Lately...
Learning + Teaching
After receiving a Specialization in Design Thinking and Innovation from the University of Virgina Darden School Foundation under the expertise of the incomperable Professor Jeanne Liedtka, I began a journey into deeper learning through teaching. Over the past year, I've spent 3-5 hours a week mentoring executive education students as they discover Design Thinking methodolgy and master tools and techniques to achieve true innovation through Darden's online program.
I'm also about midway through course work & capstone project toward an Agile Development Specialization (UVA/Darden). I plan on expanding my mentoring activity to include coaching students through this same program once I've received the Agile Specialization.
These videos are short excerpts from a live mentoring session I conducted with students enrolled in the University of Virgina Darden School of Business executive education courses online. Learn more about the program here: Design Thinking at Darden
Doing
My goal in pursuing both the Design Thinking and Agile Development specializations is to augment my practical experience providing creative direction and leading Agile development process in my current role. If there's opportunity to infuse a human-centered design mindset into tackling the wicked problems that face organizations, I'm there. Where in the past I focused on executing design projects utilizing my own talents, I now work tirelessly to continuously sharpen my skills drawing the best out of creative teams and empowering innovative thinkers to design ingenious solutions.
I'll still plug in or grab the pen and pad to stretch my design muscles, but that's mostly because I could never give that up completely and I want to remain cognizant of current tools and techniques. Today I derive total satisfaction from coaching creativity and helping to remove the barriers that encumber teams as they drive toward innovation.
Paying it Forward
In addition to volunteering as a mentor online and in order to help foster the inclusive spirit that has developed over time in the creative cohort — a mindset that I wholeheartedly embrace — I offer free 10 minute advice sessions through officehours.io. Drawing from my experience, I'll share what I've learned about designing with the user in mind, speaking the language of the C-Suite, managing creative teams, or tell you about the time I packed everything I could fit into a Honda Civic and moved 3000 miles from Portland, Oregon to Virginia.