobilized
around the right things.
32:33And honestly, for our
design, for every designer
32:38on the venture team, the true
task of courage that we would
32:44ask of them, that we would
empower them to follow,
32:47was to just have them
recognize that the venture
32:50teams, the relationship
holders may not
32:53know what to necessarily
ask for from you
32:55as the designer on that
multidisciplinary team.
32:57Everyone's learning how
to work together, right?
33:00So by charter to
them as designers,
33:05you need to make
sure that you're
33:06looking for those
moments, whether it
33:08be a journey or a system,
you're finding those moments
33:10where your stakeholders,
no matter if it's B to B,
33:12B to C, B to B to B to C, you're
finding those moments where
33:17you're creating new utility
for someone to naturally
33:21take a step forward in
their user experience,
33:25That we're not pushing
solutions on top of them
33:28or pushing solutions
in search for home,
33:30we understand the
need and we're saying,
33:33create that new avenue
of intuitive utility.
33:36And in a world of big data,
with information impinging on us
33:39from all in every direction, how
do we as designers help parse
33:43through the noise and
surface up information that's
33:45relevant for that
person to naturally want
33:47to take a step forward on their
terms in their user experience?
33:52And then lastly, how
do we do more than just
33:54solve the incremental pain
points that we discover,
33:57but how do we actually
elevate the promise,
34:00and change how someone
feels when they engage
34:03a particular brand,
change the whole mind
34:05frame of how they feel about
the brand of which they're
34:08engaging, and they want
to come back for more?
34:10That was the true spirit of
what we wanted every designer
34:12to show-- creative confidence,
and creative courage
34:14to go find those moments.
34:16And if you did that well
in a particular moment
34:18in the journey, we tended to
call those moments, moments
34:23And if you do it
really well, maybe you
34:25can make a business out of
that one moment of truth,
34:28and everyone's happy.
34:31So it begs the question, what
does the multidisciplinary team
34:36I honestly believe that the
teaming and collaboration
34:41inform where future
innovation's going to come from.
34:45The more things converge,
the collaboration
34:47is the true secret
sauce of what's
34:49going to fuel future innovation.
34:51And how does that team do that?
34:53Well, it can look to
the future differently.
34:56If we look to the future
through this proverbial lens,
34:59if this is a lens staring
at the distant time horizon,
35:02we can have that team see
the future through a number
35:05of different vantage points.
35:08They can see the future through
the lens of people, industry,
35:11trends, and exemplars.
35:12And I'll talk through each.
35:14We start with people, every
engagement that we encountered,
35:17there was already reams
of conclusive evidence,
35:20research, research on audiences,
segmentation, market size,
35:26size of the prize, all the
different quantifications
35:31And this was
typically the modality
35:33where strategy teams
would evoke focus groups
35:36and surveys to collect
that type of information.
35:39And we had to be
careful to ensure
35:40that the information that we
did have wasn't already expired,
35:43because consumer movements
were changing every six months.
35:47But for us, it meant
getting outside of ourselves
35:50to find the stuff that
was truly missing.
35:52And that meant getting
out there with the people,
35:54and not treating them
as research subjects
35:57behind a mirrored glass,
but engaging them honestly
36:00in a co-creative,
collaborative manner.
36:03And doing a number of
open source techniques
36:06to try different things
to create together,
36:08as a participant, as a
collaboration, not as
36:11a research study that
you're in this box
36:13and I'm studying you
and quantifying you.
36:16We had to go much
deeper than that.
36:18So whether it was shop alongs
or generative exercises
36:21or affinity mapping or
shadowing the expert who's
36:24serving their end
consumer, we navigated
36:27hundreds of different
research techniques,
36:30investigation
techniques to make sure
36:32that we were being thoughtful
to design the right research
36:35approach before we got
started in our work.
36:39And one rubric that's helpful is
sort of the inverted triangles,
36:41where usually we had a
lot of the bottom stuff
36:45with large sample size.
36:47We had statistically
significant conclusive data
36:50that is absolutely still
necessary to inform
36:52strategy and prioritization.
36:54Think of that as
the framing, almost
36:56like in an
archeological dig, you
36:57have the frame kind of areas.
37:01So where do you dig?
37:04The upper region was often what
was missing 90% of the time.
37:07What do people
really care about?
37:09We need to go find that stuff.
37:10It isn't the conclusive answer.
37:12It's something different
that we need to shape.
37:14So usually it required picking
a smaller subset of people
37:19and spending a lot
more time with them,
37:22whether it's days in their
environment, or 60 to 90
37:27minute one-on-one conversation
with them to truly understand
37:30attitudes, motivations,
behaviors, aspirations,
37:33the contradictions
between concrete
37:35and their future ambitions.
37:37We really try to
mine into that stuff.
37:41And over time, the
team would distill
37:43what we called value criteria.
37:45What are the things that each
constituent in the ecosystem
37:51And in this case, this is
a restaurant chain example
37:53where you can imagine
the end consumer,
37:56that person wants
to feel satisfied.
37:58And if you do it
repeatedly, they're
38:00going to come back and be
a consistent sort of patron
38:03with you, and maybe even engage
in your loyalty programs.
38:07But in the world
of mobile tech, we
38:09have to be careful of what
data we're asking from people,
38:12and ensuring that we're
giving them a value in return,
38:15and walking a delicate
dance of give and get,
38:18and not overstepping
their bounds.
38:21And they're not alone
in the ecosystem.
38:23There's a person serving
them in the restaurant.
38:26That stakeholder is
caring about other things.
38:29They want to feel like
they are empowered
38:31to do a good day's work.
38:33They want to feel
like they can enjoy
38:34some of the spoils of a good
day's labor through incentives.
38:38And they want to feel like
they left the job better
38:43than when they found it through
appropriate professional
38:46They walked away from the
job that they had better.
38:49And they're not alone.
38:51We have the restaurateur, the
person owning the restaurant,
38:54or perhaps a chain
of restaurants,
38:56who's worried about strategy,
building great culture,
38:59and empowering their
workforce by investing
39:01in the right capabilities.
39:03So what's the system of
concern across stakeholders?
39:06We need to map that
and understand that.
39:07And a lot of these elements
are human value criteria
39:11that may remain steady
over the course of time.
39:14But some of them
might change based
39:16on how trends and movements
impinge on each of them.
39:20If we take data
privacy as an example,
39:22that's changed remarkably over
the last handful of years.
39:27Five years ago, it
would be awkward to ask
39:28like, can I know your location?
39:31And now we take it for granted
with every app that we consume.
39:36Let's talk about industry.
39:40When we engage a
particular industry,
39:42it's all too easy to just lean
into the present consensus
39:46of how that industry
is supposed to behave.
39:48That's just the way
this industry is.
39:49That's the way health care is.
39:50That's the way
consumer products are.
39:53Align to what the
constraints are.
39:56But as designers, I think we
have an opportunity to better
39:59question what's going on.
40:01One useful tool that hopefully
a lot of us are familiar with
40:03is the Business Model Canvas
by the strategizer folks, which
40:08allows someone to come
into a new situation,
40:10look at a business
model, existing or new,
40:13and break down the piece
parts, the elemental pieces
40:15and foundational principles
that make it run.
40:18And we can start to ask
questions, like why does it
40:20have to be that way?
40:21Is there something that we can
do to swap out an assumption
40:24and disrupt, create
opportunities for disruption?
40:28But if your Twitter feed
is anything like mine,
40:30there's a lot of questions being
asked of large enterprises,
40:33or on ethics, transparency,
corporate responsibility,
40:35sustainability,
what's right, what's
40:37the broader reaching impact
of some of these business
40:42So a friend of mine by the
name of Craig Walmsley,
40:44he's a head and design
strategy at Publicis Sapient.
40:48He actually sort of
reconfigured this canvas,
40:52and he created what he
calls an impact canvas.
40:55Where we're still rationalizing
the same business and customer
40:58aspects, but now
we're questioning,
41:00what is the impact of
that employee's work
41:03having on his or her family?
41:06What is the data privacy
issues creating in terms
41:08of ethical challenges?
41:10How is our business model
exploiting or diminishing
41:19How do we rationalize some
of these bigger implications
41:21ethically, and actually have
conversations where we're
41:24again, asking more questions?
41:26And through that, push that
provocation, our ability
41:30to ask the right
questions creates
41:31opportunities for disruption.
41:34And being able, on top of
that, to proactively navigate
41:37the disruption and not feeling
like you're reacting to it.
41:39And this is where
dreaming plays in,
41:41because your dreams inspire
the professional conviction
41:43to actually challenge
these models.
41:48A fine example
from my shoe days,
41:50again, the tooling required
to create these midsoles
41:53and outsoles is very,
very expensive, energy
41:58If you get a design
line wrong, imagine
42:00having to scrap that hunk of
steel to recreate another mold.
42:04And imagine how the customer
attitude is changing.
42:07Customers want to
customize, they
42:08want to personalize
their offerings.
42:10They don't want to just take
whatever is on the store shelf.
42:13So how do you enable that when
this stuff is so expensive
42:15and so energy intensive?
42:17Well, if we question that
input of the costs and time
42:20associated, is there
another technology
42:22that could come in and
disrupt that assumption?
42:25So leveraging things
like 3D printing
42:27to print temporary nylon molds
that could print a few thousand
42:30runs of product for the cheap.
42:34That definitely now opens
up long tail possibilities
42:37to tap into where
the customer wants
42:39to go when it comes
to customization
42:42and personalization.
42:45So the iceberg analogy
sort of rings true.
42:48You could take it as
a given, if you just
42:50only look at the surface.
42:51But if you go deep
and really question
42:54the first principles
that are at play,
42:57the whole iceberg
could flip on its head.
43:02Trends as a vantage point.
43:04Oftentimes when we
hear the word trend,
43:05our minds go to
technology, typically.
43:09And CES has one annual
anecdote in January.
43:14All the big brands are
showcasing their perspectives
43:17on the role of machine learning,
deep learning, 5G, and what
43:21that's going to provide
us, connected hardware
43:28and the pervasiveness of these
devices now seamlessly talking
43:31to one another,
very exciting stuff.
43:34But as I navigate
those hallways,
43:36I often question, OK, what's
the human imperative out
43:39What will this mean for real
people and real contexts?
43:42So my encouragement is,
when we think about trends
43:45and we talk about
trends, that we
43:46go more holistic in
how we collect trends.
43:50So one acronym that is quite
helpful is the STEEPE+ acronym.
43:55So STEEPE+ basically
talks about,
43:57let's encourage ourselves
to collect the full gamut
44:00across social, technological,
economic, environmental,
44:05political regulatory, and
legal, and energy-related trends
44:08that are affecting our space.
44:10There's no space
not being affected
44:11by these major categories.
44:13And there could be more
categories-- that's the plus.
44:15In the case of
health care, there
44:17might be delivery model trends.
44:18So delivery could be a D
on the end of STEEPE+D.
44:23And we curate those
trends accordingly.
44:27And as we're
looking for signals,
44:28reading articles, following
luminaries, looking
44:31at research,
looking at startups,
44:33all those things are
informing a distillation
44:35of what we believe the important
trends are for our topic
44:38that we're focused on.
44:39And we try to synthesize
those trends as gradients,
44:43as vectors of change.
44:45Something's rising,
something's increasing,
44:47something is fanning out.
44:49And we try to give it
that color because it's
44:51going to definitely guide
how we leverage these trends
44:54in our problem-solving.
44:57On top of the steep
rubric, there's
44:59also the school of thought
around this notion of renewal.
45:02So any new innovation that
comes on the scene, and this
45:05is based on the work of Jeffrey
Williams out of Carnegie
45:08But basically,
every new offering
45:10goes through a period
where it comes on the scene
45:12and there's a lot of
excitement, as we all see.
45:15But usually there's a lot
of trial and tribulation
45:16in the early adoption.
45:17So then there's a period
of disillusionment,
45:19there's usually a dip.
45:21People are like, aw, this sucks,
it's never going to happen.
45:24But someone does
eventually figure it out,
45:27the adoption starts to happen,
and we start to see scale.
45:30And over time,
something else comes
45:32into the picture,
which challenges
45:34the previous offering.
45:36And so that offering matures
and eventually retires
45:39for the new thing that
comes in at stead.
45:41And every industry has what
we call these economic time
45:46So for consumer tech, we
might see innovation cycling
45:49every six months on
a very fast clip.
45:52But if you're in chemicals
or paper making, insurance,
45:56or even nuclear,
some of those cycles
45:58take years before something
else is ready to come in.
46:02And when we talk about
innovation and future
46:04worldbuilding, like what
timing are we talking about?
46:07How are the variables lining
up in a perfect constellation
46:10to ensure a greater probability
that that innovation is
46:12going to be successful?
46:14So timing is especially
critical when we think about,
46:17is this really ready
for a game time?
46:19Or are we too early?
46:20And being honest about that
in our future forecasts.
46:25Taking it even further,
there's this notion
46:27of a probability funnel.
46:30As we forecast ourselves
out in time beyond today,
46:33what do the next 3, 5, 10,
15, 20 years look like?
46:37And we could look at
recent movements and trends
46:40to evoke a most likely
path that's ahead of us,
46:43and paint that future world.
46:46But as designers, we
have to use our dreams
46:49to imagine more divergent
possibilities than just that.
46:53We need to expand
our imagination
46:55into the possible and
even the plausible,
46:57even rub up against the
boundary of science fiction.
47:01To say, what alternative
future landscapes
47:03can we model out to
provide new canvases
47:06for designed experiences?
47:08And we can start to play games
with all these frameworks.
47:11We can actually take
two trend vectors
47:14that we believe are going
to be highly impactful
47:16and cross-pollinate
them together.
47:18In the case of health care,
I might cross-pollinate
47:21the gradient between stationary
practices and practices
47:24moving to the point of
care as mobile solutions
47:27with how general or
specialized the care
47:30is going to be in the future.
47:32And just by cross-pollinating
those two trend vectors,
47:34I just created four quadrants
or four future worlds
47:38that we could contextualize.
47:39And this is not about
consulting to by twos,
47:42I promise you there will be no
data line running through this.
47:45We can actually add color.
47:46We can throw paint in
each of those quadrants.
47:48We can bring to life a world.
47:51We can imagine personas, we
can imagine business models,
47:53we can imagine supply
chains, disruptions happening
47:57in each of those quadrants.
47:59And we can keep going.
48:00We can keep cross-pollinating
and creating
48:01multiple future worlds.
48:03And we should, as
designers leading
48:05that future imagination.
48:08And the picture
shows you an example,
48:09where we took a C
level leadership
48:12group through this exercise, and
together we provoked 30 worlds
48:17What was interesting
at the end, we
48:19had them take a step back and
say, let's vote on the worlds
48:22that you want to see your
brand living in 10 years.
48:25And they voted on 6 of
those 30 future worlds.
48:28And that evoked a whole
rich conversation around,
48:31actually, you know what, those
six worlds that we picked
48:34inform the capabilities that we
can invest in today to prepare
48:38for an uncertain future.
48:40An uncertain future
that's variant,
48:41that has these
wide possibilities,
48:43but at least we know we want
to ringfence ourselves to live
48:47in this region over here.
48:50So very, very powerful
stuff if we commit to it,
48:52and trust the process.
48:55Lastly, exemplars, the
last vantage point.
48:58Exemplars are purely
the living embodiments
49:01of those trends taking flight.
49:03I follow luminaries
as one example.
49:05I follow the work of John
Maeda and Mary Meeker.
49:09I love their annual reports
where they espouse predictions,
49:12they question
uncertainty, they surface
49:15some wildcards that
we need to consider.
49:17And all of those
things are useful tools
49:19to allow us to synthesize
compelling vectors of change.
49:24Research groups
are also exciting.
49:26So the work of MIT
Media Lab or Stanford--
49:30in this case, wearables,
what could wearables do?
49:32And they're
prototyping things that
49:34are five to seven years out,
and provoking the future
49:36of what clothing could
do for us moving forward.
49:40So if your scarf were to change
if you're taking a phone call,
49:42or your sweater taps you on
the arm to tell you to move
49:45left when you're walking
down the street, all very
49:50And then there's something to
be said for getting yourself
49:53out there, and
engaging with people
49:56beyond your immediate
company walls.
49:59So engaging in
conferences, following
50:01your peers in
similar topic areas,
50:04but perhaps in
different industries,
50:06is also quite helpful.
50:07Following startups,
following the deal flow,
50:09the flow of money, give insight
to where things are emerging
50:12that can inspire your work.
50:15So what do we do with all the
stuff that we've conjured up?
50:18Multidisciplinary team, all
these insights flying around,
50:20what do you do with it?
50:21Design thinking
has been especially
50:23helpful to allow us to guide
the whole multidisciplinary
50:25team through that experience
of what a creative typically
50:29We discover the extremes, we
converge on an opportunity set,
50:33and we ideate all the
possibilities for a while
50:36before locking in on the thing
that we want to go build.
50:39And I typically
dislike presenting
50:42such a clean, linear
picture of the process.
50:45We know that's not
true, typically.
50:47It tends to look more like this.
50:50This is a sketch that I made on
a plane a couple of years ago,
50:53where there's a lot
of chaos and anxiety
50:56when you start any
innovation opportunity.
50:59It's like, oh, the margin
I've been enjoying in my core
51:03I am worried about
disruption because I
51:05have a competitive threat
moving at 10 times the speed.
51:07By the way, I need to find new
sources of gross margin growth
51:10to inform my profitability
moving forward.
51:13And I need an innovation
capability that
51:15gives me new ideas for growth.
51:17But also, with the
bottom half, we
51:20have a core business that
we need to be mindful of.
51:22The core business that
we need to keep alive
51:25is sustaining the
entire mothership,
51:28and we need to constantly
renew that core asset as well.
51:31So the idea flow between
innovation capability
51:34and the core business is
very important to nurture.
51:37So as designers, where
are we in the soup,
51:40it's very important
to understand
51:42where you are so that your
work can have the right impact.
51:45And for us, it wasn't enough to
just put iteration on the wall
51:50We had to explain the
human-centered guiding
51:53principles and technological
imperatives that
51:55were informing that iteration.
51:57And that wasn't
enough in this world.
52:01Where are we in the process?
52:03And what feedback is
critical for that group
52:06to sort of give up and share,
so that the designer can
52:09go take another iteration?
52:12And if we get that wrong,
we're wasting a lot of time
52:15because our objectives and
imperatives are misplaced.
52:20So through that
experience, I started
52:25feeling this growing concern.
52:27Mind you, I'm tasked to lead
a growing cohort of designers
52:30across each of these
different ventures,
52:32and I became very worried about
the designers' experience.
52:35Even though we had a lot of
interest doing great things,
52:37creating great
businesses, but sometimes
52:41the perception of design in
a multidisciplinary setting
52:43is oh, they're the
ones that are naturally
52:45good at the Post-It notes.
52:46They're naturally good
on the whiteboard.
52:48They're
[? machinating. ?] They're
52:49using our visual language
to move the team forward.
52:51And we don't mind
doing those things,
52:53those are necessary things
to move teams forward
52:55that we are innately
pretty good at, inherently.
52:59But as we know, there's
a lot of deep work
53:01that has to happen outside
of the team brainstorm.
53:04At your desk, out in the field,
there's a lot of deep work.
53:08And I started to write
articles about that very thing,
53:13and I shined a light on
like, were our designers
53:16actually practicing
deep empathy,
53:18and codifying that empathy
in terms of how products
53:21are architected, and really
establishing the right guiding
53:24principles from the jump?
53:27Or how are we actually mimicking
someone and following through
53:30in their shoes, and actually
experiencing the end person's
53:34realities, by doing it too?
53:36And calibrating our senses
of how we can better
53:38design for their needs?
53:40Or how are we tapping
into philosophies
53:42that might exist in the
humanities outside of design
53:45and the ethical places, like
tapping into philosophies
53:48like flow, tapping into Mihaly
Csikszentmihalyi's work.
53:52And how do we help people
find their notion of flow
53:56to unlock their human
potential and experience?
53:59And how do we look at all
the different faculties
54:01of ingredients that are
out there to design with?
54:04Kai and I were talking
earlier about this case
54:06study she shared around
the notion of designing
54:09for the sound of your
car when you step in,
54:12and all the different
audio triggers that you
54:14get when you enter a car.
54:16These are all these ingredients
that we have to be mindful of.
54:18Human beings are very sensoral,
physical tactile beings.
54:22And we can't only focus on the
interactions that are happening
54:26through rectangular viewports.
54:27We have to consider the
full breadth of ingredients
54:30when we design against
latent friction
54:32that we find in the market.
54:34So these are the things
I started writing about,
54:36and then I was
ultimately invited
54:38to share that message on
the Ted stage at a Ted event
54:41in Milan, in
partnership with BCG.
54:45So I shared what we called the
four superpowers of design.
54:49You can easily Google it,
four superpowers of design.
54:52And sort of feel out
those case studies
54:54that we share to
get a sense of, it's
54:57not about the design
thinking teaming
55:00kumbayah sort of message.
55:02No, that's good and
all, but we need
55:04to create space and room for
us to go deep as experts,
55:08and bring a really good
idea back to the team room.
55:11That can really galvanize
and accelerate the team
55:14beyond just the brainstorm.
55:18And that conviction,
those sets of convictions,
55:22attracted more side hustle
opportunities outside
55:25of my BCGDV day job, where
entrepreneurs would reach out
55:28and say, hey, can you help me?
55:29Kevin, I'd like your
perspective on this.
55:32I don't necessarily want
all of BCG's platform,
55:36I want just your singular voice.
55:37Can you help me out
with my product?
55:39And those opportunities started
coming out more and more again.
55:41And it made me kind of question,
there's an opportunity here
55:45to maybe hang my own shingle
and start my own platform
55:48around these tenants
that I'm starting
55:49to believe more and more in.
55:51And so April of last year, I
decided to leave my BCG job
55:56and start my company called
Dreams Design and Life.
55:59And really, the
play on branding is
56:02that dreams are critical for us
to imagine new possibilities.
56:08Design is the medium to bring
our visions into reality.
56:12And life appreciates the
concretes, the constraints,
56:17where we need to understand and
empathize and show compassion
56:19to design the right
things for the people
56:22based on their true
authentic needs.
56:25And so that's the
heart of the continuum
56:26that has informed the brand.
56:28And in terms of
how we engage, it's
56:31all about breadth and depth.
56:33It's not about a
big platform play
56:34where you're forced to
absorb all this stuff.
56:38It's like, how can we just
begin problem-solving together
56:40and being thoughtful
around the opportunity,
56:42and go wide with
certain capabilities
56:45to bring people in, in a
multidisciplinary sense?
56:47But also go deep
once we identify
56:49the big nuggets of
work that are required,
56:51and ensure that we're being
very thoughtful in that work.
56:54And taking some shared
risk and reward in how
56:56we arrange those relationships.
56:58That's what my
firm is focused on.
57:00It's not about just entertaining
any opportunity out there.
57:04I want to collaborate
with the right people.
57:05I want my company to collaborate
with the right people.
57:08So I'm very slow in the
business development
57:10of those relationships.
57:12One example of that
venture that I'm personally
57:15invested in as a co-founder,
investor, and contributor, I
57:21contributed the industrial
design for this one,
57:23it's a blockchain
venture called KEEVO.
57:27And we're looking at the space
of those early adopters who
57:30are starting to invest more
seriously in cryptocurrencies.
57:34And there's some
offerings on the market
57:36right now, to allow
someone to perform
57:40an air-gapped sort
of transaction
57:42and a record of
their crypto assets,
57:44while not leaving it to some
marketplace to get hacked.
57:48So these devices are
starting to become popular.
57:51But they're very arduous.
57:52You have to manage
manual seed phrases,
57:55you have to have complicated
passwords and keys.
57:58And if you make a
mistake, it's really easy
58:00to just mess up your whole
asset mix and regret the choices
58:05So as a collective, now
it's like 15 of us that
58:09were working
together, we diverged
58:12all the different
possibilities of form factor,
58:13digital interaction, user
behavior, and eventually
58:17sort of converged on
this better mousetrap,
58:21where we're creating
a device that offers
58:24multi-factor authentication.
58:26And essentially, the device
records a mirrored copy
58:30of that information,
the crypto information
58:34onto the carbon key.
58:35And you send that
carbon key back
58:37to Kevo, who then works
with a third party
58:40to put that carbon key in cold
storage, much like a security
58:45So if you were to
ever lose this device,
58:47you get your carbon key
back, you get a new device,
58:49and you're immediately
up and running.
58:51You don't have to worry about
all the manual friction that's
58:55involved in the current
incarnations of offerings.
58:59And we have to think
about the form factor too.
59:02It had to look
like something that
59:04was more serious than a
USB stick drive that could
59:07break in your bag or get lost.
59:10You were talking
about investors that
59:11are investing serious money
in their crypto assets.
59:15So they needed a device to match
the emotion of that investment.
59:21And it's more than
just the device.
59:22We're thinking
about the ecosystem.
59:23So how do we create
a future world
59:25where we take crypto investing
and make it as user-friendly
59:30as a savings account
at your regular bank?
59:32So we're looking at
beneficiary services
59:34of how do you pass on your
assets to a loved one?
59:38We're looking at extensive coin
support for multiple coins.
59:41And of course, the
cold storage service
59:43that I mentioned to store your
carbon key, to get restored.
59:46So it's about the full ecosystem
at play for this offering.
59:49And we're taking
preorders and we're
59:50going to come to market with
it at the end of this year.
59:54It boils down to the story
that we're trying to tell.
59:56And the systematic elements
need to come together
59:58to really support that
story, to bring it forward
01:00:01to its fullest potential.
01:00:04Now I'm going to
pause here and say
01:00:05that, if you've internalized
how your journey has played
01:00:09out and followed along the
different analogs of lessons
01:00:12that have been shared, I'm quick
to say that I would be lying
01:00:17if I told you that those
inflection points that I've
01:00:19encountered were part
of some master plan.
01:00:22It clearly was not the case, I
would be lying if I said that.
01:00:25Serendipity was a
friend, very blessed,
01:00:28very grateful for those
experiences, both the trials
01:00:30and tribulations, as
well as the successes.
01:00:34But honestly, if there
are any takeaways,
01:00:36I think there are a couple
elements that I would
01:00:39encourage us to think about.
01:00:41The first is, I honestly believe
that curiosity was the defining
01:00:44thread through every
chapter of my experience.
01:00:47I could never go wrong when
I leveraged my curiosity.
01:00:50And taking it further, learning
how to take calculated risks,
01:00:55initially small risks, to talk
to someone outside of my ether.
01:01:00Concerted risks to maybe
engage in something
01:01:02that was a stretch for the sake
of learning and trust-building,
01:01:05in evidence-creating.
01:01:06And then encountering
a big fork in the road
01:01:08where I encountered a
choice for my career.
01:01:12And this isn't about
shooting in the dark
01:01:13and trying all kinds of things.
01:01:15Usually there's some conviction
running in your heart
01:01:17as well, ideally in tune
with your dream that you had,
01:01:21that's guiding the
choices that you make,
01:01:23guiding the explorations
that you're making.
01:01:26So these three elements--
curiosity, creative risk,
01:01:30have worked tremendously
for my path.
01:01:32And hopefully you can see how
they could play in your path.
01:01:38Because hopefully
this presentation
01:01:40gives you permission
to dream again,
01:01:42if you've stopped dreaming.
01:01:45And revisiting those
things that you wrote down,
01:01:47I would highly encourage
you putting energy
01:01:49into internalizing them, and
spending a little bit of time
01:01:52every week to flesh them out.
01:01:54And we're each individuals
on this planet.
01:01:57We're each indelible
fingerprints
01:01:59that are very important.
01:02:00Each of you should
feel like you should
01:02:02have a hand and some license to
shape the future that you want.
01:02:06So your dream relates to
the necessary inclusion,
01:02:10because we need your voice
to make our future better
01:02:13than what is being
perceived in the media
01:02:16around such dystopian
sort of outlooks.
01:02:18We can find optimism
hopefully in our dreams again.
01:02:22So whether your dream sort
of started at a child level,
01:02:26hopefully you're still
dreaming, and they've only
01:02:28since refined with age.
01:02:30And you're looking forward
of the future projection
01:02:32of yourself, and being mindful
of the journey that you're on.
01:02:36How are you tracking the
stuff that you wrote down?
01:02:38How are you tracking
along that path?
01:02:41And I would encourage
a couple of questions
01:02:43that you should ask yourself.
01:02:44What if, beyond just
your future projection,
01:02:48what future do you
optimistically want to see?
01:02:51Ask a what if question around
that future that you suppose
01:02:54could be possible.
01:02:56And then if you include
yourself, which you should,
01:03:00how is your journey going?
01:03:02How are you renewing
yourself to better position
01:03:04yourself to have some license?
01:03:06How are you
transforming yourself
01:03:07to position yourself to have
a hand in shaping that future?
01:03:10Because we need your voice.
01:03:15Recently a friend of
mine, a dear friend in LA,
01:03:17her name is Andrea Winslow.
01:03:19She's a famous voiceover
artist, spokesmodel,
01:03:22advocate for health
and wellness,
01:03:24she's got so many talents
all in one person.
01:03:27She basically saw some of my
sketches on Instagram and said,
01:03:30you know what, I want to
voiceover to your sketching.
01:03:32Can we do something together?
01:03:35So we started commiserating.
01:03:37And then over the
course of what amounted
01:03:39to a weekend's worth of
work, we created a video
01:03:43and put it out into
the wild with the aim
01:03:45of inspiring people
to dream again.
01:03:48So I'll play it for you now.
01:04:00- What does it mean to dream?
01:04:03Do we pause to sit still and
dream about the right things?
01:04:08Is it about what we like to buy?
01:04:10Is it about wealth?
01:04:11Is it about fame?
01:04:14Have we deeply reflected
on what truly benefits us?
01:04:20Self-discovery, love, health,
unity, creativity, meaning,
01:04:26purpose, faith, hope, change.
01:04:29What if our technology
empowered us to be
01:04:31a better version of ourselves?
01:04:34What if our artifacts
amplified human connection?
01:04:38What if our context
moved us into flow
01:04:40and self-actualization?
01:04:42What if we owned our story
and solidified our family
01:04:46and generational stories?
01:04:49What if we scaled
down our consumption
01:04:51and celebrated the best
of only what we need?
01:04:54What if we freed ourselves to
love, create, and help more?
01:04:59How might we begin
to work together
01:05:00to create a better future?
01:05:15KEVIN BETHUNE: So
I ask you, what
01:05:16is your what if for the future?
01:05:20What is your renewal
to help us get there?
01:05:24I love this quote by John.
01:05:26And it's not about making
the world more technological.
01:05:30It's like, how do
we really humanize?
01:05:31How do we make this
stuff more humane,
01:05:33to really enrich and help people
and unlock their potential?
01:05:38And that's really the
message around how important
01:05:40your dreams are to guide your
professional convictions.
01:05:43So thank you for listening.
01:05:53KAI HALEY: Does
anyone have a question
01:05:54or want to share their dream?
01:06:00I was wondering, since
you're involved in,
01:06:03or you were involved in so many
technological ventures and so
01:06:06many new inventions,
and I literally just
01:06:08thought of this
question because of that
01:06:10quote, how do you deal
with the cynical feelings
01:06:16that can come with a lot of
technological innovations, that
01:06:18always meant well,
and now we see
01:06:20a lot of technological
innovations are being misused
01:06:22and kind of taken over by
nefarious intentions, I guess?
01:06:26And being someone who has a hand
in a lot of the starting point
01:06:30of technological
innovations, how
01:06:31do you deal with hoping that
they're always used for good
01:06:36but knowing that they might
not be, that down the line
01:06:38they might be misused?
01:06:40KEVIN BETHUNE: That's
a great question.
01:06:44There's a lot of evidence
already of technology
01:06:47going bad or
technology misplaced,
01:06:50and not considerate
or thoughtful
01:06:51to the needs of not
just human beings,
01:06:54but also the planet and
broader societal implications.
01:06:59I think, when those
multidisciplinary teams get
01:07:02together, what I have
noticed is again,
01:07:04people don't necessarily know
what to ask for from them,
01:07:06because they're not
used to the collision.
01:07:09And I think it's
important for us
01:07:10to show courage in
those moments, to say,
01:07:14you know what, I could wireframe
a journey of this experience.
01:07:19But there's an ethical
question I've run up against.
01:07:22And I want to propose a
new set of ethical guiding
01:07:26principles that are
guiding my wire frames.
01:07:28I'm going to talk about
both the guiding principles
01:07:31and why and what feedback and
humane and ethical implications
01:07:38are guiding those distillations.
01:07:41We're going spend some
time, equal time on that.
01:07:43And oh, by the way, here's the
wire that reflects that ethos.
01:07:46And now we're really
telling a story
01:07:48based on meaningful evidence.
01:07:51I think where I've seen
things continue to go down
01:07:54that previous sort of behavior
is when the teams are running
01:07:59so fast, they just want
to throw mud at the wall.
01:08:01And no one feels that they have
the license to raise their hand
01:08:04and say, can we just pause for
a moment to talk about this?
01:08:08And it's some of
those simple moments
01:08:10where, if we seize
that opportunity,
01:08:13magic can happen
where we actually
01:08:16allow someone to show a better
answer that is more thoughtful.
01:08:19So I think it's about
evidence-building and creating
01:08:22And in a new
multidisciplinary world
01:08:24that we'll continue to find
ourselves in more and more,
01:08:27is having the courage
to say, let's slow down,
01:08:30because I'm not comfortable.
01:08:31And no organization
worth their salt
01:08:33should ever beat up that
person for raising their hand
01:08:37to slow the train down.
01:08:43AUDIENCE: Hey Kevin,
great, inspiring story.
01:08:46I have a question regarding
the fork in the road.
01:08:50I'm actually very inspired to
work on my creative projects
01:08:54and start a YouTube channel,
and do some work around that.
01:09:00But it would take a lot of time.
01:09:02And the time right
now is going to my day
01:09:05job, which in the
area it pays my bills,
01:09:08I work at a large company.
01:09:10So the question is, what
advice would you give?
01:09:14Should I quit my job and
do the creative work,
01:09:16or should I be at the job but
suffer the drudgery of 9 to 5?
01:09:26KEVIN BETHUNE: It's
an excellent question.
01:09:28And I will say,
bills are very real.
01:09:33Honestly though, it's your
career at the end of the day.
01:09:37I think if I'm honest with
myself when I reflect back,
01:09:43and I love the community
and culture that was Nike.
01:09:46I adored it, adored
my time there.
01:09:50But I learned the
hard way of how risky
01:09:53it was to get so wrapped up
and enamored in what Nike was
01:09:57wanting to do, and asking
for on their agenda,
01:10:00that I found a little
bit of myself getting
01:10:01lost in that fray
until I started finding
01:10:05those threads of encouragement
to follow through
01:10:07and experiment on something.
01:10:09So it's almost like, what
little bets can you make?
01:10:12Despite being busy--
01:10:13I was busy in my day job.
01:10:15Well, we all have these demands.
01:10:17We're carving a
little room, it's
01:10:19almost like a couple
pennies in the bucket
01:10:21that you throw in
just for yourself,
01:10:23to invest, to read something,
to experiment, to have
01:10:26a conversation with
someone, to take a weekend
01:10:29to make an experiment,
like a YouTube video.
01:10:31You could do that with a couple
hundred dollars of equipment
01:10:34and get the thing up, and
get feedback and resonance.
01:10:37And those little
evidence moments
01:10:39are going to inform
eventually, if you really
01:10:42have a fork in the road.
01:10:44And you use your present
employer as a platform,
01:10:48but ultimately it's your career.
01:10:51So just think about
that license and how
01:10:52you make micro-investments
that lead to something bigger.
01:11:00KAI HALEY: Microphone's coming.
01:11:01KEVIN BETHUNE: And while
that microphone's coming,
01:11:03I just want to reinforce, with
the things that you wrote down,
01:11:06if someone wants to
actually share your dream
01:11:08and how you're thinking
about your what if
01:11:10and renewal question
and statement,
01:11:13feel free to share
in this venue too.
01:11:15We wanted to encourage that.
01:11:18AUDIENCE: Kind of to add
to the first question,
01:11:22with these bigger companies
like WeWork and Facebook
01:11:27with political ads and
Google with privacy, how does
01:11:30one designer push back on that?
01:11:33Raise your hand but you're
only one of a hundred designers
01:11:37to make sure that we can
actually change stuff
01:11:40when all the focus is on topic.
01:11:45KEVIN BETHUNE: Well, I
honestly believe, this
01:11:47is one man's opinion.
01:11:48But no matter your environment,
no company is perfect,
01:11:51no company will ever
be fully perfect.
01:11:54But a leader can
come from anywhere.
01:11:58And I think what we need
are effective leaders that
01:12:01know how to be the change.
01:12:05So yes, there may
be moments where
01:12:07it's intimidating to
slow the train down,
01:12:09and ask the ethical question.
01:12:12There are moments
to be by yourself,
01:12:14to noodle on
something, to create
01:12:16evidence that
could move mindsets
01:12:18if you just show it to someone.
01:12:21There are all kinds of ways
that we can find the ability
01:12:26to lead something forward,
and create a mini movement,
01:12:28if you will, that can show
a solution-oriented tact
01:12:33to addressing the
problem or the concern.
01:12:37It's one thing to rally
and theorize and soapbox.
01:12:41But we know those moments might
not be as effective, right?
01:12:46But if you have real
evidence, or if there's
01:12:48a glaring ill truth, you've
got to call those things out
01:12:52for sure and say,
hey, I'm concerned
01:12:54for the right ethical reasons.
01:12:56You should find
that support too.
01:12:57But there's many different
ways to lead us all,
01:13:00I guess I'm saying.
01:13:01And sometimes that can be
a small bottom up thing
01:13:04that you do to garner a
news story or a new piece
01:13:07of evidence that will change
another person's mindset.
01:13:10Now you have an ally,
and you can go together
01:13:12to do the next thing,
and the next thing,
01:13:14and all of a sudden you
have a movement grow.
01:13:16That's the tactic that
I've seen most effective.
01:13:18Did I answer that question?
01:13:23Yes sir, in the back.
01:13:26I was not going
to share my dream.
01:13:28But I figured, why not?
01:13:31Anyway, Jim Crow has
killed my community.
01:13:35It's just set us
back generations.
01:13:37And I'd like to go
back and actually do
01:13:39some good, that's the dream.
01:13:42But my actual
question is, it helps
01:13:44me to understand something
if I can categorize it.
01:13:48If I can categorize it and see
how it relates to other things.
01:13:51So the kind of design
work that you're doing,
01:13:54but what job title is that?
01:13:57And if you could name
some of your competitors
01:13:59to help me relate it
to everything else,
01:14:02I'd really appreciate it.
01:14:04KEVIN BETHUNE: Yeah.
01:14:04No, I would best
characterize that--
01:14:09I think it's an
excellent question--
01:14:10what is the act that
was represented here?
01:14:15It's very much, and we don't
know what to call it, honestly,
01:14:18as we were moving.
01:14:19My title changed
probably 10 times
01:14:20in the story of the
scale up of BCGDV.
01:14:24But honestly what we were doing
was problem-solving at a peer
01:14:28to peer level, no matter
who was in the room.
01:14:30If it was a CEO, businessperson,
engineer, technologist,
01:14:35we just tried to problem-solve
and use our deep faculties
01:14:38to evoke a new
story, a new system,
01:14:41and try to get by in an
alignment or question
01:14:43and challenge each other
to make a better answer.
01:14:46So the problem-solving came at
a breadth perspective, in that
01:14:50we were bringing others in.
01:14:52And you tend to
then say that that's
01:14:55strategy work, in a sense.
01:14:56And it's funny, my cohort
was called strategic design
01:14:59for that reason, because we were
sparring at a strategic level.
01:15:03But then there were
times where you
01:15:05had to go deep, and actually
build something or flush
01:15:07something out, and use
your deep expertise.
01:15:10And usually, if I reflect
back on the strategic design
01:15:14cohort, every
designer in that team,
01:15:17usually they had one
to three deep weapons
01:15:20that you could hang
your hat on those skills
01:15:23better than anyone.
01:15:24You could trust that they
would deliver, no question.
01:15:27It wasn't about
being a generalist
01:15:28and being all
things to everyone.
01:15:30We asked each designer to
bring a couple deep strengths
01:15:33to the party, so that
the evidence, the work,
01:15:37catapulted everyone forward too.
01:15:39So it made the problem-solving
better every time
01:15:41we got together as a team.
01:15:43But we knew to disband
the team and let
01:15:44people do their individual
head down work to flesh things
01:15:49And using other industries
as you mentioned,
01:15:51other adjacent topics and
categories and best practices,
01:15:56getting outside of our own
realities is also important.
01:15:59That's why I'm
not making a plug,
01:16:00but that's why I leaned heavily
on the Design Management
01:16:04Institute during the scale
up of that incubator work.
01:16:08Because I knew we didn't have
all the answers ourselves.
01:16:11I could talk to the Chief
Design Officer of Pepsi,
01:16:13for example, who's
on the board of DMI,
01:16:15and he could express
realities that
01:16:17are helpful for my
situation, and vice versa.
01:16:21So it was a very important
to plug into a community
01:16:23outside of myself in
the problem-solving.
01:16:32AUDIENCE: Thank you, Kevin.
01:16:34And can you share a little
bit more about the habits
01:16:38or how you organize yourself
to do creative work,
01:16:42considering that all the
distractions, how busy you are.
01:16:47KEVIN BETHUNE: Yeah,
definitely right now
01:16:49with my young company,
it's holding up
01:16:52about 10, 20 spinning plates.
01:16:56But honestly, one
thing that I think
01:17:00the biggest and most important
rubric that comes to mind
01:17:03is sort of that intersection
between urgency and importance.
01:17:09If you were to map that on a two
by two, like what region do you
01:17:13And in an organization,
startup, or large enterprise,
01:17:16all kinds of competing
demands, it's really easy
01:17:18to fall into a place
of, I think it's
01:17:21wasteful to live in a place
where it's not important stuff,
01:17:24but it's seemingly
urgent to everyone
01:17:26and you got to do
all these things.
01:17:28And you're not being
effective on anything.
01:17:30So I tend to align my calories
toward those highly important
01:17:36things to drive
success for my clients,
01:17:40as well as my business.
01:17:42And learning how to go slow
on some of those things,
01:17:45and saying no to that
a lot of other stuff,
01:17:46that's claiming to
be urgent, but not
01:17:48necessarily as important.
01:17:50And some of that
stuff you have to do,
01:17:51but making sure that you're
conscious to balance the time
01:17:56And for the type of work
that I want to have,
01:17:58sometimes it takes getting
ahead of an immediate client
01:18:01relationship or whatever, and
actually creating evidence.
01:18:05Something as simple as a
video took a weekend of work.
01:18:08But folks have leaned
in to say, I actually
01:18:12like those values
and that ethos.
01:18:14How can I get some of
that in my company?
01:18:16Those are the conversations that
putting a little experiment out
01:18:19in the wild will have
for you and your teams.
01:18:30AUDIENCE: Hi, thank
you for your talk.
01:18:33I wanted to ask, once
you're at a startup
01:18:35and you get a seat at
the table, because it
01:18:38can take some time, what are
some practical tips that you
01:18:43have to maintaining
that seat at the table?
01:18:46What are the first few things
that you would do to make
01:18:49sure that you're actually
taking advantage of that?
01:18:54KEVIN BETHUNE: Great question.
01:18:55So how do you sort of
assert and keep your place
01:18:58at the table, basically?
01:19:02When I was learning
how to be an engineer,
01:19:05I remember one of the
college professors saying,
01:19:07you know what, regardless
of all these calculations
01:19:10that we're doing, when
you're out in the workforce,
01:19:12if you want to be a
driving influence at all,
01:19:14just know that 70% of your time
will be spent communicating.
01:19:16[LAUGHS] And it's so true.
01:19:18And especially if
you're trying to problem
01:19:20solve at that peer-to-peer
level to shape
01:19:23the evolution of a business,
communication is huge.
01:19:27And so I think a lot about
the hierarchy of how I present
01:19:31things, or the hierarchy of
in the heat of team problem
01:19:36solving, there's probably
a couple convictions
01:19:40that I'll feel in that meeting.
01:19:42And I make sure I get
those things out of my soul
01:19:47onto the table for a
consideration, when you feel
01:19:49those moments of conviction.
01:19:51Because again, it's all
about communicating.
01:19:53And it's one thing to
be a voice in the room,
01:19:56but you need to be an effective
and relevant voice in the room.
01:19:59And convictions, I believe
are your best guide.
01:20:02Evidence is your best guide.
01:20:05The true question,
the valid question
01:20:07that should be asked,
whether it's ethics,
01:20:08whether it's in anything
that's relevant to that team
01:20:11to move it forward, act
on those convictions
01:20:14and communicate with
focus and a hierarchy,
01:20:17where you're not just
like drowning someone
01:20:19in all the details.
01:20:20Because they probably don't
care about all the details
01:20:22and all the time that you
spent to work on that thing.
01:20:24But just knowing how
to be decisive with how
01:20:26you communicate, I
think is critical.
01:20:30Come on, anyone want to share
their what if renewal stories?
01:20:33KAI HALEY: Right here.
01:20:38AUDIENCE: Amazing talk.
01:20:39I was captivated, by the way.
01:20:41But I have a
question about, so I
01:20:42work in data and AI analytics.
01:20:44It's extremely confusing for me.
01:20:46Because I'm a newer designer.
01:20:48I come in with a
fresher take, and we're
01:20:50designing applications.
01:20:51But I'm coming in
with a designer that
01:20:54has had 25 years
in the industry,
01:20:56he's come from an
older generation.
01:20:59I notice you're talking about
bringing something, especially
01:21:04in the medical field,
to a newer generation,
01:21:07and it takes a long time.
01:21:09How can I, as new designer,
and I'm the only one,
01:21:13I don't have
[? any ?] other help.
01:21:14How can I communicate
effectively to him,
01:21:18this is what I
think we should do,
01:21:22whether it be evidence-based
or research-based?
01:21:27I just want to know any
valid tips or validation
01:21:30for bringing things a little
bit quicker and more relevant
01:21:34and modern for today for people
to understand, especially
01:21:37when it comes to
mobile applications
01:21:39and medical,
pharmaceutical exactly.
01:21:41KEVIN BETHUNE: Yep.
01:21:46I draw from that question,
the fact that correct me
01:21:51if I'm mischaracterizing it,
but it feels lonely sometimes
01:21:54to be the only person in
that legacy situation, right?
01:22:01So it's very important that
a couple of dimensions,
01:22:03like to plug into, there's
other designers that
01:22:05are facing similar challenges
just like you, that you
01:22:08got to find those communities.
01:22:11And they could sit in adjacent
industries or other communities
01:22:16that you can find
online or conferences,
01:22:18but finding those for people.
01:22:21Be a voracious learner
around, the market friction
01:22:24isn't going anywhere.
01:22:26As smart as people are, the
market friction is still real.
01:22:29So as much of a
self-study, you can
01:22:32be around the realities of
that patient, I'm making it up,
01:22:34I don't know your problem.
01:22:35But the patient or whatever the
context is around that patient,
01:22:39and taking some
experimental stabs
01:22:41to characterize it from
a design, your design
01:22:43perspective of what you see,
what information you collect,
01:22:48and wrestling with that
and using your community
01:22:50to balance best practices.
01:22:52You can come more informed
to the party and say,
01:22:55you know what, this is
actually an industry benchmark
01:22:57or market facing realities
that I'm finding.
01:23:00What do you think?
01:23:01And you're being
solution-oriented,
01:23:04versus feeling like you're
leveraging your newness
01:23:07as a weapon to go find and go
seek, when that other person,
01:23:12I don't mean to
misjudge them, but they
01:23:14might rest on their laurels of
what they know over the last 25
01:23:18Use your newness as an
advantage to go find--
01:23:28AUDIENCE: So my question
is more about your journey.
01:23:31It sounds like you went to
two different grad schools.
01:23:34And as somebody
that's considering
01:23:36going to grad school
or just trying
01:23:37to get the experience
in the industry,
01:23:40would you say that getting
formal education was necessary?
01:23:46KEVIN BETHUNE: Yeah, it's
a very delicate question,
01:23:48because I'd never
want to say anything
01:23:52that would inform someone
to make the wrong choice.
01:23:55But what I would say is, there
were a couple of paradigms
01:23:59that I was facing
when I was considering
01:24:01going to business school and
a little on the design school.
01:24:04In that the days of
the stepping stone
01:24:06progression, because other
people were doing it,
01:24:09and you almost feel sometimes
that you have to do it,
01:24:11because your peer
group has done it.
01:24:13The days of the stepping
stone progression
01:24:15is dead in my opinion.
01:24:16I've had mentors like
shake me and tell me that.
01:24:19You never want to
go just because you
01:24:21think you have to for the sake
of your career trajectory.
01:24:24But the bigger question
is, based on your dream,
01:24:26based on your curiosities,
is the education
01:24:29going to help you get to
where you're trying to go?
01:24:32And can it be an accelerant?
01:24:34I was in this
situation, where it was
01:24:36either 10 years or two years.
01:24:39And two years to
have more license
01:24:41to entertain bigger
problems than just sneakers,
01:24:44or 10 years to
sort of map myself
01:24:46to the present status quo?
01:24:49So what does it mean for you?
01:24:51You should only
go if it truly is
01:24:52going to empower you
toward accelerating
01:24:55for that future vision that
you've projected of yourself.
01:24:59That's what you say, the
experiments, the learnings,
01:25:01the investigations feel
like it's the right to go.
01:25:06So even more important that you
go through that due diligence.
01:25:15AUDIENCE: Hi, Kevin.
01:25:18By the way, I just want
to share my dream with you
01:25:22and actually ask you
something really quick.
01:25:25So my dream is to use design to
create a more accessible world.
01:25:30And I want to ask you
what your dream is,
01:25:34if you can share with us.
01:25:35KEVIN BETHUNE: Oof.
01:25:40That's a beautiful dream.
01:25:42I like the notion of
accessible, because as we know,
01:25:44there's a lot of institutional
paradigms at play
01:25:47where not everyone
is licensed to play,
01:25:51to even follow through
on their dream.
01:25:53We sort of have to navigate
life knowing those realities
01:25:56and operate with
gratitude and compassion
01:26:00and be generous of what
we have and share it.
01:26:03So for me, I think these crazy
vacillations that I've had,
01:26:09I feel like I'm finding
the right place that's
01:26:13going to probably define
the rest of my career.
01:26:16But there's bigger
questions, topic areas,
01:26:19where I don't think the things
that we're leveraging right now
01:26:23are helping us unlock
our true human potential.
01:26:26So I want to see, my dream is to
see a future where we celebrate
01:26:30human connection again.
01:26:31And do we need to even
go to a primitive place
01:26:34to understand what family
means, what passing down
01:26:37legacy means, what owning the
stories and the bonds mean,
01:26:41developing community?
01:26:42Like when I go home
to my neighborhood,
01:26:45everyone's garages go up, the
cars go in, and that's it.
01:26:48There's no interaction.
01:26:51That's the future
that I want to see.
01:26:53An inclusive, diverse,
equal access, I'm with you.
01:26:58But ensuring that
we're celebrating what
01:27:01makes us human again.
01:27:02And we're still very
far from that vision.
01:27:08Good question, and thank
you for sharing your dream.
01:27:11KAI HALEY: Thank you all
so much for joining us.
01:27:13And thank you, Kevin.
01:27:14That was amazing.
