Design To Be Conversation

This is our 50th episode of Design To Be Conversation. Thank you all so much for your support – and an extra special thanks to those of you who have been listening since the beginning! Today we’re celebrating by doing something a little bit different. In this episode, our guest host Jayneil Dalal interviews me about my experience with a 10-day silent meditation retreat.

Jayneil Dalal is a product designer born in Gujarat, India and polished in Dallas, Texas. He hosts the design MBA podcast where he interviews rockstar designers. And I’m Rachel Weissman, the Founder & CEO of Design To Be and the host of the Design To Be Conversation podcast. I’m also an emotional intelligence coach, keynote speaker, and meditation & yoga teacher currently based in Venice, California.

We dive into what happens when disconnecting from technology entirely, the difference between experiencing and intellectualizing, and listening to your body to get clarity on your career.

Find Rachel on Twitter at @racheldweissman and Jayneil on Twitter at @jayneildalal.

This is our 50th episode of Design To Be Conversation. Thank you all so much for your support – and an extra special thanks to those of you who have been listening since the beginning! Today we’re celebrating by doing something a little bit different. In this episode, our guest host Jayneil Dalal interviews me about my experience with a 10-day silent meditation retreat.

Jayneil Dalal is a product designer born in Gujarat, India and polished in Dallas, Texas. He hosts the design MBA podcast where he interviews rockstar designers. And I’m Rachel Weissman, the Founder & CEO of Design To Be and the host of the Design To Be Conversation podcast. I’m also an emotional intelligence coach, keynote speaker, and meditation & yoga teacher currently based in Venice, California.

We dive into what happens when disconnecting from technology entirely, the difference between experiencing and intellectualizing, and listening to your body to get clarity on your career.

Find Rachel on Twitter at @racheldweissman and Jayneil on Twitter at @jayneildalal.

In today’s episode, I speak with Malthe Sigurdsson. Malthe has 25 years of experience as a designer and design leader building, scaling, and managing design organizations that deliver beautiful and effective work across multiple disciplines and product categories. He is currently the Chief Design Officer at Handshake, where he is leading product and brand design across the company. At Handshake his goal is to help level up the end-to-end consumer and enterprise experiences and is instrumental in helping Handshake grow a world-class design team. Before Handshake, Malthe was Head of Design at Stripe, leading design for 6 years. Prior to Stripe he was SVP of Product and Design at Rdio and Creative Director at Skype.

We dive into what ownership, influence, and impact can look like for designers working with diverse stakeholders. We discuss 6 key steps for exerting influence with outsized impact – including identifying and communicating your convictions, and enabling others to be successful alongside you.

In today’s episode, I speak with Malthe Sigurdsson. Malthe has 25 years of experience as a designer and design leader building, scaling, and managing design organizations that deliver beautiful and effective work across multiple disciplines and product categories. He is currently the Chief Design Officer at Handshake, where he is leading product and brand design across the company. At Handshake his goal is to help level up the end-to-end consumer and enterprise experiences and is instrumental in helping Handshake grow a world-class design team. Before Handshake, Malthe was Head of Design at Stripe, leading design for 6 years. Prior to Stripe he was SVP of Product and Design at Rdio and Creative Director at Skype.

We dive into what ownership, influence, and impact can look like for designers working with diverse stakeholders. We discuss 6 key steps for exerting influence with outsized impact – including identifying and communicating your convictions, and enabling others to be successful alongside you.

In today’s episode, I speak with Ximena Vengoechea. Ximena is a user researcher, writer, and illustrator whose work on personal and professional development has been published in Inc., The Washington Post, Newsweek, and Huffington Post. She is the author of the new book, Listen Like You Mean it: Reclaiming the Lost Art of True Connection (Portfolio/Penguin Random House). She is a contributor at Fast Company and The Muse, and writes Letters from Ximena, a newsletter on tech, culture, career, and creativity. She is best known for her project The Life Audit. An experienced manager, mentor, and researcher in the tech industry, she previously worked at Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Twitter. She is currently working on her second book, a guide to reclaiming rest.

We dive into how to cultivate a listening mindset through humility, curiosity, and empathy; how to identify your own default listening mode; and ways to uncover hidden needs in a conversation.

In today’s episode, I speak with Ximena Vengoechea. Ximena is a user researcher, writer, and illustrator whose work on personal and professional development has been published in Inc., The Washington Post, Newsweek, and Huffington Post. She is the author of the new book, Listen Like You Mean it: Reclaiming the Lost Art of True Connection (Portfolio/Penguin Random House). She is a contributor at Fast Company and The Muse, and writes Letters from Ximena, a newsletter on tech, culture, career, and creativity. She is best known for her project The Life Audit. An experienced manager, mentor, and researcher in the tech industry, she previously worked at Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Twitter. She is currently working on her second book, a guide to reclaiming rest.

We dive into how to cultivate a listening mindset through humility, curiosity, and empathy; how to identify your own default listening mode; and ways to uncover hidden needs in a conversation.

In today’s episode, I speak with Susan Weinschenk. Susan has a Ph.D. in Psychology and is the Chief Behavioral Scientist and CEO at The Team W, Inc, as well as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point.

Susan consults with Fortune 1000 companies, start-ups, governments, and nonprofits, and is the author of several books, including 100 Things Every Designer Needs To Know About People, 100 MORE Things Every Designer Needs To Know About People and How To Get People To Do Stuff.

We dive into the brain science of creativity and how to come up with better ideas and solutions by working with the 3 networks in your brain that foster creativity: executive attention, imagination, and salience. We discuss how to set specific intentions, why it’s essential to turn off your concentrated brain, and the science behind the “Aha!” moment.

In today’s episode, I speak with Susan Weinschenk. Susan has a Ph.D. in Psychology and is the Chief Behavioral Scientist and CEO at The Team W, Inc, as well as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point.

Susan consults with Fortune 1000 companies, start-ups, governments, and nonprofits, and is the author of several books, including 100 Things Every Designer Needs To Know About People, 100 MORE Things Every Designer Needs To Know About People and How To Get People To Do Stuff.

We dive into the brain science of creativity and how to come up with better ideas and solutions by working with the 3 networks in your brain that foster creativity: executive attention, imagination, and salience. We discuss how to set specific intentions, why it’s essential to turn off your concentrated brain, and the science behind the “Aha!” moment.

In today’s episode, I speak with Indi Young. Indi is a researcher who coaches, writes, and teaches about inclusive product strategy. Her work is rooted in the problem space where the focus is on people, not users. Indi pioneered opportunity maps, mental model diagrams, and thinking styles. Her way of approaching the problem allows teams to truly pay attention to people, without letting cognitive bias and assumptions creep in.

Indi has written two books: Practical Empathy and Mental Models. She builds knowledge and community via a series of live online advanced courses about the importance of pushing the boundaries of your perspective. She was one of the founders of Adaptive Path, the pioneering UX agency. You can follow her on Twitter @indiyoung and access many resources on her website indiyoung.com as well as at medium.com/inclusive-software.

We dive into what it means to listen deeply when doing research, how to collect knowledge about a purpose rather than a solution, and how to create a safe space so the person you’re listening to can access their interior cognition. You’ll come away with some fascinating examples and actionable techniques for deep listening.

In today’s episode, I speak with Indi Young. Indi is a researcher who coaches, writes, and teaches about inclusive product strategy. Her work is rooted in the problem space where the focus is on people, not users. Indi pioneered opportunity maps, mental model diagrams, and thinking styles. Her way of approaching the problem allows teams to truly pay attention to people, without letting cognitive bias and assumptions creep in.

Indi has written two books: Practical Empathy and Mental Models. She builds knowledge and community via a series of live online advanced courses about the importance of pushing the boundaries of your perspective. She was one of the founders of Adaptive Path, the pioneering UX agency. You can follow her on Twitter @indiyoung and access many resources on her website indiyoung.com as well as at medium.com/inclusive-software.

We dive into what it means to listen deeply when doing research, how to collect knowledge about a purpose rather than a solution, and how to create a safe space so the person you’re listening to can access their interior cognition. You’ll come away with some fascinating examples and actionable techniques for deep listening.