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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. We’ll explore creative entrepreneurship and leadership, how to design things like culture and operations, and consider ways to accelerate business success and impact by design.Sam Aquillano is a business designer and writer. In 2009 he founded Design Museum Everywhere, an online, nomadic museum with the mission to bring the transformative power of design everywhere. His new book, Adventures in Disruption: How to Start, Survive, and Succeed as a Creative Entrepreneur, chronicles his team’s startup journey and is available on Amazon, Bookshop, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books and more. samaquillano.com

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Business Design School - Storytelling

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,...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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Shared Capitalism Employee and Customer Ownership Credit: Elena Garder 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 if you shared company ownership with your employees? Or even your customers? But first: Business Design School is made possible by generous sponsors like our friends at Aardvark. Aardvark is a financial strategy...

Illustration of human head with warm colored triangle pattern, superimposed on head is a fingerprint.

Self-Disruption Design Yourself Out of Business, Before Someone Else Does Credit: Paul Craft 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: Designing yourself out of business by self-disrupting. But first: Hi! This is issue four of Business Design School, and I wanted to do a pulse check. I brought this community together from some of the...