“The microbe is nothing; the milieu is everything.”
Pasteur, only late in life, recognized that disease severity stems not just from a pathogen, but from the conditions in which it evolves. The core insight is this: health, whether for organisms or organizations, depends more on the environment than on isolated threats. To affect health, the focus must shift from singular agents to the system as a whole.
more…The designer and podcaster Sebastian Gier asked me some intriguing questions on design, business, purpose and meaning. Luckily he recorded our conversation! I think it’s one of the best podcasts so far and it reveals some insight into how design and business can come together in a meaningful way.
A long, deep interview that Arne van Oosterom recorded with we, about being in bubbles, being between sides and going into industrial design, to pick up a career at Philips. And a lot about Philips!
more…Balance is a state that people perceive as an ideal of particular attractiveness. If something is evenly distributed and in balance, we attach a high value to it. Equilibrium of forces, of markets, of forms and structures, of opinions or even of values in themselves, is something “beautiful”. It is not without reason that Justicia carries a scale to ensure that the facts can be weighed in balance and therefore be just.
more…Recently, I took the tour again: a bus took us to the outskirts of Eindhoven, where a deserted, run-down warehouse was hosting the Design Academy’s graduation show. A dark, huge space filled with dramatically lit exhibits of student work and many, many people wandering around, observing the work with a mixture of interest, curiosity, and disbelief.
I was overwhelmed by the sheer size of the show: almost 200 students were graduating and showcasing their work.
Two things immediately came to my mind: what the heck are they showing here, and where the heck do these graduates want to pick up a job?
The guy had it all: the Apple Watch, Chucks, a suntan, a polo shirt, and a dynamic posture. He was oozing agility and creativity – the agile action-man! In his keynote, he shared the approach he and his team took to drive innovation at a tech-dominated corporation. The approach seemed similar to his image: agile, action-oriented, and cool. more…
Businesses are rediscovering the customer! After years of inward-focused, efficiency-driven business practices, where the bottom line was driven by years of inward focus rather than by customers’ engagement, the focus is now shifting. With companies like Apple and Nike thriving on the drive of a business’s savviness and the reactivation of their devoted, happy-spending customers, others want to follow suit. The question remains how to grow a customer base as loyal and motivated as Apple’s: loyalty is not enough; customers also need to spend and motivate others to do the same!
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How can we prove that an investment in design correlates, or even causes, an increase in stock value? Marty Neumeier recently tweeted: „It seems to me that design investment is a leading indicator of higher profit margins and stock prices. Need to prove!“ more…
Organizations are not that different from us, human beings: both are organisms that – as long as they are properly nourished – can survive for a substantial amount of time. Likewise, if you want to make them more attractive, you dress them up; if you want to put them in a competition, you make sure they are lean and fit; and if you want them to be happy, you make sure they have a purpose.
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