IDEO has built a business around solving difficult problems. But problems and situations are not the same thing, argues Seth Godin. And correctly telling them apart is critical. Get it wrong, and you'll spend months pushing on something that was never going to move.

In this conversation, Seth and Mina dig into themes from Seth’s new book The Knot: how to tell a problem from a situation, why naming a problem correctly is a much higher bar than most of us set, and how systems—inside a company, a family, or a culture—work to outlast the people trying to change them.

Related Resources

Seth’s newest book, The Knot: https://seths.blog/theknot

Seth's blog: https://seths.blog

Seth Godin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sethgodin/

Human-Centered Systems Thinking, an IDEO U 5-week cohort course: https://ideou.com/products/human-centered-systems-thinking

In This Episode

Timestamps are approximate due to ad breaks.

(00:00) The story of the Gordian knot

(01:57) Seth Godin: 20+ books, the internet's most-read blog, and the book he almost didn't write

(04:35) The book that never sold, Survival Is Not Enough — and why it's still his favorite

(08:24) How a four-hour interview with Mel Robbins turned into The Knot

(11:11) Why he picked a pretzel for the cover of his new book

(16:08) A tangled necklace reveals the real problem, and it's not the necklace

(22:28) A CEO deletes every recurring meeting in the company, on purpose

(27:06) Why briefing a team on the solution instead of the problem backfires

(28:24) The one question Seth asks people to find out if they actually know their problem

(32:18) The engineering assignment that earned an F but won with actual users

(35:36) Problem or situation? The one-line test for telling them apart

(39:14) The day Google shut down Squidoo, his 300,000-person community, overnight

(41:47) Why systems act like they want to outlast you

(45:19) Two ways to move an entrenched system

(47:04) Why "yes, and" and Seth's and/but framing aren't in conflict

(48:25) How to know when you've found the right problem

(49:49) The difference between a manager and a leader

(51:46) Lightning round: books, juggling, and advice for his younger self

__________

Get episode recaps and register for free live podcast events at ideou.com/podcast.

Build your creative problem-solving skills with IDEO U's online courses in human-centered design, AI, leadership, and more at ideou.com.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jane Fulton Suri spent nearly four decades defining the craft of design research. She says it’s less about collecting information and more about changing how you see something.

In this episode, IDEO CEO Mike Peng talks with Jane about memorable moments from her lengthy career, what separates a good insight from a great one, and where she thinks the discipline needs to go next.

Related Resources:

Jane teaches Insights for Innovation, part of IDEO U's AI x Design Thinking Certificate.

Insights for Innovation online course — https://www.ideou.com/products/insights-for-innovation

AI x Design Thinking Certificate — https://www.ideou.com/products/ai-design-thinking-certificate

Jane Fulton Suri on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jane-fulton-suri-64098a57/

Thoughtless Acts, by Jane Fulton Suri — https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/580270.Thoughtless_Acts_

Previous podcast episodes with Jane:

Why Bringing Curiosity Into Your Work Takes Courage: Jane Fulton Suri — https://shows.acast.com/creative-confidence-podcast/episodes/why-bringing-curiosity-into-your-work-takes-courage-jane-ful

How to Build Empathy Skills: Q&A with Jane Fulton Suri — https://shows.acast.com/creative-confidence-podcast/episodes/how-to-build-empathy-skills-qa-with-jane-fulton-suri

In This Episode

Timestamps are approximate due to ad breaks.

(00:00) A team designs a case to carry a donor kidney and realizes the emotion of the moment matters as much as functionality

(01:30) Mike introduces Jane with five facts about her background

(04:27) Psychology, architecture, ergonomics, and the meeting with Bill Moggridge that changed everything for Jane

(09:26) The origin story of design research, how it became a sellable phase, and what got lost along with it

(12:53) A haircut, a proposal, and the nearly-free idea that became IDEO's first customer journey

(16:17) The kidney story, in full and the design feature that came out of it

(18:39) Jane's definition of a great insight: not a framework, an epiphany

(21:47) Why nothing beats being "a sensory human being in the world,” even as AI evolves

(24:36) Rock climbing, swimming, woodblock printing: how her hobbies inspire her approach to design

(26:39) Grayson Perry, a wardrobe, and why Jane doesn't love the word "research"

(30:15) Her advice to young Jane: get over the imposter syndrome faster

__________

Get episode recaps and register for free live podcast events at ideou.com/podcast.

Build your creative problem-solving skills with IDEO U's online courses in human-centered design, AI, leadership, and more at ideou.com.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ed White has a rule he's tested on his own writing: hold yourself as the writer, and let AI be your editor. Ed is a Senior Design Director at IDEO's London studio, where he co-leads the firm's AI portfolio across Europe. Before IDEO, he spent 12 years as a writer and editor at the Financial Times, Wired, and Contagious. So when he talks about when to use AI for storytelling and when not to, it comes from two decades of crafting his storytelling skills.

In this episode, Mina Seetharaman talks with Ed about two specific tools he uses to keep AI in an editor's seat: a "roasting agent" prompted to critique his drafts without any sugarcoating, and a simulated audience he rehearses pitches on before the real thing. They also get into what Ed is hearing from design leaders at Anthropic, Lovable, Shopify, and Google Creative Lab about how creative work is changing, and why he thinks the friction of writing something yourself is worth protecting rather than automating away.

Related Resources:

Ed is one of three instructors behind IDEO U's new course, Creative Storytelling with AI. Learn more here: https://www.ideou.com/products/creative-storytelling-with-ai

Ed’s interviews with design leaders on the changing nature of creativity include this one with Lovable’s Nad Chishtie: https://www.ideo.com/journal/building-the-last-piece-of-software

Follow Ed on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ed-white-59b9a63/

In This Episode:

Timestamps are approximate due to edits and ad breaks

(00:00) What a good editor does for your story

(01:00) Mina introduces Ed White, Senior Design Director at IDEO's London studio

(03:13) Why storytelling with AI isn't about outsourcing your thinking

(03:44) Ed's founding rule: "Don't think of it as a writer. Hold yourself as a writer."

(04:40) Mina's teenage son on friction: "It doesn't make me faster. It makes me better."

(05:26) William Zinsser, writing as thinking on paper, and why frictionless isn't the goal

(07:31) What design leaders at Anthropic, Lovable, Shopify, and Google Creative Lab are seeing collapse

(11:48) The IDEO IQ report: which parts Mina wrote herself, and which she didn't

(13:29) "What makes you competitive is your people.” The case for protecting thinking time

(16:01) Introducing the roasting agent

(16:18) Why a savage AI critique beats a sycophantic one

(19:22) The discipline of being edited: what separates a professional writer from an amateur

(20:32) Ed’s friend who texted: "This is hard"

(22:43) The simulator: rehearsing a pitch on a board member

(25:15) Maintaining taste, and why it isn’t always the right word

(26:10) Getting to a "seven out of ten" and the return of the generalist

(28:17) Angela Kochoska's healthcare experiment: five ideas, then twenty

(30:22) "I don't think you can skip it" — Ed on the one thing AI can't shortcut

(32:00) Rick Rubin, Diplo, and the case for lived experience

(33:00) Adam Moss's three phases of making and the one that's very human

(35:06) "The shortest distance between two people is a story"

(35:33) Zoe Scaman on somatic intelligence, and the writer Ed says to follow

(36:22) Audience Q&A: raising kids in an AI-dominated world

(39:31) Audience Q&A: what AI is actually good at

(41:32) Audience Q&A: what should clients expect from agencies using AI?

(43:11) Lightning round: Arco, Donna Tartt, and letting go of what you can't control

__________

Get episode recaps and register for free live podcast events at ideou.com/podcast.

Build your creative problem-solving skills with IDEO U's online courses in human-centered design, AI, leadership, and more at ideou.com.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.