Best of The Crazy One episodes
This podcast has been a passion project of mine to try and share what I’ve learned in my career and the best of what I have learned from others. Over the years these episodes have been the most popular, most shared, and had the biggest impact on the audience.
EPISODE 91
The critical difference between design vs. creativity.
Design and creativity are two terms most people use interchangeably, but they could not be more different, and understanding those differences can make huge differences in your career, your team, and the impact you make in your company. In this episode, we will look at how design and creativity are often confused and misunderstood, how they should be defined, why the difference is important, and how to apply them to your career and team.
EPISODE 88
Trust is the key to everything.
Few things are more important to creativity, teamwork, and leadership than trust. Yet trust is one of the rarest and most misunderstood things on most teams and in most companies. In this episode, we will look at the different types of trust, understand where trust is important, look at how to assess the various aspects of trust, understand human-centered transformation, and some of the best ways to build trust.
EPISODE 87
Supporting and empowering introverts
Too many people think “good” leaders or teammates have to be energetic extroverts while introverts as described as shy, anti-social, asking too many questions, or needing too much time to think. In this episode, we will find a new perspective and understanding of what introverts go through, why their way of work is really valuable, some tips for those of you who work with introverts, and some things introverts can do to find more support and understanding at work.
EPISODE 86
How to make peace with yourself to improve your creativity.
Creativity and insecurity go hand in hand because our ideas and creative process are strongly influenced by what we have experienced in our life. The challenge is that we have all led different lives, so it is pretty much impossible to find other people who have the exact same problems you do. In this episode, we will look at where some of the most common creative insecurities come from, and with that understanding talk through a framework that can help you have a new way of dealing with yourself and your work.
EPISODE 85
How to get and give better creative feedback
Feedback is an incredibly important moment at multiple points in the creative process because it can make things a lot better or a lot worse. Yet so many people don’t know how to give good feedback which endlessly frustrates creatives. In this episode, we will look at what makes bad feedback, how to give better feedback, and how to hear and act on all of that feedback.
EPISODE 82
’The Future is Creative’ keynote from HOW Design Live 2019
This episode is a replay of my main stage keynote from HOW Design Live 2019. This talk is a culmination of everything I have seen and learned over the past year and a half working at InVision. It is made up of three truths that I think affect all of us and the six things we need to work on in our companies and in our work and lives.
EPISODE 81
‘Why innovation is rarely authorized’ panel from HOW Design Live 2019
Every company says they want more innovation and leaders who are able to deliver it yet they are often more afraid of extinction than the change that’s necessary for that innovation to be created. As a result, innovation often happens when teams go against the rules and even risk their jobs to get it done. This episode is a replay of a panel discussion I put together with two of the smartest and most inspirational people I know – best-selling author, Greg Larkin and ex-IDEO and current Managing Director of Expa, Sina Mossayeb.
EPISODE 75
How to survive corporate politics with grace and integrity
Dealing with politics is a necessary evil no matter where you work and at their worst can be so complicated that they can drive you out of a company or stand in the way of great work going out the door. In this episode, we will look at some of the emotional issues behind office politics and talk about the 8 habits that you can use to be able to survive them with grace and integrity.
EPISODE 74
Design Thinking isn’t bullsh*t. The way you apply it is.
Lately, I have seen some talks, articles and gotten some questions from people who are struggling with or just downright angry at using Design Thinking and/or Design Sprints. It’s something I’ve been able to use with a lot of success throughout my career so I reached out to some of these teams to understand what was going on. In this episode, we will look at why Design Thinking and/or Design Sprints getting beaten up, why do people feel this way, and in many cases, why I think their frustration is justified.
EPISODE 72
How to create REAL innovation.
Innovation is easily the most abused word in the corporate lexicon because we all talk about it so much but so few companies and teams are actually able to create it. In this episode, we will look at why innovation fails, the traits of truly innovative teams and what you can start doing on your team or in your company to fix all of this.
EPISODE 70
Understanding and improving your emotional intelligence
To lead creative teams you need to be able to understand your emotions, understand how other people feel and how your emotions can have an effect other people. In this episode, we are going to look at the five different parts of emotional intelligence to understand how they are all connected, how they affect you and what you can do to improve it.
EPISODE 69
How to fight imposter syndrome
Even the most successful creatives a little secret we all share – from time to time we feel like frauds. It’s called design imposter syndrome and it is a psychological phenomenon where you have a belief that you’re inadequate despite evidence to the contrary. In this episode, we will look at why it is something we all have, the 5 different types of imposter syndromes, and what you can do about it.
EPISODE 66
What to embrace, fight, stop and start to rediscover your voice and create your best ideas.
Everyone wants to let their work have a stronger voice and be more original but we have to deal with self-doubt, group think, and working for companies that demand conformity to a shared culture and way of thinking. In this episode, we will look at what makes up the foundation of originality and then explore the things that you need to embrace, fight, stop and start to rediscover your voice, fight the forces that want to strip your originality away from you and give you a roadmap for how to create better ideas with more originality.
EPISODE 63
The good and evil of data, research, and brainstorming
Combining data and research with your creative process is a tricky and frustrating thing for too many people. In this episode, we will look at data, research and brainstorming to see how powerful they can be when used correctly, the reasons why they can completely kill creativity when used incorrectly and the best practices you should use so that all these techniques can strengthen your work.
EPISODE 58
Confronting gender bias
We all need to start this conversation (especially men) because gender bias is a real problem that is very difficult to discuss and understand its conscious and unconscious expressions. Very few people understand it, have any idea how to confront it or make changes to improve it. In this episode, we will look at why this is a real problem, what a realistic outcome would be, the nine different types of bias, and what we can do about it.
EPISODE 55
Know what fights to pick and how to fight them constructively
Fighting for what you believe in at work and what your team needs are a critical parts of leadership. The problem is that if you to do it too much then you are a real pain to work with but if you don’t do it enough then you aren’t an effective leader. In this episode, we will look at how to find a balance in how often you have fights, why they are important and how to make fighting constructive instead of destructive for you and your career.
EPISODE 38
Building stronger relationships with your clients (even the difficult ones)
The relationship between creatives and their clients is one of the most important parts of the creative process because to be able to do great work, your clients need to trust and respect you and your creative process but it doesn’t always happen. In this episode, I will talk about how to build a solid foundation with any client, the importance of trust in that relationship, how you can training bad traits out of difficult clients, how you can avoid problems by including clients in the creative process and some basic tips to building rapport with your clients.
EPISODE 26
Creativity is a blue-collar profession
Creatives have opportunities right now that we haven’t seen since the industrial revolution and we’re blowing it. This episode is a continuation of Episode 1 ‘Lightbulbs are bullsh*t’ that goes beyond understanding your creative process to look at how to find better insights that will lead to better ideas.
EPISODE 18
The 7 rules for running a better brainstorming
Every company and every team wants to be more creative and have better ideas. But how do you get better? This episode shows you how to frame the opportunity given to you by your creative strategy using ‘how might we’ statements and the 7 rules to run a better brainstorming session.
EPISODE 1
Lightbulbs are bullish*t
Most people believe the myth that ideas are lightbulbs where we get all the answers to the problem all at one. Nothing is further from the truth. This episode looks at insights and tips on how you can be more creative and get a better understanding of your creative process.
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