How many of us really take the time to plan our career and make conscious steps in our chosen direction? I think about this as I am mentoring another designer on how not to not fall into complacency traps and to strive to be great not just good. I have to confess there is a portion of my career that went unplanned. There were many ‘happy accidents’ and some steps in my career I took because I could without reflecting if it was ‘the right move’, or at least in the direction I

What is Psychological Safety? An environment where employees feel safe to voice ideas, willingly seek feedback, provide honest feedback, collaborate, take risks and experiment. A place where you are not rejected to be yourself, where you can have positive interactions and constructive conflict. A place where you can learn from mistakes. What makes psychological safety difficult to measure? It’s a feeling: It’s a vibe, its an intangible underbelly that tell us to be quiet whe

It is not always possible to find a trusted advisor to help guide you and your career. Leaving people who want to grow with little choice but to start growing their network and searching for a match. However I offer you another option. While you expand your network in preparation of finding a mentor also consider mentoring yourself . It is not as crazy as it sounds. To get you started I have put a pick and mix guide below. Make your own self inventory Start by making yours

An extension and improvement to the 6W Framework that I made to improve products The 6W formulae by Ferrell is used from strategy and marketing to agile user stories. It is a set of question prompts to describe a situation, project or concept. It’s powerful because it is flexible, memorable, simple and all encompassing. However, there are two less documented problems with this model. The words you use around this framework matter. It is easy to use this framework wrong. I

5 Lessons I learned creating with Ayse Birsel author of “Design the life you love” Recently I have had the amazing honour and pleasure of co-hosting a series of creative, online sessions with Ayse & my manager, Heleen at Philips. I didn’t know at the time I was going to be learning some deep lessons. You know the kind of lessons I mean, the ones that sneak up on you, and have you thinking about them late at night on a Wednesday. During these moments in the process you sudden