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In today's episode, I speak with Dan Szuc and Josephine Wong.  Dan is a co-founder and principal at Apogee and co-founder of Make Meaningful Work, as well as the co-founder of UX Hong Kong. He has been involved in the UX field and based in Hong Kong for over 20 years. Dan has lectured about user-centered design globally. He has co-authored three books including Global UX with Whitney Quesenbery, The Usability Kit with Gerry Gaffney and Make Meaningful Work with Josephine Wong. Josephine is a co-founder and principal at Apogee and co-founder of Make Meaningful Work, as well as the co-founder of UX Hong Kong. Jo grew up in multicultural Hong Kong, with a Chinese-Burmese father and Chinese-Indonesian mother. She collaborates with global teams conducting research in Cantonese, Mandarin, and English. Jo is passionate about the environment, political and economic systems, and how we can live healthier and happier lives while not adversely impacting less fortunate people. In this episode, Dan and Jo take us through the experience of using an observational and sense-making tool they’ve developed called Practice Spotting. It can be used to uncover implicit learning opportunities and deepen explicit practices in support of the character, leadership, and culture you want at work. This is our last episode before we take a few months’ break. Thank you to everyone who’s been listening! Practice Spotting examples and downloads

In today’s episode, I speak with Evan Dody. Evan is the Head of Design + Creative at Angi (including HomeAdvisor and Handy). He leads Product Design, Brand Creative, UX Research, UX Writing, and DesignOps across the multi-sided home services marketplace. He and his team help homeowners across the country create and care for homes they love, while simultaneously helping local businesses thrive. Prior to Angi, Evan led design teams at Mailchimp and Huge in Brooklyn. He's designed customer-centric services for some of the world's most recognizable brands—McDonald's, American Express, and United Airlines to name a few. He's passionate about creating easy digital products that help people enjoy their in-person lives more and helping the small business economy thrive. We dive into what it means to lead with optimism, including redefining optimism as an active tool for change, uncovering the why behind the work you’re doing, and the vital role that identity and representation play in believing a positive outcome is possible.

In today's episode, I speak with Fonz Morris. Fonz is an entrepreneur and self-taught designer, born in Brooklyn and now based in San Jose. He has worked in tech and design on both coasts of the United States, in Philadelphia, New York, Atlanta, Washington D.C., and California. His belief in the importance of self-driven education continued through his travels through Europe, Central and South America, and South East Asia. Since 2020, Fonz has been the Lead Product Designer at Netflix. Prior to joining Netflix, he led a design team at Coursera. We dive into what it means to be true to yourself, the value of a supportive community, and how to build confidence in your decisions when taking risks. Find Fonz on Twitter at @youngfonz.

In today’s episode, I speak with Andy Budd. Andy is a design leader, conference speaker, start-up advisor & coach. He co-founded Clearleft, the first dedicated UX consultancy in the UK, along with the Leading Design and UX London conferences. He’s a member of the Adobe Design Circle, and has appeared on both the Wired 100 and BIMA 100 lists of influential leaders in tech. He’s currently helping start-up founders make the most of Design in his role as an Expert in Residence at Seedcamp, Europe's most successful early stage venture fund. We dive into what you give up and what you gain in the shift from a designer role to a design leader role – and how to navigate common pitfalls. This episode is full of honest and actionable insights to guide you in choosing a path that’s most meaningful to you. The book Andy references is Julie Zhuo's The Making of a Manager. Find Andy on Twitter at @andybudd.

This is our 50th episode of Design To Be Conversation. Thank you all so much for your support – and an extra special thanks to those of you who have been listening since the beginning! Today we’re celebrating by doing something a little bit different. In this episode, our guest host Jayneil Dalal interviews me about my experience with a 10-day silent meditation retreat. Jayneil Dalal is a product designer born in Gujarat, India and polished in Dallas, Texas. He hosts the design MBA podcast where he interviews rockstar designers. And I’m Rachel Weissman, the Founder & CEO of Design To Be and the host of the Design To Be Conversation podcast. I’m also an emotional intelligence coach, keynote speaker, and meditation & yoga teacher currently based in Venice, California. We dive into what happens when disconnecting from technology entirely, the difference between experiencing and intellectualizing, and listening to your body to get clarity on your career. Find Rachel on Twitter at @racheldweissman and Jayneil on Twitter at @jayneildalal.

In today’s episode, I speak with Malthe Sigurdsson. Malthe has 25 years of experience as a designer and design leader building, scaling, and managing design organizations that deliver beautiful and effective work across multiple disciplines and product categories. He is currently the Chief Design Officer at Handshake, where he is leading product and brand design across the company. At Handshake his goal is to help level up the end-to-end consumer and enterprise experiences and is instrumental in helping Handshake grow a world-class design team. Before Handshake, Malthe was Head of Design at Stripe, leading design for 6 years. Prior to Stripe he was SVP of Product and Design at Rdio and Creative Director at Skype. We dive into what ownership, influence, and impact can look like for designers working with diverse stakeholders. We discuss 6 key steps for exerting influence with outsized impact – including identifying and communicating your convictions, and enabling others to be successful alongside you.

In today’s episode, I speak with Ximena Vengoechea. Ximena is a user researcher, writer, and illustrator whose work on personal and professional development has been published in Inc., The Washington Post, Newsweek, and Huffington Post. She is the author of the new book, Listen Like You Mean it: Reclaiming the Lost Art of True Connection (Portfolio/Penguin Random House). She is a contributor at Fast Company and The Muse, and writes Letters from Ximena, a newsletter on tech, culture, career, and creativity. She is best known for her project The Life Audit. An experienced manager, mentor, and researcher in the tech industry, she previously worked at Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Twitter. She is currently working on her second book, a guide to reclaiming rest. We dive into how to cultivate a listening mindset through humility, curiosity, and empathy; how to identify your own default listening mode; and ways to uncover hidden needs in a conversation.

In today’s episode, I speak with Susan Weinschenk. Susan has a Ph.D. in Psychology and is the Chief Behavioral Scientist and CEO at The Team W, Inc, as well as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point. Susan consults with Fortune 1000 companies, start-ups, governments, and nonprofits, and is the author of several books, including 100 Things Every  Designer Needs To Know About People, 100 MORE Things Every Designer Needs To Know About People and How To Get  People To Do Stuff.  We dive into the brain science of creativity and how to come up with better ideas and solutions by working with the 3 networks in your brain that foster creativity: executive attention, imagination, and salience. We discuss how to set specific intentions, why it’s essential to turn off your concentrated brain, and the science behind the “Aha!” moment.

In today’s episode, I speak with Indi Young. Indi is a researcher who coaches, writes, and teaches about inclusive product strategy. Her work is rooted in the problem space where the focus is on people, not users. Indi pioneered opportunity maps, mental model diagrams, and thinking styles. Her way of approaching the problem allows teams to truly pay attention to people, without letting cognitive bias and assumptions creep in. Indi has written two books: Practical Empathy and Mental Models. She builds knowledge and community via a series of live online advanced courses about the importance of pushing the boundaries of your perspective. She was one of the founders of Adaptive Path, the pioneering UX agency. You can follow her on Twitter @indiyoung and access many resources on her website indiyoung.com as well as at medium.com/inclusive-software. We dive into what it means to listen deeply when doing research, how to collect knowledge about a purpose rather than a solution, and how to create a safe space so the person you’re listening to can access their interior cognition. You’ll come away with some fascinating examples and actionable techniques for deep listening.

In today’s episode, I speak with Jeff Veen. Jeff is a Design Partner and Head of Platform at True Ventures, where he spends his time helping founders create better products. He does this as an advisor, as well, for companies like about.me, Medium, and WordPress. Previously, Jeff was VP of Design at Adobe after they acquired Typekit, the company he co-founded and ran as CEO. Jeff was also one of the founding partners of the user experience consulting group Adaptive Path. While there, he led Measure Map, which was acquired by Google. During his time at Google, Jeff designed Google Analytics and led the UX team for Google's apps. Much earlier, Jeff was part of the founding web team at Wired Magazine, where he helped build HotWired, Web Monkey, Wired News, and many other sites. During that time, he authored two books: HotWired Style and The Art and Science of Web Design. We dive into ways in which trust is established at work and how it’s necessary in order for people to be as creative – and successful – as possible. 

In today’s episode, I speak with Kat Vellos. Kat is a connection coach and trusted expert on the power of cultivating meaningful friendships. In her former career as a user experience designer, she researched, designed, and advised on the user experience of countless flows in digital products serving millions of people at companies like Slack and Pandora. With the publication of her books, We Should Get Together and Connected from Afar, Kat turned her background in UX design towards combating the loneliness epidemic to help millions of people experience greater wellness and fulfillment through thriving platonic relationships. Her interviews can be found in a variety of publications including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Communication Arts, Thrive Global, Yahoo Lifestyle, and Authority Magazine. Kat is also a sought-after speaker who has graced the stages of TEDx, San Francisco Design Week, Design for America, the Transforming Loneliness Summit, Rosenfeld Media’s DesignOps Summit and many more.  We dive into what workplace loneliness is, the profound impact it can have on you, and how, through practical strategies, you can transform the experience of ‘just a job’ into an experience of community and a place of connection.

In today's episode, I speak with Randy Hunt. Randy is a multi-hyphenate designer, executive, artist, musician, and writer. Professionally: Randy is Head of Design Strategy at Kraken, a cryptocurrency exchange. He has served as Head of Design at Grab, Head of Design at Artsy, and VP of Design at Etsy. Randy is the author of Product Design for the Web. He also co-founded Supermarket, a curated design marketplace, founded Citizen Scholar Inc., and worked at Milton Glaser Inc. He is an active writer, lecturer, critic, and visiting designer at many colleges and universities.  We dive into experiences that can unexpectedly elicit joy at work – like discovering and operationalizing a new strength or helping to bring someone else’s vision to life – as well as more intentional practices you can use – like getting clarity on your convictions through open conversation with people you trust.