Designing Tomorrow: Creative Strategies for Social Impact

Hosted by Eric Ressler

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Jun 2026

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Designing Tomorrow explores a new playbook for modern social impact leaders and brands to reach their true impact potential. Why do some social impact brands thrive, while so many others fail to get traction, build support for their cause, and make meaningful progress? Imagine your impact with truly sustainable revenue and resources. With deeper community engagement and relationships. With more influence in your social impact category. Hosted by Eric Ressler, Founder & Creative Director of Cosmic, with co-host Jonathan Hicken, Executive Director of the Seymour Marine Discovery Center, each episode dives into the strategies, mindsets, and behaviors top social impact brands use to play and win in the attention economy. Go beyond high-level concepts to specific tools and tactics you can use today. Watch on YouTube or listen to new episodes each Tuesday. Let’s design a better tomorrow, together. Designing Tomorrow is a Cosmic Production. Learn more at https://designbycosmic.com/ Designing Tomorrow is a registered trademark of Design By Cosmic, Inc.

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June 16, 2026Episode 9344 min

Can Business Actually Be a Force for Good?

For the last 50 years, we've operated under a single dominant idea: the purpose of business is to maximize shareholder value. But what if this whole era of extraction and short-termism isn't the natural order at all? What if it's just a blip? Sarah Gillard, CEO of Blueprint for Better Business, has spent 25 years inside major corporations watching what happens when companies forget what they're actually for, and she makes the case that business has both the power and the obligation to change it.Episode Highlights: [00:02:42] Two very different business models: profit maximization vs. employee ownership, from inside the same industry [00:06:37] The ESG rollback in context: what the data actually shows about corporate commitments [00:09:03] The forces of gravity that act on companies as they scale, and why purpose needs structural defense [00:12:17] The 70% problem: why intangible assets dominate organizational value but get ignored [00:15:27] Rethinking the social contract: why government, business, and civil society can't afford separate swim lanes [00:27:07] AI as a force for good or fragility: the questions businesses aren't asking but should be [00:37:58] Blueprint for Better Business's two foundational ideas, and why neither is as radical as it soundsNotable Quotes: Eric Ressler [00:25:20]: "We need more in culture imagining what that future could and should be, instead of constantly only warning about what it's looking like it's going to be." Sarah Gillard [00:38:40]: "Historically we will see these last 50-odd years as an odd blip. How do we take the most powerful shaper of our societies and just go: just focus on the money? Just weird." Sarah Gillard [00:40:20]: "Good intentions are necessary, but not sufficient. You need legal and governance mechanisms that keep you on track even when there is significant pressure to move."Resources & Links:Blueprint for Better Business — Sarah's organization; the one-page AI framework for boardrooms is available on their websiteJohn Lewis Partnership — The UK's largest employee-owned business, where Sarah led purpose strategyThe Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson Dear Alice: Utopian anime yogurt commercial — mentioned by Eric as a rare example of positive future imageryHosted by Eric Ressler, Founder & Creative Director of Cosmic, with co-host Jonathan Hicken, Executive Director of the Seymour Marine Discovery Center. New episodes every Tuesday.→ Subscribe: designingtomorrow.show → Work with Cosmic: designbycosmic.comListeners, now you can text us your comments or questions by clicking this link.*** If you liked this episode, please help spread the word. Share with your friends or co-workers, post it to social media, “follow” or “subscribe” in your podcast app, or write a review on Apple Podcasts. We could not do this without you!We love hearing feedback from our community, so please email us with your questions or comments — including topics you’d like us to cover in future episodes — at podcast@designbycosmic.comThank you for all that you do for your cause and for being part of the movement to move humanity and the planet forward.

June 9, 2026Episode 9230 min

The Real Cost of Playing It Safe

Jonathan recently learned that the Seymour Center is about to absorb a permanent new expense in the $150,000 to $200,000 range. On a $2.2 million operating budget, that's roughly 10% of the whole thing, and it's not a one-time hit. The instinct for most leaders is to pull back: tighten the budget, pause the big swings, and try again in a few years. But contraction changes the story you can tell funders, and that cost is harder to recover from than the budget hit itself.Episode Highlights:[00:00:30] Contract or keep pushing? The fundamental question. [00:02:00] The outdated overhead myth and why it makes budget shocks worse [00:05:30] The power of flexibility that reserves actually buy you [00:08:00] Eric's pandemic-era decisions at Cosmic: no layoffs, no pay cuts in 16 years [00:12:00] Why liftoff windows are sacred and rarely repeat on your timeline [00:17:00] The story you can tell funders when you're in motion vs. when you've pulled back [00:20:30] Separating ego from mission in high-stakes financial decisions [00:22:30] The case for nonprofit mergers in a shrinking funding landscapeNotable Quotes:Jonathan Hicken [00:17:00]: "I can go to those meetings right now and sit down at the table and look at these people in the eye and authentically tell the story of this liftoff. If I start to contract, I can't do that."Eric Ressler [00:18:10]: "There's a saying in the business world: never need a deal. I think we're wired as humans to just be super attuned to desperation."Resources & Links:Seymour Marine Discovery Center — https://seymourcenter.ucsc.eduVisibility Beats Impact — Designing Tomorrow podcast episodeHosted by Eric Ressler, Founder & Creative Director of Cosmic, with co-host Jonathan Hicken, Executive Director of the Seymour Marine Discovery Center. New episodes every Tuesday.→ Subscribe: designingtomorrow.show → Work with Cosmic: designbycosmic.comListeners, now you can text us your comments or questions by clicking this link.*** If you liked this episode, please help spread the word. Share with your friends or co-workers, post it to social media, “follow” or “subscribe” in your podcast app, or write a review on Apple Podcasts. We could not do this without you!We love hearing feedback from our community, so please email us with your questions or comments — including topics you’d like us to cover in future episodes — at podcast@designbycosmic.comThank you for all that you do for your cause and for being part of the movement to move humanity and the planet forward.

June 2, 2026Episode 9135 min

Feelings Don't Drive Change

Most social impact campaigns are built on two ingredients: information and emotion. The data makes the case. The storytelling makes people care. But caring, on its own, has a shelf life. Saralynn Finn, founder of Sett & Sley Consulting, joins Eric in the studio to argue that the third ingredient, what she calls "the hands", is where campaigns succeed or quietly die. Not more awareness, not more storytelling, but actionable pathways that give audiences something real to do with everything they now know and feel.Episode Highlights:[00:01:30] The head, heart, and hands framework for social impact campaigns [00:05:00] "the hands": actionable, attainable pathways that create real impact [00:06:00] Why "the hands" breakout at Skoll World Forum was the most well-attended [00:10:00] The celebrity collaboration that drove 30K subscribers but didn't change healthcare [00:15:30] Vote by mail in 2020: same message, radically different messengers [00:26:00] The end-of-year fundraising campaign that 5X'd revenueNotable Quotes:Saralynn Finn [00:06:00]: "It's the piece of most campaigns that's missing, that people are trying to break the nut of and figure out: how do I create a pathway?"Eric Ressler [00:13:00]: "Campaigns need their own little mini theory of change."Resources & Links:Skoll World Forum — https://skoll.org/skoll-world-forum/Represent Us — https://represent.us/Saralynn's LinkedIn article about the AI documentary in Rural America.Hosted by Eric Ressler, Founder & Creative Director of Cosmic, with co-host Jonathan Hicken, Executive Director of the Seymour Marine Discovery Center. New episodes every Tuesday.→ Subscribe: designingtomorrow.show → Work with Cosmic: designbycosmic.comListeners, now you can text us your comments or questions by clicking this link.*** If you liked this episode, please help spread the word. Share with your friends or co-workers, post it to social media, “follow” or “subscribe” in your podcast app, or write a review on Apple Podcasts. We could not do this without you!We love hearing feedback from our community, so please email us with your questions or comments — including topics you’d like us to cover in future episodes — at podcast@designbycosmic.comThank you for all that you do for your cause and for being part of the movement to move humanity and the planet forward.

May 26, 2026Episode 9031 min

Say What You Actually Believe

Most social impact leaders got into this work because they care deeply about the mission, not because they wanted to be public figures with opinions. But that instinct to stay quiet and let the work speak for itself may be doing more harm than good. Developing and sharing a strong point of view isn't a nice-to-have; it's a moral obligation for leaders in this space.Episode Highlights: [00:01:00] The hesitancy Eric keeps seeing in leaders who won't go public with their thinking [00:04:00] Defining "point of view" as a pattern of lived experience, not expertise [00:08:00] Eric's origin story: from attention economy manifesto to a new framework [00:10:30] Introducing the identity impact gap [00:18:00] Why therapy made Jonathan a better leader [00:24:00] Devil's advocate: what about pure open-mindedness as a leadership philosophy?Notable Quotes: Eric Ressler [00:11:05]: "The bigger the difference between who you actually are and how you are perceived by the people that you care about reaching, the bigger all of your problems are going to be." Eric Ressler [00:29:35]: "People need to do research, they need to develop hypotheses, they need to publish those, not just think about them in their brains."Resources & Links:Seymour Marine Discovery Center — seymourcenter.ucsc.eduKevin L. Brown — Mighty Ally Glen Galaich — Stupski FoundationKevin Starr — Mulago Foundation Skull World Forum Strategy Tier ranking episode - "Most of Your Brand Strategy is a Waste of Time" Hosted by Eric Ressler, Founder & Creative Director of Cosmic, with co-host Jonathan Hicken, Executive Director of the Seymour Marine Discovery Center. New episodes every Tuesday.→ Subscribe: designingtomorrow.show → Work with Cosmic: designbycosmic.comListeners, now you can text us your comments or questions by clicking this link.*** If you liked this episode, please help spread the word. Share with your friends or co-workers, post it to social media, “follow” or “subscribe” in your podcast app, or write a review on Apple Podcasts. We could not do this without you!We love hearing feedback from our community, so please email us with your questions or comments — including topics you’d like us to cover in future episodes — at podcast@designbycosmic.comThank you for all that you do for your cause and for being part of the movement to move humanity and the planet forward.

May 19, 2026Episode 8944 min

Integrity Alone Will Get You Outplayed

There's an unspoken rule in the social impact sector: we tell the truth, we follow the science, we play fair. But those rules are increasingly a losing strategy, because the industries we're up against don't have to win the argument. They just have to muddy it. Joelle Lester, Executive Director of the Public Health Law Center, has spent 25 years studying how Big Tobacco manufactured doubt, and how that same playbook now drives opposition to progress on climate, food, and public health.Episode Highlights: [00:04:00] Merchants of doubt: how the tobacco industry wrote the playbook for manufacturing scientific uncertainty [00:09:00] Why philanthropy needs to step up right now, and which foundations are leading [00:15:00] The strategic calculus of when to resist publicly versus when to go underground [00:24:00] Why scientists with integrity are at a structural disadvantage against opponents with none [00:33:00] “Cultural engineering” — Alessandra Orofino: why culture is always upstream of public policy [00:40:30] Why public health groups need to get better at storytelling and soundbitesNotable Quotes: Joelle Lester [00:05:00]: "The art of it is that they don't try to disprove it. They just try to raise doubt in people's minds about how believable the science is." Joelle Lester [00:41:05]: "Having all the evidence and having the legal authority and being right is not getting us where we need to go."Resources & Links:Public Health Law Center — https://www.publichealthlawcenter.org/Cooking with Smoke report — https://www.publichealthlawcenter.org/sites/default/files/resources/Cooking-With-Smoke.pdfMerchants of Doubt (book & film) — https://www.merchantsofdoubt.org/Hosted by Eric Ressler, Founder & Creative Director of Cosmic, with co-host Jonathan Hicken, Executive Director of the Seymour Marine Discovery Center. New episodes every Tuesday.→ Subscribe: designingtomorrow.show → Work with Cosmic: designbycosmic.comListeners, now you can text us your comments or questions by clicking this link.*** If you liked this episode, please help spread the word. Share with your friends or co-workers, post it to social media, “follow” or “subscribe” in your podcast app, or write a review on Apple Podcasts. We could not do this without you!We love hearing feedback from our community, so please email us with your questions or comments — including topics you’d like us to cover in future episodes — at podcast@designbycosmic.comThank you for all that you do for your cause and for being part of the movement to move humanity and the planet forward.

May 12, 2026Episode 8826 min

Brandmaxxing or Debranding: Pick Your Side

There's a trend called looksmaxxing that says appearance is everything, and optimizing it is just pragmatism. Apply that same logic to nonprofits and you get an interesting thought experiment: what happens when an organization goes all in on brand? And what happens when one deliberately strips brand away entirely?This episode explores the spectrum between "brandmaxxing" and "debranding," two extremes that reveal something important about how the sector thinks about visibility. The social impact sector has been structurally imbalanced toward the debranding end for decades, and the reluctance to invest in brand often masquerades as virtue. But humans are influenced by brand the same way they're influenced by appearance, and refusing to play the game doesn't make the game go away.Episode Highlights: [00:00:00] The looksmaxxing trend as a lens for brand strategy [00:01:00] Defining brandmaxxing vs. debranding as a spectrum [00:06:25] Why brand is a game you have to play, even in social impact [00:08:50] Trust through depth vs. trust through visibility [00:14:00] People follow people, not logos: the Amanda Litman insight [00:23:00] False humility and the arrogance of staying behind the scenesNotable Quotes: Eric Ressler [00:06:30]: "Humans are influenced by brand. You can be humble about it, but at some level, you got to realize you have to play the game." Eric Ressler [00:23:15]: "Get over yourself, because that is actually kind of a pretentious point of view. You're not saying you're not good enough. You're saying you're too good to put yourself out there."Resources & Links:Amanda Litman, co-founder of Run for Something — Prior Spotlight episode. Amanda Litman’s Substack Run for Something Science, Solutions, Santa Cruz Hosted by Eric Ressler, Founder & Creative Director of Cosmic, with co-host Jonathan Hicken, Executive Director of the Seymour Marine Discovery Center. New episodes every Tuesday.→ Subscribe: designingtomorrow.show → Work with Cosmic: designbycosmic.comListeners, now you can text us your comments or questions by clicking this link.*** If you liked this episode, please help spread the word. Share with your friends or co-workers, post it to social media, “follow” or “subscribe” in your podcast app, or write a review on Apple Podcasts. We could not do this without you!We love hearing feedback from our community, so please email us with your questions or comments — including topics you’d like us to cover in future episodes — at podcast@designbycosmic.comThank you for all that you do for your cause and for being part of the movement to move humanity and the planet forward.

May 5, 2026Episode 8744 min

Trust No One Is Exactly What Authoritarians Want

Every major technological paradigm shift has broken society before it fixed it. The printing press, radio, television. Each one reshaped how we communicate and what we believe. Now the internet, social media, and AI are repeating the pattern at unprecedented speed. Joel Breakstone, co-founder and executive director of the Digital Inquiry Group, has spent over a decade studying how people evaluate online information, and what he's found is alarming: students, academics, and everyday adults are failing at even the most basic tasks of digital discernment. But his research also reveals a path forward, built on the surprisingly simple strategies of professional fact checkers.Episode Highlights: [00:01:55] Was the internet a huge mistake? [00:08:30] From Stanford History Education Group to the Civic Online Reasoning curriculum [00:12:35] Fact checkers vs. PhDs vs. Stanford freshmen: who evaluates sources best? [00:15:20] Lateral reading: the counterintuitive skill that changes everything [00:26:20] The collapse of institutional trust and rise of influencer trust [00:31:05] AI as both threat and tool for digital literacyNotable Quotes: Joel Breakstone [00:11:25]: "The myth of the digital native is very much a myth. Young people, like the rest of us, need help making sense of the unbelievably crowded and confusing landscape that we encounter when we go online." Joel Breakstone [00:27:30]: "It can become really easy to just throw your hands up in the air and say, 'Nothing's real. I don't know what to trust.' And that is a really dangerous place for us to end up because it plays into the hands of authoritarians."Resources & Links:Digital Inquiry Group — https://www.inquirygroup.org/Civic Online Reasoning (COR) Curriculum — https://cor.inquirygroup.org/Verified by Mike Caulfield & Sam Wineburg — https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/V/bo207015182.htmlHosted by Eric Ressler, Founder & Creative Director of Cosmic, with co-host Jonathan Hicken, Executive Director of the Seymour Marine Discovery Center. New episodes every Tuesday.→ Subscribe: designingtomorrow.show → Work with Cosmic: designbycosmic.comListeners, now you can text us your comments or questions by clicking this link.*** If you liked this episode, please help spread the word. Share with your friends or co-workers, post it to social media, “follow” or “subscribe” in your podcast app, or write a review on Apple Podcasts. We could not do this without you!We love hearing feedback from our community, so please email us with your questions or comments — including topics you’d like us to cover in future episodes — at podcast@designbycosmic.comThank you for all that you do for your cause and for being part of the movement to move humanity and the planet forward.

April 28, 2026Episode 8633 min

Visibility Beats Impact

There's a quiet belief running through the social impact space that being too visible somehow cheapens the work. That good organizations should let their impact speak for itself. But the orgs that get the funding, the talent, and the momentum aren't always the ones doing the best work; they're the ones who've made their work visible. This episode makes the case that visibility matters more than impact, and that staying humble is a belief most orgs can no longer afford.Episode Highlights:[00:00:00] Visible orgs outperform high-impact orgs [00:02:30] The humility trap and the "scrappy org" fallacy [00:03:30] Why the most funded orgs are the most visible, not the most effective [00:08:30] Visibility as the most underleveraged strategy in social impact [00:10:00] The visibility test: can people describe what you do? [00:17:00] Building visibility into every program from the start [00:25:00] From skeptic to podcast host: Jonathan's visibility journey [00:31:30] Using media to scale your face time with future donorsNotable Quotes:Eric Ressler [00:01:05]: "Orgs who are consistently good at visibility outperform and are more successful, generally speaking, than orgs who are really good at impact."Jonathan Hicken [00:02:25]: "There is just some sort of moral objection to maybe if we're too visible that devalues the sincerity or the authenticity of the impact. There's a sort of humility thing in there."Eric Ressler [00:14:00]: "Visibility, man. At least you get the chance. If you have no visibility, you don't even have a chance."Resources & Links:Seymour Marine Discovery Center — Jonathan Hicken's organization at UC Santa CruzScience Solutions Santa Cruz — Jonathan's new video podcast.Gallup Poll: What's in a Name? Affordable Care Act vs. ObamacareObamacare/ACA polling data — Measures of public opinion of the Affordable Care Act (ACA)Hosted by Eric Ressler, Founder & Creative Director of Cosmic, with co-host Jonathan Hicken, Executive Director of the Seymour Marine Discovery Center. New episodes every Tuesday.→ Subscribe: designingtomorrow.show → Work with Cosmic: designbycosmic.comListeners, now you can text us your comments or questions by clicking this link.*** If you liked this episode, please help spread the word. Share with your friends or co-workers, post it to social media, “follow” or “subscribe” in your podcast app, or write a review on Apple Podcasts. We could not do this without you!We love hearing feedback from our community, so please email us with your questions or comments — including topics you’d like us to cover in future episodes — at podcast@designbycosmic.comThank you for all that you do for your cause and for being part of the movement to move humanity and the planet forward.

April 21, 2026Episode 8549 min

Who Actually Gets a Seat at the Table?

The social impact sector has made community co-creation almost sacred. Design with people, not for them. Give everyone a voice. But what happens when the loudest voices aren't the most informed, and the planning process stalls because nobody can make a call? Taylor Stuckert, CEO of Lead for America, has lived this tension from every angle. Eric and Taylor dig into the question nobody in social impact wants to ask out loud: can too much community input actually be a problem?Episode Highlights:[00:01:30] Wilmington, Ohio and the day DHL disappeared[00:06:30] The guerrilla flyer campaign that drew hundreds to a town hall[00:08:30] When community input becomes a double-edged sword[00:14:00] Stop trying to please everyone[00:17:30] There is no "the community"[00:28:00] Why the brain drain narrative misses the bigger story[00:37:00] Why AI will widen the divide we never closedNotable Quotes:Taylor Stuckert [00:17:40]: "We act as if the community is this unified object that has complete consensus and you're either engaging them or you're not. And that's just so inaccurate to reality."Taylor Stuckert [00:14:10]: "We have to get away from this notion that we're going to make perfect decisions. You're not going to please everyone — but that shouldn't take away from how we engage everyone."Resources & Links:- Lead for America — https://www.leadforamerica.org/- American Connection Corps — https://www.leadforamerica.org/- Carnegie Corporation of New York — https://www.carnegie.org/Hosted by Eric Ressler, Founder & Creative Director of Cosmic, with co-host Jonathan Hicken, Executive Director of the Seymour Marine Discovery Center. New episodes every Tuesday.→ Subscribe: designingtomorrow.show→ Work with Cosmic: designbycosmic.comListeners, now you can text us your comments or questions by clicking this link.*** If you liked this episode, please help spread the word. Share with your friends or co-workers, post it to social media, “follow” or “subscribe” in your podcast app, or write a review on Apple Podcasts. We could not do this without you!We love hearing feedback from our community, so please email us with your questions or comments — including topics you’d like us to cover in future episodes — at podcast@designbycosmic.comThank you for all that you do for your cause and for being part of the movement to move humanity and the planet forward.

April 14, 2026Episode 8434 min

Most of Your Brand Strategy is a Waste of Time

Most nonprofit leaders have been through some version of the brand strategy process. Eric calls it process theater: brand strategy work that sounds great in proposals but leaves everyone wondering what they're actually building toward. This episode puts ten common elements of brand strategy on trial. Eric and Jonathan each rank them as essential, important, or overrated, and the results surface a real philosophical divide. Where they genuinely disagree is on brand values, and the tension reveals the gap between how brand strategy is supposed to work and how it actually plays out. Episode Highlights: [00:01:00] Brand strategy has a "process theater" problem [00:03:00] Mission and vision statements: both rank them overrated [00:05:00] Brand values: essential or a motivational poster trap? [00:09:00] Why positioning and niche is the most undervalued element [00:14:00] Audience segmentation vs. the persona exercise trap [00:22:00] Value proposition: Jonathan's "God tier" pick [00:30:00] The four questions that replace your entire brand strategyNotable Quotes: [00:01:20]: "Sometimes these processes can be overinflated, a bit of process theater. Things that sound great in proposals, and then halfway through you're like, 'What are we even doing here?'" Eric Ressler [00:12:30]: "As an executive director, knowing what your niche is, is like a stress reducer. When other organizations pop up, rather than being fearful, you can just be like, 'Oh no, that's a different thing.'" Jonathan Hicken Hosted by Eric Ressler, Founder & Creative Director of Cosmic, with co-host Jonathan Hicken, Executive Director of the Seymour Marine Discovery Center. New episodes every Tuesday.→ Subscribe: designingtomorrow.show → Work with Cosmic: designbycosmic.comListeners, now you can text us your comments or questions by clicking this link.*** If you liked this episode, please help spread the word. Share with your friends or co-workers, post it to social media, “follow” or “subscribe” in your podcast app, or write a review on Apple Podcasts. We could not do this without you!We love hearing feedback from our community, so please email us with your questions or comments — including topics you’d like us to cover in future episodes — at podcast@designbycosmic.comThank you for all that you do for your cause and for being part of the movement to move humanity and the planet forward.