Creative Confidence Podcast

Hosted by IDEO U

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Oct 2026

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IDEO’s Creative Confidence Podcast shares candid conversations with creative leaders, changemakers, and innovators navigating today’s most pressing challenges. Through real-world stories and insights, we explore how to lead with creativity, build resilient teams, and drive innovation. Grounded in IDEO’s 40 years of expertise in design thinking and innovation, each episode offers inspiration and practical tools for audacious leaders at every stage of their careers. Hosted by Mina Seetharaman, Head of New Ventures at IDEO, the podcast brings a human-centered lens to the complexities of making more courageous futures. Discover more at IDEOU.com . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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October 28, 202650 min

A Strong Strategy Considers Multiple Futures: Jennifer Lo

Most strategic plans are built for one version of the future: the one your team thinks is most likely. That works until conditions change, and then the plan needs rewriting. Futures thinking adds a step before strategic planning: looking at several plausible futures, so the strategy you choose has room to adapt. In this episode, host Mina Seetharaman talks with Jennifer Lo, Senior Director of Design Futures at IDEO, about what futures thinking is, how it strengthens strategy, and how any leader can build a signals practice. Jennifer has 20 years of experience in design strategy and innovation leadership. She was a managing director for innovation and strategy at Kaiser Permanente, and she teaches strategic foresight and human-centered design at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Public Health and at McMaster University’s DeGroote School of Business. She is also the instructor of IDEO U’s Applied Futures Thinking course. This conversation was recorded live in front of a virtual audience, and you’ll hear their questions along the way. If you lead a team or an organization, or you’re working toward it, this conversation will give you tangible ways to introduce futuring into your practice. Related Resources Jennifer Lo on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-lo-28654b3/ Applied Futures Thinking online course from IDEO U: https://www.ideou.com/products/applied-futures-thinking-course Earlier episode, How to Think Like a Futurist with Jennifer Lo: https://shows.acast.com/creative-confidence-podcast/episodes/6913728a7728b8766cfdfc2a How to Think Like a Futurist: A Leader’s Guide to Strategic Foresight and Better Decision Making: https://www.ideou.com/blogs/inspiration/how-to-think-like-a-futurist Building an enduring futuring system, by Jennifer Lo: https://www.ideo.com/journal/building-an-enduring-futuring-system The “used future” trap, by Jennifer Lo: https://www.ideo.com/journal/the-used-future-trap Why futurists start with a backward glance, by Jennifer Lo: https://www.ideo.com/journal/why-futurists-start-with-a-backward-glance In This Episode Timestamps are approximate due to edits and ad breaks. (00:00) Jennifer Lo’s background in futures thinking, design strategy and innovation leadership (03:25) What does futures thinking mean? Live listeners weigh in (05:05) What makes IDEO’s human-centered approach to futuring different (09:20) How IDEO’s version of futuring compares with the quantitative futures work of RAND and Shell (12:35) Why a strategy built on one expected future needs more flexibility (14:25) Strategy mistakes that make a plan expire fast, and the used future trap (20:15) Scanning, storytelling, and sense-making before strategy begins (23:00) The pull between a strategy horizon and a futures horizon (25:45) Why every leader benefits from futures thinking, and why a team of futurists would stall (28:30) Backcasting turns a far-off future into choices for now (30:30) How to start a signals practice in about an hour a week (33:35) Signals, trends, and drivers, explained (34:20) Why you should never scan for signals alone (36:40) What futures thinking reveals in healthcare (40:15) Signals arrays and systems thinking (41:40) How the pace of change, AI included, changes the way Jennifer judges signals (43:40) What makes a future scenario credible to a skeptical leader (45:15) How Jennifer got hooked on futures thinking (47:50) The mindset shift from control to agency (48:25) Lightning round: what to watch, who to read, and advice to her 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.

October 22, 202633 min

How to Use Systems Thinking to Reframe Problems: Deirdre Cerminaro (Replay)

Complex challenges, from traffic congestion to organizational culture change, don’t exist in a vacuum. Each one is part of a larger system. You can’t solve one piece of the puzzle without understanding how it affects the whole. Systems thinking is a holistic approach to making sense of that interconnection. Paired with a human lens on what motivates people and which needs go unmet, it leads to solutions that are more effective and more responsible. In this replay from 2024, former IDEO U Managing Director and co-founder Coe Leta Stafford talks with Deirdre Cerminaro, a former IDEO Executive Design Director and instructor of IDEO U’s Human-Centered Systems Thinking course. They cover how your starting question shapes the solutions you find, three mindsets for reframing it, and how to use a systems map as a tool for learning. We’re bringing this conversation back because systems thinking is a skill of rising importance as AI enters more of our workflows. Want to learn more? IDEO U’s Human-Centered Systems Thinking course now includes guidance on where AI can help and how to keep that work pointed at human-centered outcomes. Related Resources Human-Centered Systems Thinking course from IDEO U: https://www.ideou.com/products/human-centered-systems-thinking Creative Thinking for Complex Problem Solving course from IDEO U: https://www.ideou.com/products/creative-problem-solving What Is Systems Thinking? A Beginner’s Guide to Mindsets, Tools, and Examples: https://www.ideou.com/blogs/inspiration/beginners-guide-systems-thinking-core-mindsets 12 Systems Thinking Resources We Love: Books, Articles, and More to Get Started: https://www.ideou.com/blogs/inspiration/systems-thinking-resources-books-articles-videos-to-get-started How to Think in Systems for Greater Impact: https://www.ideou.com/blogs/inspiration/how-to-think-in-systems-for-greater-impact Deirdre Cerminaro on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deirdrecerminaro/ Earlier episode with Deirdre, “How to Think in Systems”: https://shows.acast.com/creative-confidence-podcast/episodes/69137292543edcb560b28a0d World Economic Forum, The Future of Jobs Report 2025: https://www.weforum.org/publications/the-future-of-jobs-report-2025 In This Episode Timestamps are approximate due to edits and ad breaks. (00:00) What is systems thinking, and why it’s relevant now (03:44) Deirdre Cerminaro: a decade at IDEO co-leading Systems and Strategy, now at Airbnb (04:40) An intro to systems thinking, and why it needs a human lens (07:04) What traffic congestion looks like when you see it as a system (09:18) Why the starting question matters, and why it’s almost never right the first time (11:04) A camera analogy for three systems thinking mindsets (12:58) Mindset one: zooming in and out, and the trap of staying in one mode too long (14:35) A food waste systems map that changes the question twice (17:54) What a systems map is really for (18:49) Mindset two: shifting your perspective, and what old clothing reveals about food waste (22:53) Mindset three: checking your own lens, and why mental models are so hard to see (24:35) Reflection questions for spotting your own biases, with a sustainability expert as the test case (27:26) How the three mindsets help anticipate unintended consequences (31:08) Lightning question: what’s inspiring Deirdre lately, from Dubai’s Museum of the Future __________ 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.

September 30, 202613 min

[From IDEO Thinking] The Hidden Costs of Caregiving: Sierra Hillman

Medical bills written in codes patients can't read. Homes that don't fit a wheelchair. A specialized bed that can run up to $15,000 and isn't covered by insurance. For the 24 million caregivers in the US, these are everyday obstacles. And each one points to a design opportunity. This week, we’re sharing an episode from IDEO Thinking, a new IDEO podcast where authors read their own stories from IDEO's Thinking blog. So much of what IDEO does is shaped by the people here, and these stories, told in the writers’ own voices, show what human-centered design looks like across different disciplines and practice areas. If you come to Creative Confidence for ideas to bring into your own work, consider this a fresh source of inspiration. This episode comes from Sierra Hillman, an interaction designer at IDEO focused on health. She became her father's sole full-time caregiver at 22 after he became paraplegic. Sierra shares the hardest parts of that role and the opportunities she sees for designers, healthcare providers, and businesses to lighten the load. Subscribe to the IDEO Thinking podcast here: https://shows.acast.com/ideo-thinking Read the story: https://www.ideo.com/journal/opportunities-in-the-hidden-costs-of-caregiving Related Resources IDEO U's Foundations in Design Thinking Certificate: https://www.ideou.com/products/design-thinking-certificate 5 principles for easing the burden on caregivers, by Sierra Hillman and John Won: https://www.ideo.com/journal/5-design-principles-for-easing-the-burden-on-caregivers Sierra Hillman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sierra-hillman/ In This Episode (Timestamps are approximate due to ad breaks.) (00:00) Mina introduces IDEO Thinking and Sierra's story (02:15) Sierra comes face-to-face with the hidden costs of care at 22 (04:38) Fighting insurance denials and imagining an AI patient advocate (05:52) Turning cryptic medical bills into something patients can read (08:07) Preventing bed sores with a smart, affordable bed for home (10:33) Finding a wheelchair-accessible home, and the tools that could help (12:04) Why designers have only scratched the surface __________ 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.

September 22, 202651 min

How to Tell a Problem From a Situation: Seth Godin

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 (02:27) Seth Godin: 20+ books, the internet's most-read blog, and the book he almost didn't write (05:05) The book that never sold, Survival Is Not Enough — and why it's still his favorite (08:54) How a four-hour interview with Mel Robbins turned into The Knot (11:41) Why he picked a pretzel for the cover of his new book (16:38) A tangled necklace reveals the real problem, and it's not the necklace (22:58) A CEO deletes every recurring meeting in the company, on purpose (27:36) Why briefing a team on the solution instead of the problem backfires (28:54) The one question Seth asks people to find out if they actually know their problem (31:22) The engineering assignment that earned an F but won with actual users (32:50) Problem or situation? The one-line test for telling them apart (36:30) The day Google shut down Squidoo, his 300,000-person community, overnight (41:51) Why systems act like they want to outlast you (45:49) Two ways to move an entrenched system (43:55) Why "yes, and" and Seth's and/but framing aren't in conflict (45:01) How to know when you've found the right problem (46:07) The difference between a manager and a leader (48:05) 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.

September 2, 202631 min

Insight Is an Epiphany, Not a Framework: Jane Fulton Suri

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.

August 18, 202646 min

How to Use AI as an Editor, Not a Writer: Ed White

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.

August 12, 202633 min

Storytelling for Entrepreneurs: Tom Kelley (Replay)

Storytelling isn't a nice-to-have for entrepreneurs. It's often the only asset you have before you have a brand, a product, or proof. In this episode, we talk with Tom Kelley, IDEO partner and co-author with his brother David Kelley of the bestseller Creative Confidence , about the four stories every entrepreneur needs ready to go: the elevator pitch, the origin story, the pitch deck, and the internal story that keeps a team believing when things get hard. Tom also shares tactical storytelling tips pulled from two decades of working with his own speaking coach. This is a replay episode. With 10 years of podcast episodes, we’ve got an extensive back catalogue of conversations to inspire you, no matter what challenge you’re facing. If you’d like to improve your storytelling skills, check out IDEO U’s newest course Creative Storytelling with AI. The course starts August 13, and for a limited time, you can bundle it with Storytelling for Influence, our foundational storytelling course, and save $200. Related Resources: Tom Kelley on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-kelley-867b685/ D4V (Design for Ventures) — https://d4v.com/ Blog recap: Storytelling Techniques for Entrepreneurs — https://www.ideou.com/blogs/inspiration/storytelling-techniques-for-entrepreneurs Creative Storytelling with AI course — https://www.ideou.com/products/creative-storytelling-with-ai Storytelling for Influence course — https://www.ideou.com/products/storytelling-for-influence In This Episode: Timestamps are approximate due to edits and ad breaks (00:00) “The data does not speak for itself" (02:01) Mina introduces this replay and why we're revisiting it (02:55) Coe Leta Stafford introduces Tom Kelley, co-author of Creative Confidence and IDEO partner (03:29) Tom's decades-long connection to Japan (05:10) How storytelling built IDEO's brand in Tokyo before it had one (06:17) D4V and Yubi: the "karaoke interface" fix for a healthcare app older users couldn't use (09:54) Barbara Beskin, IDEO's 90-year-old designer, on lived experience as expertise (11:06) The 15-second elevator pitch challenge (12:13) Why the same pitch should change depending on who's listening (13:14) Why IDEO used to think the work should speak for itself — and why that was wrong (16:56) The four stories every entrepreneur needs (17:42) Elevator pitch tips: Made to Stick and the power of a shortcut (20:25) The origin story: why authenticity beats a good hook (22:04) The pitch deck: team, market size, and the one soundbite people will repeat (25:40) The internal story: motivating a team around purpose, not just a paycheck (27:13) Lessons from 20 years with a speaking coach (28:49) Why nobody remembers the data, but everyone remembers Rebecca (30:26) Tom's advice to his younger self, and the two words that changed how he saw himself (31:11) Brené Brown's The Gift of Imperfection __________ 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.

July 29, 202655 min

Building a Personal AI for the Messiness of Life: Sida Li

Most AI products today are built for work—a space with clear problems and established systems. One founder noticed a gap: personal life is messier, harder to systematize, and mostly left behind by the AI boom. So she built Cue, a personal AI that lives inside iMessage and group chats, to go where the other tools haven't. In this episode, Becca Carroll, IDEO's Chief Strategy Officer, talks with Sida Li, co-founder and CEO of Shared Context Lab, about staying anchored to a human need while the technology around her keeps changing shape, why she treats her business model with the same rigor she'd bring to a product, and what it feels like to build a company at this particular, disorienting moment in AI. The conversation also gets into how Sida makes design decisions: the language Cue uses to describe itself, the tradeoffs behind building inside iMessage instead of a new app, and a real story about a business idea that didn’t pan out. This is the second in a two-part series profiling founders from IDEO's Startups-in-Residence program. The first conversation is with Johannes Seemann, founder of Sooner, on designing GenAI for the emotional side of money. Related Resources: Join the Cue waitlist — https://sharedcontextlab.com Sida Li on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/sida-li-35729698/ IDEO U's AI x Design Thinking Certificate — https://www.ideou.com/products/ai-design-thinking-certificate IDEO U's Designing a Business course — https://www.ideou.com/products/designing-a-business Listen to our episode with Johannes Seemann: Designing GenAI for the Emotional Side of Money — https://shows.acast.com/creative-confidence-podcast/episodes/designing-genai-for-the-emotional-side-of-money-johannes-see In This Episode: Timestamps are approximate due to edits and ad breaks (00:00) Mina introduces the Startups in Residence series (02:32) Becca Carroll returns as guest host (03:11) From consulting's rulebook to IDEO's blank page (03:43) Sida's zero-to-one path: IDEO, a venture studio, and a Series A with Arcade.ai (07:14) AI has democratized building — and that's not entirely good news (08:52) The long tail of personal life: "death by a thousand cuts" (12:43) What Cue actually is: part assistant, part advocate (14:37) Why she built for personal life instead of work (16:01) The deliberate choice to live inside iMessage, not a new app (17:57) Proactive, not reactive: the line between helpful and creepy (20:38) The word Sida refuses to use, and the conversation with Tim Brown that confirmed it (22:21) AI is less trusted than ICE right now — designing for that (23:28) Total transparency: why users can see, edit, and delete everything Cue remembers (25:40) Bringing Cue into a group chat changes everything (27:44) The founder's journey isn't linear — it's a squiggle (29:01) "Wandering in the dark": IDEO's desirability, viability, feasibility framework in practice (32:17) Finding investors who can see through the pitch (34:08) The business model is a prototype too (35:01) A B2B idea everyone loved — until the budget didn't exist (37:19) Why she's keeping pricing simple for now (38:26) Building a company while the tools underneath her keep changing (39:10) From not knowing how to code to building the front end (42:02) The sci-fi problem: building something that knows everything about you (42:47) The open question nobody's answered yet: what is this relationship, exactly? (46:22) The bank-app test: designing trust into a world with no fixed screen (47:06) What she got from building inside IDEO that she couldn't get alone (48:57) Inside Sida's toolbox: the stack behind Cue (50:10) The five-to-ten-year vision: software defined by the people who use it (52:45) Lightning round: Mitch Albom, pull-ups, and doing the thing before you're ready __________ 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.

July 15, 20261 hr 3 min

Designing GenAI for the Emotional Side of Money: Johannes Seemann

Most personal financial tools are built to run the numbers and optimize towards a budget. While that works for some, most people experience money as a lived relationship that doesn’t neatly fit into a spreadsheet. Johannes Seemann spent years interviewing people about their personal finances and came away with a different premise: Money is inherently emotional before it is mathematical. Accounting for people’s psychology and context first creates, he argues, creates the foundations to make smarter, more confident financial decisions. In this episode, Becca Carroll, IDEO's Chief Strategy Officer, talks with Johannes Seemann, founder of Sooner, about the problem space he knows so well, why he sees generative AI as a unique opportunity to design a solution for it, and what a genuinely human-centered approach to building an AI product looks like in practice. The conversation also gets technical. Becca and Johannes dig into the engineering and design challenges of building an AI moderator, from models that try to resolve human ambiguity rather than embrace it, to the normative assumptions they carry that can lead to biased interpretations. This is the first in a two-part series profiling founders from IDEO's Startups-in-Residence program. The second conversation is with Sida Li, co-founder and CEO of Shared Context Lab, on building Cue, a personal AI that lives inside your text messages and group chats. Related Resources: Take the Sooner Money Mindset quiz — https://mysooner.com Sign up as a beta tester — https://hellosooner.com Follow Sooner on Instagram — https://instagram.com/hellosooner IDEO U's AI x Design Thinking Certificate — https://www.ideou.com/products/ai-design-thinking-certificate IDEO U's Designing a Business course — https://www.ideou.com/products/designing-a-business In This Episode: (Timestamps are approximate due to edits and ad breaks) (00:00) Mina introduces the IDEO startups-in-residence series (01:34) Becca Carroll kicks things off as guest host (04:03) From IDEO's first data hire to two years inside Wells Fargo (05:51) The blind spot: why people assume financial advisors aren't for them (07:36) The loneliness of money, and what happened when Johannes's own team opened up about it (09:33) Where the name "Sooner" comes from (12:08) Trust over expertise: why finding a financial advisor is like finding a therapist (13:41) Rose's story: she paid off her house, then lost $25,000 trusting the wrong person at the gym (15:55) The light bulb moment: why people confide in chatbots when they won't confide in a person (17:12) Money as an identity issue: Homo economicus, Kahneman, and the trouble with "rational vs. irrational" (19:13) Turning the equation on its head: budget as output, not input (20:54) Getting laid off, a no-code AI course, and a rough first prototype in Python (22:57) Testing the psychographic profile on real people (24:43) What people won't tell an advisor, they'll tell AI (25:48) The data engine behind the future Sooner AI partner (28:52) Identity-driven spending: a real example of the pattern (31:56) From goals to intentions: what the product actually does today (34:28) The vet bill: why an intention can flex where a goal would break (35:33) Finding the right amount of control vs. ease (37:06) Designing for how it should feel, not what AI can do: why push-to-talk beat free-flowing conversation (39:57) Human-centered design as Sooner's competitive advantage (43:37) How to keep applying human-centered design after the research phase is over (46:13) What it takes to build with AI as a two-person team (47:32) The three architectures: AI brain, interface, and retrieval layer (51:32) The technical challenges: normative contamination, false coherence, and context rot (56:56) Testing an example: helping someone buy a car without spiraling (59:17) What success looks like for Sooner (1:02:03) Lightning round: Mossy Earth, dog training, and symmetry as a philosophy __________ 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.

July 2, 20261 hr 9 min

The Curious Leader's Edge in Uncertainty: Scott Shigeoka

We talk a lot about curiosity as a mindset. Scott Shigeoka lives it as a practice. Right now he’s driving a 25-foot purple van across the country, finding and documenting the stories of ordinary people making their communities better. He's not just curious about what's possible. He's out there finding out. In this episode, Mina Seetharaman talks with Scott Shigeoka, author of Seek and Head of Curiosity Cultivation at the Eames Institute, about what distinguishes a genuinely curious leader from a performative one, how power dynamics play into curiosity, how the Curious 100 project reveals the many forms curious leadership takes, and why curiosity, when practiced well, can restore your energy rather than drain it. Scott was previously on the Creative Confidence Podcast to explore why curiosity is a business imperative. That episode is linked below. This episode is part of an ongoing series on navigating uncertainty. We're exploring this topic from multiple angles with several guests this year. Also in this series: How to Not Know with Simone Stolzoff and The Decisiveness Crisis in Senior Leadership Teams with Sam Conniff. Related Resources: Seek: How Curiosity Can Transform Your Life and Change the World, by Scott Shigeoka — https://scottshigeoka.com The Curious 100 — https://thecurious100.org Curiosity Club (free newsletter) — https://scottshigeoka.com Scott Shigeoka on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottshigeoka Scott's Curiosity Toolkit (free guide for building curiosity at work) — https://curiosity-toolkit.netlify.app/ Scott's first Creative Confidence interview: Why Curiosity Is a Business Imperative — https://www.ideou.com/blogs/inspiration/why-curiosity-is-a-business-imperative IDEO U's Foundations in Creative Leadership Certificate — https://www.ideou.com/products/creative-leadership-certificate More episodes on navigating uncertainty: How to Not Know: Simone Stolzoff — https://shows.acast.com/creative-confidence-podcast/episodes/how-to-not-know-simone-stolzoff The Decisiveness Crisis in Senior Leadership Teams: Sam Conniff — https://shows.acast.com/creative-confidence-podcast/episodes/the-decisiveness-crisis-senior-leadership-teams-sam-conniff In This Episode: Timestamps are approximate due to ad breaks. (00:00) Cold open — the grace curious leaders earn when they make mistakes (02:47) The Curiosity Mobile — six months on the road, the belief gap, and why stories close it (07:36) Stories from the road — a florist, a group of librarians, and rafting across political lines (12:11) How getting curious refilled Scott's own hope and energy before the trip (14:57) Busting the echo chamber — curiosity as "what else are we missing" (15:58) The Curious 100 — what the project is and what separates real curiosity from the performative kind (20:50) Curiosity looks like many things — storytellers, editors, and activists on the list (23:10) Being an "admitter" — why owning your mistakes makes leaders more trusted, not less (28:11) Power and directionality — why the most powerful person in the room needs to be the most curious (33:28) Inclusion vs. belonging, and why curiosity is the difference (34:44) The question of the day — a research-backed practice for any meeting (39:34) Why the curious leadership framework matters — a menu of options, not a personality test (43:42) The four curious leader archetypes: Explorer, Provocateur, Reflector, Imaginator (48:11) Your dominant archetype — and why leaders can shift between all four depending on the moment (48:42) Curiosity vs. conviction — why staying open doesn't mean abandoning your values (51:28) Predatory curiosity — what it looks like, why it backfires, and deep canvassing as its antidote (59:16) Lightning round: Queer Eye, Lady Gaga, learning to surf, and curiosity as an act of love __________ 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.

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