Branding to Design & Teaching Design Teams

Karen’s conversation with Design Thinking 101 host Dawan Stanford covered her path from brand management at Procter & Gamble into design thinking, her leadership at Summer of Design and Design Thinking DC, how she works with individuals and teams as they learn and practice design thinking, and much more.

Key moments from this episode:

[01:42] — We hear about Karen’s learning journey, and how design thinking has been involved in her career.

[07:31] — What were some of Karen’s aha moments in the early reading and learning that she did?

[09:27] — Karen talks about what Design Thinking DC is, and what she’s doing there.

[12:42] — Dawan takes a moment to unpack some of what Karen has been saying about design leadership. Karen then talks more about leading people and teams through their first encounter with design thinking.

[16:36] — We hear about warning signs for team dysfunctions, and ways that Karen has helped teams to get back on track.

[20:39] — Karen talks about virtual collaboration, and what you lose when you sacrifice the face-to-face experience.

[23:37] — We hear about how Karen has evolved her practice of aligning people’s expectations with what’s possible in Summer of Design.

[26:26] — What are some of the things that Karen has done to keep the relationship with community partners healthy?

[31:34] — Karen goes into more depth about what’s attractive about Summer of Design to sponsors and partners.

[34:56] — We learn more about Karen’s work for her own clients, which she explains is the same as what she offers through DT:DC.

[38:04] — What are some simplifications that Karen has done to ease the introduction to design thinking?

[41:21] — Karen talks about her workarounds when she encounters resistance with students or clients.

[45:20] — How can peers become peer coaches?

[46:29] — We hear about patterns that Karen has seen across her work that give insights into where design thinking is headed.

[50:36] — Are there any big questions that Karen is wrestling with, or challenges or ideas she wants to share with the community of listeners?