Kyung B. Yoon on How to Craft a Communication and Publicity Strategy

In Chapter 12 of 17 in her 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, non-profit executive Kyung B. Yoon answers "Having Worked as a Journalist, What Advice Do You Have for Organizations on Generating Publicity?"  Yoon notes publicity strategies rooted in press releases will come up short.  Strong communication strategy starts with building relationships with journalists and understanding their beat.  Journalists need sources to do their jobs well and want to have these relationships too. 

Kyung B. Yoon is the executive director of the Korean American Community Foundation (KACF) in New York City.  An award-winning journalist and documentary film producer, Yoon earned an MA in International Relations from Johns Hopkins University and a BA in History and Political Science at Wellesley College.

Kyung B. Yoon on Learning to Care for Your Parents as They Get Older

In Chapter 15 of 17 in her 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, non-profit executive Kyung B. Yoon answers "What Is Your Approach to Manage Long Distance Family Relationships?"  Yoon notes how her parents have relocated back to Korea where they engage with church and social life, live independently and remain healthy.  Yoon and her two siblings, all of whom live in the United States, start a conversation with her parents on how to manage long distances when caring for them as they get older. 

Kyung B. Yoon is the executive director of the Korean American Community Foundation (KACF) in New York City.  An award-winning journalist and documentary film producer, Yoon earned an MA in International Relations from Johns Hopkins University and a BA in History and Political Science at Wellesley College.

Jullien Gordon on Why to Set New Year's Intentions and Not Goals

In Chapter 8 of 21 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, business coach Jullien Gordon answers "How Are You Helping Others Plan, Commit to, and Achieve New Year's Goals?"  Gordon shares how he helps people set their intentions by putting out his annual "New Year Guide."  He focuses not on the outcome or goal but the intention or the underlying initiative behind that goal or outcome.  Jullien Gordon is a high performance coach and consultant to organizations, individuals and teams who want to increase employee performance, motivation, engagement and retention.  He earned a BA from UCLA, an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and a Masters of Education from Stanford University.

Transcript:

Erik Michielsen: How are you helping others plan, commit to, and achieve New Year’s Resolution goals?

Jullien Gordon: So as you know, every year I put out the New Year Guide which is a tool to help people set their intentions. I have shifted my beliefs in a lot of ways from setting goals to really setting intentions. And the difference is that with a goal, a goal is usually connected to some sort of outcome. And while it’s okay to have a desired outcome, an intention is more about what’s behind the desired outcome. So for instance, a lot of people will set weight loss goals this year. “I wanna lose 30 pounds.” That’s the goal, right? And that’s connected to a certain outcome. If they don’t achieve that outcome, they feel that they failed.

Whereas an intention is I wanna be healthier. And one of the goals connected to being healthier may be to lose 30 pounds. And so I’m focused on helping people get clear on their intention, and then also knowing that when you do have a desired outcome that we don’t always control the outcomes as human beings. I can do everything that Shaun T tells me to do and P90X and still not get a body that looks like his, right? But if I’m connected to the outcome then I feel like I failed. But what I can control, the only thing that’s in our control is our effort. What I can tell Shaun T is that I showed up every single day for 90 days. And I did what I was supposed to. And that may not have gotten me to that kind of physique, but it may have gotten me somewhere along the direction of where I ultimately wanted to be.

And so, one, getting clear on the distinction between goals and intentions, and really focusing on intentions and making sure the intention is right which is your why behind the goal, and then also being clear about the distinction between effort and outcome and knowing that you only have full control over the effort, we don’t have full control over the outcome. And when you start with your why and make sure that the why is big enough, you know, Viktor Frankl says a man who knows his why can bear almost any how. And what I found is that when I’m clear on my intention or my why behind something, the how tends to manifest itself. When I look back at my goals from last year, I accomplished a lot of them in ways that I didn’t even anticipate it. They happen in their own way. But that’s because the intention was strong and they manifested themselves, they didn’t manifest themselves the way I thought they would but they manifested themselves nonetheless. And so really making those distinctions clear.

Lulu Chen on How to Help a Friend Find a New Job

In Chapter 6 of 16 in her 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, art director Lulu Chen answers "How Has Your Network Helped You Find You Jobs?"  Chen notes it is especially about the little things where your friends can help you find new jobs.  This includes having your friends vouch for you as well as having them give you help updating your resume or writing a cover letter. 

Lulu Chen is a photo art director working in retail e-commerce in New York City.  Previously, Chen worked as a freelance stylist for leading fashion catalogs and magazines.  She earned a BFA in design and art history from the University of Michigan.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: How has your network helped you find new jobs?

Lulu Chen: It’s all encompassing, you know, your friends can send you job postings or ideas, or tell you about things that they’ve heard of and opportunities which is I think huge, you know, and I think that a professional network or just a personal network does that, especially in such a big market in New York. But, I mean it’s the little things, really, you know, it’s like helping you proofread your cover letter, and making sure that your résumé looks good, and we all do it for each other. And from the technical small things to the fact that they will go and vouch for you, and really say to a friend or a colleague, or their boss, like, “Oh, you know, I’ve worked with this person before. I really think that they’re the best candidate for the job, and it might not be somebody who is obvious, but, you know, if you give this person that chance, she won’t let you down.”

How to Ask for the Job You Want

In Chapter 7 of 16 in her 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, art director Lulu Chen answers "How Did You Get Hired as an Art Director Without Being a Traditional or Obvious Candidate?"  During an interview, Chen is asked "What do you really want to do?" and after answering not with stylist but rather with art director and creative director, she is given an opportunity to interview with a creative director.  Chen gets the art director job.  This experience teaches Chen to ask for the job she wants. 

Lulu Chen is a photo art director working in retail e-commerce in New York City.  Previously, Chen worked as a freelance stylist for leading fashion catalogs and magazines.  She earned a BFA in design and art history from the University of Michigan.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: How did you get hired as an art director without being a traditional or obvious candidate?

Lulu Chen: Well, I did some art directing when I worked at Self Magazine, and, you know, you had to work on the styling and art directing, so that was really great experience for me, but recently, transitioning into more of an art directing role than a stylist role. This is a really funny story. I actually went in to an interview thinking of applying for a fulltime styling position, but it turned out that the company was so big, and that specific job was actually with an acquaintance friend of mine that we had worked together years ago, at Condé Nast for. But, you know, sitting in his office, he basically—we were both like, “This isn’t for you.” Like, “It’s a writing job. You can do it. You can do these pages. If you really want it, you know, I’ll think about it. But what do you really want to do?”

And in the last couple of years, I’ve been thinking about like, “Oh, you know, someday I’d really love to be a creative director. I’d love to do something a bit more bigger picture.” You know, just kind of growth and transitioning, and—I don’t know—setting up new challenges for myself, so, he kept pressing me, like, “What do you really wanna do?” Like, “What do you wanna do? What do you wanna do?” And I was like, “Oh, my God. I just want, you know, I wanna be an art director and a creative director one day.” And it just came out. And—but I had never said it out loud. I—you know, I kind of questioned some friends who were art directors and, you know, tried to kind of get their advice on, “Oh, what do you think?” or “How do I do it?” But I never really just put it out there, you know?

And sitting here in an interview, and I’m like, “I can’t believe I just said that.” But it is, it’s true. It’s really what I was hoping for. And, you know, his response was, “Fine. Okay.” And you’re like, “That’s it?” “Really, it’s that simple?” I mean, you know, I never thought—“Oh, you just keep asking. You just keep asking.” Or, you ask—You ask, you know, and sometimes, you know, someone will be like, “Fine. Try. Go for it”, you know, maybe— So I was really lucky, he—and I really appreciate that he gave me the opportunity, and he put me in touch with his creative director. And love this man, so, so—I don’ know—just inspirational. I think I had a 12-minute interview with the creative director. And he spoke, like 3 languages in that time. Picked up a phone call in French, said hi to me in Chinese, told me about all of operations, looked at my portfolio, showed me, like, some video that he had done, like, in 12 minutes. I mean, it was like the fastest talker I’ve ever met in my entire life, that type of thing. And you’re just like, “Whoa.” You know, and he said, “Okay.” He’s like, “We’re gonna give you this chance.”  

You know, maybe he didn’t say that literally, but he gave me the chance and I remember this so clearly, he said, “Do good and good things will happen, and, yeah.” And he’s like, “Just don’t F it up.” And he kind of put the fear of God in me, but at that moment, I was like, “Well, there’s no going back now, so, you know, that’s not an option. So you’re just gonna go for it”, you know. You know, so I did.

Hattie Elliot on Changing How You Work to Be Happier at Your Job

In Chapter 1 of 19 in her 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, female entrepreneur Hattie Grace Elliot answers "How Are Your Personal Priorities Changing as You Get Older?"  As she turns 30 years old, Elliot becomes more realistic about the importance of making a certain amount of money running her business.  Elliot shares how she became frustrated from not getting paid enough for the work she was putting into her business.  She steps back, reevaluates her model, and addresses the problem by altering her business plan.  Hattie Grace Elliot is the founder and CEO of The Grace List, a social networking company that creates destination events and experiences to forge lasting personal and professional connections across its young professional members. Elliot graduated from the University of Cape Town in South Africa, where she studied economics, philosophy, and politics.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: How are your personal priorities changing as you get older?

Hattie Elliot: I think I’ve always been someone who finds just kind of personal happiness in, you know, again with what I do for a living, really creating and wielding a career path for myself that if I’m gonna work really hard, I really want to deduce pleasure from it. But as I get older, I, of course still, you know, being happy is important, but also I think I’ve kind of become much more realistic in terms of the monetary return that I expect. And I’ve become much more honest with myself about that. I’m just not I guess willing to put up with what I might’ve put up with 3 years ago or 4 years ago ‘cause now, it’s go time. Now is a time when, you know, I think it’s really important to reap the benefits and the fruits of all of the labor that I kind of structured and put in early on and continue to put in to my business.

Erik Michielsen: What do you think about that realism that’s coming with experience, what one example or two examples stand out in your mind in kind of shaping the direction you’re taking?

Hattie Elliot: It’s almost impossible to ever actually monetize the amount of work and the ridiculous, you know, MacGyver in you have to do from the time—from concept to execution. And, you know, till you tie that pretty bow around that event, like the amount of work that goes into it. So, you know, it’s definitely—I think I began to kind of get a little bit bitter and a little bit frustrated with the fact that I was putting so much effort into the business and that, you know, that certain things, like membership fees and certain aspects of my company were making money, but then I was constantly churning out events that were a ton of work and they weren’t as profitable, and so I kind of had to step back and really do one of the most difficult things to do which is, you know, really assess and reflect back on, you know, why I was feeling this way, and why I was, you know, feeling frustrated and dissatisfied. Which is very, you know, humbling, wonderful and terrifying task to do. And, you know, really reevaluate it and come up with a plan moving forward to address it, and to really MacGyver and fix the situation.

Anatole Faykin on Founding and Selling an Internet Startup

In Chapter 6 of 12 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, entrepreneur Anatole Faykin answers "What Were the Main Learning Points From Starting and Selling a Company?"  He talks about the massive amount of uncertainty starting and growing a company and managing the adverse climate that comes with that.  He notes how Internet startups operate in a fluid, fast changing market that requires quick adaptation to changing market conditions.  Faykin shares how a fast changing environment requires short term, incremental goals along with being open-minded for change and new opportunities.  Anatole Faykin is an entrepreneur currently working on a new startup as part of the Startup Chile incubator program in Santiago, Chile.  Previously, Faykin founded Tuanpin, a Shanghai, China-based daily deals site he grew to 25 employees and sold in the fall of 2011. He has worked for British Telecom in London, Intel in Shanghai, American Express in New York, and Oracle in San Francisco as well as several startups. He holds an MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business and a BS in computer science and biology from the California Institute of Technology.

How to Find Work in Creative Writing and Music - Conrad Doucette

In Chapter 9 of 19 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, musician Conrad Doucette answers "How Are You Finding New Ways to Find Jobs That Blend Your Passions for Writing and Music?"  Doucette shares that he did not know what exactly he wanted to do but knew he would find it in New York City.  By putting himself in close proximity to inspiring individuals in digital media, creative writing and music, he meets people who share similar passions.  Doucette continues to do this as he moves into writing, copywriting, digital producer, branding and communications jobs.  Each gives him an opportunity not only to work with musicians but also with people who share many of the same goals. 

Conrad Doucette is a Brooklyn musician and the drummer for Takka Takka, which released its 3rd studio album, AM Landscapes, in late 2012.  He has performed with Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead, The National, Alina Simone, and many other leading acts.  When not performing music, Doucette is the communications and brand director at music licensing and publishing startup Jingle Punks.  Doucette earned a BA in History from the University of Michigan.

When to Leave a Cruise Control Job and Change Careers

In Chapter 4 of 15 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, business and personal coach Garren Katz answers "What Has Been Most Challenging About Changing Careers and Becoming a Coach?"  For Katz it is finances.  Working in sales for many years, Katz finds it easy to be on cruise control.  Moving into coaching, Katz starts from scratch not only from a financial perspective but also from a confidence perspective.  He talks about his experience building a new foundation in his new career. 

Garren Katz is a business and personal coach based in State College, PA and advises his national client base on small business management, entrepreneurship, relationships, and personal finances.  He is also an active angel investor in several business ventures.  He earned his BA from Western Michigan University. 

Garren Katz on Using Rewards to Achieve Personal Finance Goals

In Chapter 13 of 15 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, business and personal coach Garren Katz answers "How Do You Set Personal Finance Goals?"  Katz talks about how he sends small amounts of money to his investments by playing games.  In short, he tries to match his spending on travel, restaurants, etc. with equal amounts to his investments.  He finds playing the game emotionally rewarding and also highly effective reaching his goals. 

Garren Katz is a business and personal coach based in State College, PA and advises his national client base on small business management, entrepreneurship, relationships, and personal finances.  He is also an active angel investor in several business ventures.  He earned his BA from Western Michigan University. 

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen How do you set personal finance goals?

Garren Katz: I don’t necessarily like sending big chunks of money off to my investments. To me, emotionally, it feels like it just kind of disappears into my investments, so for me, I’ll play a game where say for every trip that I plan for a year, whatever the trip cost, I will put—I will send an equal amount off to my investment. So, if India was a $2500-trip, let’s say, I will send $2500 off to the investment, and so in essence, emotionally, it feels like I’ve taken a $5000-trip. I’m having the experience, I make a connection to that great experience with the $5000 and so sending that money off, it feels different emotionally, it works well for me.

Or even a purchase, even smaller things, you know. Anytime I go out to dinner, whatever the meal cost, I will send an equal amount to my investments, and in this day and age obviously with—it’s so easy to do, it’s not hard at all to hop online and send off $75, so that might not seem, you know, significant to someone, but I go out to dinner a lot so, you know, it adds up and all of a sudden it’s—it can be 3, 4, $500 a month that wouldn’t have happened otherwise, and so that’s a game I like to play. I like to connect something like investing to something that I can enjoy in the moment and meld them together. So it feels I’m excited to invest. I’m not looking out on that time horizon of 20 or 30 years before I’m going to reap those benefits. To me, it’s—I get that satisfaction, that reward instantly because, in essence, I’m playing a game with myself.

Stacie Bloom on Leaving a Nonprofit Job to Work in Higher Education

In Chapter 3 of 18 in her 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, Neuroscience Institute Executive Director Stacie Grossman Bloom answers "What New Challenges Are You Facing in Your Career?"  Bloom notes the challenges she has faced transitioning out of a relatively small nonprofit and into an 18,000 employee-strong university, NYU.  She also details the challenge of understanding the governance and leadership structure of the organization. 

Stacie Grossman Bloom is Executive Director for the Neuroscience Institute at the NYU Langone Medical Center.  Previously, she was VP and Scientific Director at the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS) and, before that, held editorial roles at the Journal of Clinical Investigation and Nature Medicine.  She earned her BA in chemistry and psychology from the University of Delaware, her PhD in Neurobiology and Cell Biology at Georgetown University and did post-doctoral training in Paul Greengard's Nobel Laboratory of Molecular & Cellular Neuroscience at Rockefeller University. 

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen:  What new challenges are you facing in your career?

Stacie Grossman Bloom:  There are a lot of new challenges in this job, I would say understanding how a very large university system works has been an interesting challenge. I was previously working in a small not-for-profit organization, maybe 65 people, all of a sudden, I’m at this medical center, 18,000 people. It’s a very different type of organization, so I’m going from a place where I sort of knew everyone, if I had an HR question, I would walk to HR, there was 2 people working in there. You know, now, it’s a situation where if I have an HR question, I’m sending an email to a vague email address and getting a response from a person who I’ve never met before. 

I think also in a very large organization, things move at a different pace, because there are a lot of levels, sort of checkpoints to get through and a lot of policies and procedures, of course. I think also understanding the governance and the—how the leadership is organized at such a big place was a little bit challenging for me coming in. It’s not as simple as a CEO, a COO, a CFO, and some directors and vice presidents, it’s an incredibly large organization with a very diverse and big leadership structure. 

Stacie Bloom on Learning to Balance Family and Career

In Chapter 6 of 18 in her 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, Neuroscience Institute Executive Director Stacie Grossman Bloom answers "At This Moment in Your Life, Where are You Seeking Advice and Coaching?"  Bloom shares her struggle trying to find balance and her desire to find someone in her life who has done it before.  As it stands, Bloom notes she does not have a female figure in her life to provide that advice and support on raising three kids while working a full-time job. 

Stacie Grossman Bloom is Executive Director for the Neuroscience Institute at the NYU Langone Medical Center.  Previously, she was VP and Scientific Director at the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS) and, before that, held editorial roles at the Journal of Clinical Investigation and Nature Medicine.  She earned her BA in chemistry and psychology from the University of Delaware, her PhD in Neurobiology and Cell Biology at Georgetown University and did post-doctoral training in Paul Greengard's Nobel Laboratory of Molecular & Cellular Neuroscience at Rockefeller University. 

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen:  At this moment in your life, where are you seeking advice and coaching? 

Stacie Grossman Bloom:  At this moment in my life, I think it would be really great to have some advice or some coaching about how to balance it all. And you know, like I said, every day I think is a little bit of a struggle for me. I do feel a lot of guilt. You know, I’m not the mom who’s going on all of the field trips, but I go on some. I think it would be great to have someone in my life who has sort of done this, who has had the great big wonderful job and the great big wonderful family, and sort of did all. But I—right now, I don’t really have a person like that, and I kind of wish that I did.

Erik Michielsen:  Are you actively seeking something like that? Like, by reaching out and—

Stacie Grossman Bloom:  No, I’m not. I mean I think that if I had come across someone like that I would probably latch onto them a little bit. I do, you know, come across women sometimes who have raised 3 kids and who have done these amazing things, and I do tend to corner them and ask them a lot of questions, but I’m not pushy enough to continue to follow up over and over again. But I especially think it’s challenging. I have 3 daughters, and I think that that’s a really big challenge, raising girls I think is tricky, and I would love to know, you know, how do you raise 3 girls, have a job, make sure that they’re well-adjusted, confident, smart girls who are making smart decisions, but you know what? Even if I stayed home, and didn’t have a job, I think I’d have that same problem.

Stacie Bloom on Breaking Out of a Comfort Zone

In Chapter 9 of 18 in her 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, Neuroscience Institute Executive Director Stacie Grossman Bloom answers "Where is Your Comfort Zone and What Do You Do to Break Free of Living in It?"  Bloom notes she feels comfortable in a broad range of situations.  She learns over time to push through situations where she feels self-conscious or uncomfortable, such as speaking up at a meeting with someone very senior in her field.  

Stacie Grossman Bloom is Executive Director for the Neuroscience Institute at the NYU Langone Medical Center.  Previously, she was VP and Scientific Director at the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS) and, before that, held editorial roles at the Journal of Clinical Investigation and Nature Medicine.  She earned her BA in chemistry and psychology from the University of Delaware, her PhD in Neurobiology and Cell Biology at Georgetown University and did post-doctoral training in Paul Greengard's Nobel Laboratory of Molecular & Cellular Neuroscience at Rockefeller University. 

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen:  Where is your comfort zone and what do you do to break free of living in it?

Stacie Grossman Bloom:  My comfort zone is pretty big. I would say that it takes a lot to get me out of my comfort zone. I think one of my best characteristics, one of the things that’s helped me the most is that I feel comfortable in a really broad range of situations. To break out of it, you know, I sort of force myself sometimes to do things that I’m not necessarily comfortable with. I’ll force myself to speak up at a meeting where, you know, there’s the head of the FDA sitting across the table from me. Those are situations that might make me feel self-conscious or uncomfortable. At work, you know, I very often have to have difficult conversations with people that are a little bit outside my comfort zone, I just make myself do it, I don’t usually hesitate very much, I’ll just usually go in guns a-blazing.

Simon Sinek on Finding Meaningful Work by Doing What Inspires You

In Chapter 6 of 16 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, author and public speaker Simon Sinek answers "What Makes Your Work Meaningful?"  Sinek first starts by doing something specific each day.  For him it is "inspiring others to do what inspires them."  What gives his life meaning is when he is able to fulfill that cause or do the thing that drives and inspires him.  Simon Sinek teaches leaders and organizations how to inspire people.  His goal is to "inspire people to do the things that inspire them" and help others find fulfillment in their work.  Sinek is the author of "Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action".  He works regularly with the United States Military, United States Congress, and many organizations, agencies and entrepreneurs.  Sinek is an adjunct professor at Columbia University and an adjunct staff member at the think tank RAND Corporation.  Sinek earned a BA in Cultural Anthropology from Brandeis University.

Transcript

Erik Michielsen:  What makes your work meaningful?

Simon Sinek:  What makes my work meaningful is that I set out to do something specific, in other words, I wake up every single day to inspire people to do what inspires them, right? And I know why I got out of bed in the morning. What gives my life meaning is if I fulfill that cause. Every single one of us has a ‘why.’ Every single one of us has a reason to get out bed. We have something deep, deep inside us that is formed when we’re young, that drives us, that drives everything we do. And if you’re able to put it into words, then it’s actionable, right? And this is the thing that I discovered, this thing called the ‘why’ that can be put into words. And so I know why I wake up every day and so the meaning I get is if I actually do the thing that I know inspires and drives me. I mean that’s what meaning is, right? Is when your life has purpose, and the purpose I have is to inspire and so when I get to do that I’m good.

How Design Strategist Builds Creative Skills - Ross Floate

In Chapter 19 of 20 in his 2012 interview, branding and design strategist Ross Floate answers "How Is Your Creative Toolbox Changing?"  Floate starts his career viewing his creative toolbox as the tools of his trade - for example, his computer, his Pantone books, his scalpels.  As his career progresses, his toolbox evolves based on the experiences he has inside and outside his industry.  Ross Floate is a principal at Melbourne, Australia-based Floate Design Partners.  Experienced in branding, design and both online and offline publishing, Floate and his team provide marketing services to clients seeking to better communicate business and culture goals via image, messaging, and story. He is a graduate of RMIT University.

How to Increase Company Creative Capability - Richard Moross

In Chapter 10 of 17 in his 2012 interview, London entrepreneur and Moo.com CEO Richard Moross answers "How Is Your Creative Toolbox Changing?"  Moross evolves his company creative toolbox by continually bringing on new hires with different skills.  He shares the story of hiring Dan Rubin after he built a product called Instagoodies using the Moo.com API.  Moross connects hiring creative talent with furthering organizational product and innovation needs that occur in technology-driven markets such as personal identity management.  Moross is founder and CEO of Moo.com and a leader in the London startup scene.  Before starting Moo.com, an award-winning online print business, Moross was a strategist at Imagination, the world's largest independent design company.  He graduated from the University of Sussex, where he majored in philosophy and politics.

Jon Kolko on How to Make Social Impact Jobs a Design Career Choice

In Chapter 10 of 21 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, design educator Jon Kolko answers "What Made You Decide to Write a Book on Wicked Problems?"  Kolko writes the book as a call to action for practicing designers and the educators who teach them.  The book, available for free at www.wickedproblems.com, offers innovative approaches to the evolving design career options. 

Jon Kolko the founder and director of the Austin Center for Design.  He has authored multiple books on design, including "Wicked Problems: Problems Worth Solving."  Previously he has held senior roles at venture accelerator Thinktiv and frog design and was a professor of Interactive and Industrial Design at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).  Kolko earned his Masters in Human Computer Interaction (MHI) and BFA in Design from Carnegie Mellon University.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: What made you decide to write a book on Wicked Problems?

Jon Kolko: Wicked Problems, the book, is a call to action for practicing designers. I would like to see all designers start to question not just the quality of the work they're doing, but what problems they're actually working on. And so, the initial thought was what kind of project can we do at Austin Center for Design to get the word out about the curriculum we're teaching, the types of projects we're launching, and companies we're starting. And so, it was like alright, we’ll do a book, maybe some videos and then the thought was like why not just give it away for free? And so, the whole project is available at WickedProblems.com and my hope is that there's a couple different tiers of designers, like sort of segments of designers that will find it interesting. 

The most immediate is design educators. There's a tiny, tiny number of design educators in the world. And so, if five of them changed their curriculum, suddenly we've affected a lot of practicing designers to be in 10 years. And so, like, here's a curriculum for you, it's cut and dry, it's already done, now you just have the easy task of pushing it through a curriculum council which is another 10 years at some places. But it's to set a precedent for them. 

Another audience is for practicing designers and for practicing designers that are five and six years out, they really start to hit a wall with a huge degree of regularity and they're looking for both examples of what other things they could be doing and also permission to do it. And I found it really effective to just say that to younger junior designers like it's okay to exit the corporate consultancy game. It's okay. There are other things you can do. You can take design and take it policy. You can take it to finance. You can take it to film. You can take it to art. You can take it to Wicked Problems. You can do a lot of things with design. It doesn’t have to be jammed into business. And that’s really, really refreshing, I think for them to hear or so it has been in my experience. 

The last audience is for designers who are right now like seniors in college who are about to graduate and they're scratching their head going, “You know what? I don’t want to work at --“name your Fortune 20 company, “and these flashy consultancies. I don’t want to work there either.” Those used to be rogue designers and design programs. They're the norm now and they have grown up with a set of ideals that it's part of them to work on things that matter. Well, like, Okay, cool. Here's your handbook. Go work on things that matter and make the world a better place.

Jon Kolko on Using Evaluation and Testing to Improve a Design School

In Chapter 20 of 21 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, design educator Jon Kolko answers "What Roles Have Evaluation and Testing Played in Building Your Design Graduate Program?"  Kolko details how testing, evaluation, assessment and feedback are honing the Austin Center for Design program.  Kolko details the iterative and collaborative process that is taking place in Austin as the school matures and improves how it operates and educates. 

Jon Kolko is the founder and director of the Austin School for Design.  He has authored multiple books on design, including "Wicked Problems: Problems Worth Solving."  Previously he has held senior roles at venture accelerator Thinktiv and frog design and was a professor of Interactive and Industrial Design at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).  Kolko earned his Masters in Human Computer Interaction (MHI) and BFA in Design from Carnegie Mellon University.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: What roles have evaluation and testing played in building your design graduate program?

Jon Kolko: So we've treated the building of Austin Center for Design as an iterative design exercise and part of that process is testing it with real people. And so, we treated our first cohort as co-designers and to their faces I called them co-founders and I think that the majority of them would agree that they're co-founders in the venture. The venture is a non-profit. They don’t literally own equity in it and neither do I, but they own decision-making power. And it wasn’t all democratic but there was certainly a lot of things that we changed as a result of both explicit feedback, implicit feedback, observation assessment.

And so I think testing—so testing means different things to different contexts but I think it always means trying something, and learning from it and then iterating on it. And in this case, we tested the pedagogy: how we were actually going about teaching and learning. We tested the entrepreneurial idea, the notion that when you leave the program, you’ve started a company. We tested some professors who had never taught before. We tested some course content that had never been sort of used before. And like anything else with testing, we failed a bunch of times and that’s the point. I mean, so, arguably it's better this year and arguably it will be better next year.

What's really nice about being a new school is that if you're not dealing with bureaucratic organizations like accrediting bodies, you can change on a dime. That changes when you're dealing with those organizational bodies and probably in my future, I will deal with those organizational bodies because there's a huge benefit to them. But at least for the time being, it means that I can hone this program, content notwithstanding because the content is always going to change but I can hone the structure of the program until I feel like there's evidence for it being really, really good. As always with evaluation, you sort of take it with a grain of salt. And so, there’s things that I just have pushed back on as changes that were suggested and there’s things that I completely didn’t think of that students were like, “Hey! We should be doing it like this. Why aren’t we doing it like this?” So now we're doing it like that.”

There is something sort of really, really nice about building a program together with the people that are benefiting from it. I wasn’t expecting that at all when I started it. I never really thought of this as like, I guess I do think of it as like, it's my thing but I've never felt overly protective of it from outside feedback but I was not ready for how much benefit I got from that outside feedback, I think is what I'm trying to say.