Value-Centered Design The Force Driving Every Great Business “Our need will be the real creator.” — Plato Graphic designers arrange visual elements — markings and colors — on a field or canvas to convey a message or evoke a feeling. Whether it’s pencil and paper or manipulating pixels on a screen, their output manifests as visual stories on multiple media. Industrial designers arrange atoms — physical matter — into beautiful, functional objects that serve a purpose. The purpose could be...
3 months ago • 14 min read
Storytelling Stories that Inspire, and How to Craft Them “The most powerful person in the world is the storyteller. The storyteller sets the vision, values, and agenda of an entire generation that is to come.” — Steve Jobs When I was a kid, one of my favorite books was The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. The book itself felt like a magical artifact, something special. For starters, it was longer. It was a grander story than the other books I was reading then, with bigger words, made up languages,...
6 months ago • 21 min read
Thinking in Business Systems Stocks, Flows, & Feedback Loops Welcome back to Business Design School, a twice-monthly newsletter for the creative-business-curious. I call it a school because we’ll learn to master the art of business design, together. First up: I’m so excited to share that my wife Nicole and I are expecting baby number four later this summer! We can’t wait. As I’m ramping up my dad duties to support Nicole, my writing has taken a bit of a back seat, but I'm excited to send...
12 months ago • 15 min read
Opportunity Farming Identifying & Framing Possibilities Welcome back to Business Design School, a twice-monthly newsletter for the creative-business-curious. I call it a school because we’ll learn to master the art of business design, together. First up: I’m so excited to announce that PRINT Magazine has picked up Business Design School as a regular column! PRINT honored me as one of their “Twelve Creative Voices to Follow in 2024,” and now you’ll be able to catch all my issues on...
about 1 year ago • 23 min read
Interview with a Venture Builder A Conversation with High Alpha Innovation’s Ryan Larcom Watch the full video on our new YouTube channel. Welcome back to Business Design School, a twice-monthly newsletter for the creative-business-curious. I call it a school because we’ll learn to master the art of business design, together. First up: As the year comes to a close I wanted to say thank you to you all for being part of this community of learning focused on business design. I love writing these...
over 1 year ago • 19 min read
If You Can Design a Building, You Can Design a Business Toward a Business Design Framework Business Design Framework Welcome back to Business Design School, a twice-monthly newsletter for the creative-business-curious. I call it a school because we’ll learn to master the art of business design, together. In this issue: What is business design? I hear this question from time to time — I thought I’d take a crack at an answer. But first: It’s official! My book, Adventures in Disruption,is now...
over 1 year ago • 13 min read
Financial Strategy for the Creative Industry An Interview with Aardvark’s Jamie Odegaard Aardvark Founder/CEO Jamie Odegaard Welcome back to Business Design School, a twice-monthly newsletter for the creative-business-curious. I call it a school because we’ll learn to master the art of business design, together. Reader Response: In the last issue we talked about decentralized decision-making and new ways to organize teams of people to put the people closest to the work in charge of how it...
over 1 year ago • 13 min read
Decentralized Decision-Making Responsibilization in Practice Credit: VectorMine Welcome back to Business Design School, a twice-monthly newsletter for the creative-business-curious. I call it a school because we’ll learn to master the art of business design, together. In this issue: Responsibilization, the concept of breaking the traditional hierarchy and putting decision-making authority and accountability in the hands of people closest to the work. But first: Business Design School is made...
over 1 year ago • 12 min read
Question Storming Curiosity is the Beginning of Everything Credit: Pixel Shot Welcome back to Business Design School, a twice-monthly newsletter for the creative-business-curious. I call it a school because we’ll learn to master the art of business design, together. Reader Response: New top section! I love hearing from you, learning what resonates, and how your replies build on what I’m sharing in this newsletter. Our last issue was about Shared Capitalism and how companies are rethinking...
over 1 year ago • 9 min read