1) Tell us what you do? (Your background, education, and fun facts on where you grow up and how it led to your profession today.)
I’m a Connecticut Yankee who had the good fortune to be born in a very beautiful place to highly intelligent, supportive parents. A straight “A” student, my education concentrated on Communications and Psychology. I am a very competitive person, interested in being the best at whatever I try to do. Though I’ve always been a girlie-girl on the outside, a fashion and travel junkie to boot, on the inside, I am a warrior who values integrity, morality, empathy and excellence in all things. Everyone thought I would grow up to be an attorney…but I knew that choice would stifle my inner entrepreneur, not to mention my wardrobe! I feel very lucky to function best on 5-6 hours of sleep each night – life is short enough and I want to be awake for all of it.

2) What makes your company unique and different in your industry?
While there is a sea of consultants out there, preaching “best business practices”, there are few who really understand the best global approach, and most importantly, the best personal approach to get to be the best business brand. Spin is in the unique position of offering solutions that are often elusive and provide the strategies and tactics all companies need to gain the trust and affinity of the most customers. Because we’ve worked at and for so many kinds of companies, we know that the most influential factor in business success is the synchronization of brand equity to operations and infrastructure. In other words, we make sure your steak matches your sizzle.

3) Did you have any mentors? If you did, who were they? What were their advices to you?
I can’t say I’ve really had mentors in the traditional sense. But I am influenced by everyone I meet and find that some of the most important discoveries, the real ah-hah moments come from the least likely people. The quiet ones. Everyone has something to offer – sometimes priceless.
The best advice I every gotten luckily came very early in my career. I have followed it for most of my life: Just do it. (long, long, long before Nike!)

4) Name top 3 entrepreneurs/leaders/designers that you admire the most and why.
I swoon over Warren Buffet! Love how modest, unassuming and everyman he is. His public but under-the-radar persona and powerful successes leave me forever in awe.

Cleopatra is one of my favorite leaders. A fearless and charming beauty who successfully navigated the fierce inroads of Egyptian politics, it is not widely known that she was highly educated and was a keen student of philosophy and international relations.

Design is so subjective and encompasses many fields. For me, fashion designer Tom Ford has always fit the bill. His personal brand is alluring yet approachable, his ability to fashion classically modern profiles from mere cloth is astounding. Clothing as art.

5) Can you suggest your favorite books?
Blogs and newsletters are the new books for me. Some of my favorites are Smart Brief for their up to the minute info on global goings-on in business, politics, media, branding…you name it. Another is NY Social Diary. I can catch up on what’s going on in NYC and other great cities as well as get a heads up on events I might want to attend. Along with the wee bit of gossip, where to eat and what to buy, I love this quick easy read. Also, I love Mike Allen’s Politico for my political fix with a very human bent.

6) What is the difference between good and great design?
Good design engages the head. Great design captures the heart.

7) How do you define a good leader?
Someone who knows how to hire the best people for the work at hand, show them the path, helps to navigate when needed, and then gets out of the way. You’re only a leader if people choose to follow you.

8) You travel a lot. Can you share with us, which is your favorite country and why?
Always such a hard question to answer. When I travel, though the locales are always interesting to me, it is the people I meet who make the trips worthwhile. I’ve met wonderful people everywhere and look forward always to meeting more. One treasured journey is New Zealand. Magical terrains, beautifully genuine people.

9) What makes you happy?
Making someone else happy.

10) Can you tell us what you are working on next?
I recently had the pleasure of working with the M&M Mars Company on optimizing their branding and marketing approach for a particularly high potential expansion opportunity for their candies.

Now have turned some of my energies to the design, build and launch of a new company called StashDaddy, a consumer focused virtual knapsack. Look for it on-line about 1Q 2011. It will change the way you choose to keep things.

1) Tell us what you do?
I grew up on a small farm in Ohio and after graduating from Eastern Michigan University with a degree in communication and theatre, I realized I had no idea what I wanted to do with it. I looked into a few jobs across the United States and eventually moved to Europe and lived in cities like London, Paris and Madrid.

Living in Europe led to my idea of creating an import and distribution company focused on bringing high end European fashion to the US market. I called my company Andira. After seeing how “fast fashion” could be so harmful to garment workers, farmers, our health, and the health of our environment, I decided to create a signature eco-conscious brand of my own. The brand is called Rain Tees and it’s a 100% organic line of apparel for women and children that feature designs by youth living in endangered rain forests.

We donate school supplies to the children and ask them to illustrate what they see happening in their world every day. Each Rain Tee features their thoughts, illustrations and names. For every item sold, a child involved in the non-profit Kids Saving the Rain Forest receives a tree they can plant to replace one that has been destroyed.

After Rain Tees launched I started receiving frequent questions on how other designers could become more eco conscious and launch similar brands or take their companies in a more sustainable direction. These questions led to my consulting firm, which I created to be a branch of my original import company, Andira, and it’s focused on sustainability in production, sourcing, branding, launches and high end eco events.

2) What makes your company unique and different in your industry?
I designed my companies to educate and inspire through multiple industries so that we reach millions of people. Being focused on sustainability above all makes us different. We use recycled toilet paper rolls and I cook vegan lunches for my super tiny staff and interns which we hear is not the norm. Also, when I am not working from LA or NY, I work from my parents little farm in Ohio. I always wonder if clients will wonder why there are sheep noises in the background. It’s definitely not your average office!

3) Tell us about your trip to the Amazon. Did you achieve the goals you set out to accomplish?
Yes the trip was incredible and also successful. We were there to deliver art supplies to children in tribal villages and do art sessions with them.

We were also able to live briefly with The Achuar – an Amazonian community of around 6,500 that live near the borders of Southeast Ecuador and Peru. Like most Achuar communities, the village we stayed in was nestled near a tributary to the Amazon and had a dirt airstrip running through it that had been built by hand after contact with the outside world began in the 1970’s.

The Achuar of Ecuador have managed to strongly protect their land from oil excavation, while sadly the Achuar in Peru have not. We saw horrible illegal oil spills and mass contamination created by oil excavation in the jungles deep in Ecuador while delivering school supplies to another tribe called the Cofan. We were able to document their stories and are working on a film to share those stories with the world.

4) How do you tell if a company is truly dedicated to sustainability or if they are greenwashing?
Whatever the product may be the thing to always remember is that the ingredients don’t lie. This is what you really have to focus on. You have to know what ingredients are safe or toxic and that’s an education within itself – but not as hard as you may think.

If a company is truly green you will see 100% certified organic or the European equivalent, or other keys to look for are short ingredient lists if it’s a food item and words you can pronounce or easily recognize. There are books and websites out there entirely dedicated to label reading. So the best thing to do is to start there and learn what’s safe and what’s not. Just because things are FDA regulated, it does not mean they are 100% safe for us! The entire cosmetics and skincare industries remain unregulated altogether as well.

5) Did you have any mentors? If you did, who were they? What were their advices to you?
I think I had people in life that inspired me more than I had people who mentored me.

6) Name top 3 entrepreneurs/leaders/designers that you admire the most and why.
I have so many people I admire and whose work I love. What I am always inspired by though is how many amazing people succeed despite odds against them.

Walt Disney dropped out of high school at age 16 and Frank Lloyd Wright, widely accepted as the most influential architect of the twentieth century, never even attended high school to begin with.

I love people who remind us everyday that anything is possible and it’s not really about where you come from but about where you want to go and how passionate you are about getting there.

One of my personal heroes is a man named Pablo Fajardo who is fighting the legal battle against Chevron for dumping oil on indigenous land in what has become the largest environmental court case in history. I wrote a blog about him.

7) What is the difference between good and great design?
Good design shows talent. Great design shows passion and perhaps stirs something deep within us.

8) How do you define a good leader?
Compassionate. Honest. Inspiring. Brilliant and one who practices “ahimsa” which is a Sanskrit word that means to do no harm. Ghandi comes to mind.

9) What makes you happy?
Beaches, working with animals, being surrounded by my wonderful family and incredible friends, writing, yoga, Italy in the summer and falling asleep to the sounds of the jungle!

10) Can you tell us, what you are working on next?
A men’s line. We get asked all the time to design for men so that is our next step.

My career evolved from a love of contradictory disciplines. I was a physics major my first year of college but emerged with a Fine Arts degree. I have always been drawn to the visual arts, and equally so, more analytical disciplines like engineering. Design planning is a platform for my creative and investigative curiosities.

2) What is design research, how can a person be trained for it and what makes a good design researcher?
Design research is a way of understanding how people engage with products and brands so that we can design experiences that are more relevant, rewarding and successful. For businesses, design research and strategy can create a more tuned-in view of one’s customers, a new way to see or use customer insights, and grounded ideas for improving the brand, product, service or retail experience delivered.

A good design researcher knows how to apply many different research methods (quantitative, qualitative, ethnographic) towards understanding an industry, category or consumer. But, also tends to emphasize ethnography (digital and traditional) to explore what is culturally, socially and emotionally influencing people’s perceptions, connections and relationships.

Today, there are several educational programs offering design research and strategy training. My alma mater, Institute of Design at Illinois Institute of Technology, offers graduate programs that fuse the disciplines of design and business through intense study in design planning, user-centered design research, communications, product design, marketing, accounting, organizational behavior and strategy.

3) There has been a debate out there about the sustainability of user-centered design practice and how it could actually be stifling creativity and innovation. What is your take on that?
I simply believe it’s beneficial to consider what people care about and how they experience their world before you produce something different, better, or wildly new for them (within the context of other approaches to insight and evaluation, of course). Naturally, I feel the debate over the sustainability of user-centered design is more about how it is applied than whether it is valuable.

To move the debate forward, I’d like to see us first clarify what influences the success of user-centered design, as it’s not just a collection of tools, rather, a set of values. Similarly, it’s not just about investing more dollars into user research, but valuing human needs and aspirations in the context of meaningful design.

Some leading questions that would help clarify what these influencers are for any organization: Is the culture art or science driven (or, brand or product driven)? Do the organization’s processes make room for creativity as well as evaluation? When is proof required for innovation?

As someone who’s been hired to figure out how user-centered design is valued within organizations and create new processes and teams to support it, I know that it requires much commitment, rigor and investment to support. To see its evolution over the last decade has been so rewarding and I hope the debates and critical thinking only continue to advance, diversify and create new standards for the field.

4) Did you have any mentors? If you did, who were they? What were their advices to you?
Larry Keeley (Doblin Group) gave me the foundation I needed to pursue a career in design planning and the skills and confidence to bring strategic design thinking to any problem or industry.

Vishwa Marwah (Tattoo) taught me that inspiration comes in all forms, and that understanding the context for design is as important as the design itself.

Christopher Ireland and Davis Masten (Cheskin) taught me that brilliance didn’t need to be backbreaking, but a good idea was nothing if it wasn’t embraced or acted on.

5) Name top 3 entrepreneurs/leaders/designers that you admire the most and why.
That’s a tough question. I try to look for the best, most inspired things about everyone I meet. I don’t have idols. Instead, just try to focus on keeping an open mind, seeing things differently, and acknowledging the successes in everyone and every situation.

6) Can you suggest your favorite books?
My reading tastes are varied. I rarely read business books.
A classic I love:
- I turn to Christopher Alexander’s “Pattern Language” for inspiration about design, planning and systems thinking.
Titles on my bookshelf right now:
- “The Nightlife of Trees” is a brilliantly illustrated children’s book from Tara Publishing (India) by Durga Bai, Bhajju Shyam and Ram Singh Urveti.
- “Golden Gate Gardening” by Pam Peirce is helping me design and build an urban garden in our very small San Francisco.
- “Ad Hoc at Home” is my current bible for cooking, peace and harmony within the home. A great foundational cookbook.

7) What is the difference between good and great design?
Good design dramatically improves the experience for the user. Great design does this while inspiring others to be better designers.

8) How do you define a good leader?
A good leader inspires, motivates and sets the tone for success while clearly defining it, then relies on her team to translate those aspirations into brilliance and deliver on them in ways she couldn’t have anticipated.

9) What makes you happy?
Learning about random subjects, working with my hands, feeling a true sense of accomplishment, making the people in my life happy and spending good time with my family.

10) Can you tell us, what you are working on next?
I am slowly but surely committing more of my time to a fun new fashion business venture, but for the foreseeable future I’m happy continuing to help my clients with their design and innovation goals.

2) What makes your company unique and different in your industry and your country?
To succeed as an integrated shop you have to have a common starting point, and for us it’s the One Thing people need to experience in order to get them to do, think or feel what we want them to. Once you have that insight, developing ideas and creating impact with integrated solutions is much easier, because it helps you get to, and stay focused on, useful simplicity.

3) Did you have any mentors? If you did, who were they? What were their advices to you?
I can name two mentors in the business. The first is Mark Pigott, a local ad legend with whom I worked at Ogilvy, who taught me to pick the top five things I really don’t want to do and do them first. My current mentor is Chris Bedford, our CEO, who taught me the value of applying design thinking to any strategic challenge.

4) Name top 3 entrepreneurs/leaders/designers that you admire the most and why.
I admire Roger Martin for how he is infusing design thinking at the Rotman School of Business. I am a huge fan of Bose sound systems for their continual innovation, and I love pretty much everything Porsche designs.

5) Can you suggest your favorite books?
“The Design of Business” by Roger Martin for creating a workable framework for applying design thinking in the real world. “Truth, Lies and Advertising” by Jon Steele for driving home the power usable customer insights have in getting to useful simplicity.

6) What is the difference between good and great design?
Good design makes you say, “Wow that is gorgeous.” Great design makes you say, “How did I live without this before?”

7) How do you define a good leader?
A good leader is nothing more, or less, than someone who has followers. That has nothing to do with position or title. It has to do with an emotional connection, which is why some organizations are not actually lead by the top of the org chart.

8) What is the design scene like in Canada?
It’s great. This is a pretty artsy country and there is a fair bit of public support for the arts community. Not to mention the fact that most of our metropolitan centers are near some sort of nature, so it’s a great draw for designy types.

9) What makes you happy?
Seeing young talented staff grow professionally, making my kids laugh, and laying down a low, deep bass groove.

10) If you were not a designer (or in the design business), what would you want to be?
A professor.

I discovered origami as a child, but rediscovered it in college while I was at UC Davis, getting my bachelors in Business Economics. In between completing my courses, I had a desire to develop a unique skill set. Reading a 500-page book wasn’t attractive since I was already reading a lot during college, painting was an expensive art, and by sifting through the self imposed constraints, I discovered origami all over again.

I first practiced from an origami book, and then I realized that origami had certain constraints, which I addressed when I created my line of origami kits and in Girligami.

Cindy Ng, author of Girligami

2) What is Origami design? What are the key distinctive features/ elements that define “origami” design?
Origami is taking a pliable material (paper, plastic, fabric, stainless steel), following a series of folds, and transforming it into a 3 dimensional model. Definitions of what qualifies as an origami design is subjective as it is relatively new field even though it has a rich history dating back to second century ad. The definition of origami will differ from designer to artist to scientist. I would call myself a liberal origami designer, as I believe that one should be allowed to create a few cuts or glue for a more dramatic effect. As long as you are folding 95% of the time, I would say it is origami.

3) Where do you see Origami design heading? What is its future?
If you’ve had the opportunity to watch Vanessa Gould’s award winning film, Between the Folds, you’ll realize origami’s limitless possibilities and it is only just the beginning. There are scientists working on algorithms in constructing origami models for cars and space exploration. In today’s fashion, you’ll see many origami-inspired tops, dresses and even shoes. I try to log all the different applications on origamiblog.com whenever I see origami applied as a source of inspiration or scientific exploration.

Cindy's Origami Bijou Collection

4) Name top 3 entrepreneurs/leaders/designers that you admire the most and why.
Entrepreneur: Stewart Levine. I met Stewart in masters swimming while I was living in California. He is a trained attorney who is a master at assisting individuals reach resolution when conflict arises. I admire him because he approaches anything he does with passion and is great at what he does. He taught me the phrase: “Don’t Throw The Baby Out With the Bath Water”

Leader: Igor Dyachenko. Igor is my Karate Sensei, a highly accomplished visionary who encourages everyone around him to reach his or her full potential. I admire him because he best exemplifies the phrase, “Lead by example”

Origami Designer and Scientist: Erik Demaine. I don’t know him personally, but I admire his brilliance and dedication to the world of paper folding.

Origami design by Erik Demaine

5) Can you suggest your favorite books?
on conflict management: “Getting to Resolution”by Stewart Levine
on leading a meaningful life: “A Guide to the Good Life” by William Irvine
on technology and business: “The Innovator’s Dilemma” by Clayton Christensen

6) What is the difference between good and great design?
Good design shouldn’t exist. Why would you create something good, when you can create something great? Great design is designing with purpose, meaning, sustainability, and beauty in mind. Great design should also intrigue and inspire.

7) How do you define a good leader?
There are many things that define a good leader, but consistent qualities I see in a successful leader is one who has great professional and personal relationships, flexible, strategic, self sacrificing, ethical, and inspiring.

8) Can you tell us, what you are working on next?
I finished my second book proposal earlier this year and getting the details sorted out. Right now I’m working on a kite design competition.

9) What makes you happy?
Many things: being self aware, having solid/open/supportive relationships, sharing meaningful/fun/new experiences with individuals I adore, eating good food, practicing karate, enjoying nature, and working on my life goals.

10) If you weren’t doing Origami design, what would you be doing?
We’re in a really exciting period of time where we can create anything we envision. But if I can go back in time, I would have majored in exercise science so that I could dedicate my life to the sports and health field because right now I have an obsession with health. Then at night, I would teach and/or practice karate.

Elite Handball Players. Carina on the very right.

I’ve always wanted to specialize, so when I was a teenager, I chose to be an athlete. I came into my present profession quite late, so you can say I am a beginner within this field (10 years experience).

2) What is Swedish design? What are the key distinctive features/ elements that define “Swedish” or “Scandinavian” design? Any difference between the two?
I like the question even though it is hard for myself to tell you what makes Swedish design special. Scandinavian design (Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway) is what you can say “Less is More”. Very clean and functional if you compare to American design, which I think is more emotional and sometimes a bit romantic. There are differences between the Scandinavian countries: Sweden is very functional, Denmark has subtle nuances and is more vivid, Finland is comparable with Sweden. Norway suffers from too many knitted pullovers, but they still have a lot to offer. The common thing between all countries is that Scandinavian design is clean and crisp.

Swedish Design

3) Name top 3 entrepreneurs/leaders/designers that you admire the most and why.

Steve Jobs for his intuition, Ingvar Kamprad for his human touch and economical approach. I don’t have a designer in mind, but I choose an artist instead; Salvador Dalí for his madness and aesthetic qualities.

4) Can you suggest your favorite books?
“Ways of Seeing” by John Berger and “Design as Art” by Bruno Munari. For personal reading, “Kafka on The Shore” by Haruki Murakami.

5) What do you think of “American” design?
It is hard to tell because I haven’t gotten the whole picture yet. If I think about America spontaneously, I think about the 50′s style, which is really boring. It feels like going backwards instead of looking into the future. But I think we have the same problem in Sweden with nostalgia.
 The design in America is not so modern. It’s more about the value of brand which makes it difficult to talk about the surface. But if you get into details, you can figure out some differences when comparing us. For example; Americans use more serifs in doing signage and in Scandinavia (Europe) we have a preference for sans serifs. This is the US romantic style where Scandinavia is more functional. We are more connected to humanity and nature, and in America you are more connected to business.

6) What is the difference between good and great design?
Good design is when it works and great design is when it creates something more. Something memorable.

7) How do you define a good leader?
An empathic confident person who is open-minded and has the courage to listen to other people, a person who gives you the feeling of being safe even though she/he don’t have all the answers. Nobody has all the answers. I hate leaders who become teachers and make use of his/her position to exercise control. We are all grown ups so we should all be on the same level no matter what kind of role we have.

8) What is the design scene like in Sweden? (You can talk about the trends. or if there are many young talents, any great design agencies there? Or do most migrate to the US, or UK. What are the trends…and what’s the future of design in Sweden?)
I begin with the last question; the future in Sweden looks great. We have everything to succeed though Sweden is a society which today is built upon the engineering knowledge. It is a great foundation to build on. And we have a lot of really talented designers. All are talented because of their own interest and their own effort. In the past, we designers had to go to private schools to get our education and it was expensive. Not everyone could afford it and not everyone had the talent to get through the exams.

In the last couple of years, our design education changed. It is now more competitive. You can’t be just a designer/ artist, you have to be more than that. The next step is to know business, and how to use design to differentiate the outcome. In Sweden everything looks alike today. We are a bit surface-oriented, and good ideas are copied between companies and brands just because it looks good. Many business leaders want to copy instead of choosing something that is unique for his/her business. And designers haven’t figured out yet how to make the customer feel secure in trying something new. I think many designers are fed up with that so some go to other countries. When they come back they are highly sought after by design agencies.

This effect is peculiar because you can still be the same designer as you were before you went. The only difference is that you had the opportunity to practice what you already knew…in a foreign country. 

We have some agencies that I think are great*, but still I miss the ones you can find in America, where the knowledge of business and branding are important. In Sweden we say that we know branding, but we don’t.

CarrierCarrier Brand Identity by Ohlsonsmith

Ohlsonsmith – This agency has a lot to offer when it comes to the aesthetic part. Barbro, whom is the founder and creative director, is a real artist. The ground platform for this agency is emotional design, which is great if you are going to build brands.

9) What makes you happy?
When I am in the middle of something and forget about time.

10) If you were not a designer, what would you want to be?
There aren’t any other options.

Carina at Autodesk HQ in San Francisco

Some other cool Sweedish designers and agencies:
Hjartasmarta – These two girls were in my school. A year behind me and I envy them (in a good way). They have found a unique genetic code together. It is very special. Their collaboration is everything and for that I respect them a lot. Imagine to find a person that brings out the best of you……

Happy – An award-winning and big agency.

Essen – A brand + design agency

Kontrapunkt – A danish one..:)

1) Tell us what you do?
I originally graduated in Marketing and Branding but my background is quite complex. I started as a freelance interaction designer back in 1997, working in the interactive media industry before the dot com crash. After that I moved to project management, mainly in service oriented implementations. I had the opportunity to work in New York, managing implementations and customers in South America, and then I moved to Africa for 2 years.

In Africa I worked on huge third sector projects for the government of Angola. I had an amazing, once-of-a-lifetime experience in Africa. I will never forget all the crazy stuff I did with my friends, to keep ourselves busy in a country which at that time, had no retail stores or movie theaters to catch the latest releases.

Through my car window on a normal day, driving to the office.

My birthday in Africa…a surprise party.

When I returned from Africa, I got a project management role with Bayer, and worked there for two years before leaving to start my own company, which has recently become part of the Live|Work family.

2) Share with us what made you become a business owner/ entrepreneur. What makes your business unique and different in your industry and your country.

I think I carry business in my heart. I couldn’t envision myself working as just an employee for a company for my entire life.
It all started with a soccer ball…I used to live on a suburban neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro. Things were very simple at that time; if you have a soccer ball or if your friend has one, then you were guaranteed to be a FUN, cool guy to play with. One summer day, when I was thirteen, my friends and I were playing a soccer game called “the fool”. It’s a game where one person is running after the ball and two or more players are making this guy look like a fool by dodging him.

Somehow, during our fun “fool” game, our soccer ball landed in a house of a lady who sold “sacole”, a brazilian home-made ice cream, for a living. Let me tell you, this lady was NOT happy with our ball in her house. We weren’t surprised about what happened next. She came out, took the ball inside and punctured MY ball. I was furious! But something came over me. Instead of cursing and kicking, I concocted an “evil” plan.

THE “EVIL” PLAN
The plan was to put this sacolé lady out of business! We went to the grocery store and bought as many fruits and ingredients needed to make the best sacolé ever and to sell them at half the price. Of course, we didn’t have any money, so all the purchases were put on my grandma’s tab. Since my unknowing grandma was our VC, our little business began booming! Our “revenge-business” plan was a great success! We were taking over the neighborhood sacolé business!

Soon, the lady came knocking on my grandma’s door. She expressed regrets having damaged my soccer ball. She was genuinely concerned about her sacolé business and persuaded my grandma to put a stop to my sacolé business.

My grandma, whom is an amazingly generous person, came to me and asked me to stop. But I replied,” Grandma, I am working! Aren’t you supposed to encourage me to continue doing this and not quit?” But her next question made me fold my business…
The question was, “Hum… ok… but where are you getting all these materials to produce your wonderful sacolés?”
Oh yes. I had forgotten about grandma’s tab at the store! Well, at least she allowed me to buy a shiny new ball with the remaining profits.

It all happened here (yep… there’s more in Rio than Ipanema…)

Rio De Janeiro

3) Who are you clients? And how do you serve them?
We help our customers employ creativity and empathy in their internal and external processes so that they can produce more desirable, sustainable and profitable services. On a global level we are “service designing” for companies like Johnson & Johnson, Virgin, Nokia, Tesco and others. In Brazil, we did projects for the Government, a Wellness luxury chain and others.

4) Name top 3 entrepreneurs/leaders/designers that you admire the most and why.
First is Walt Disney, for being a dreamer in such an idea-killer world.
Second is Steve Jobs for his boldness. I don’t think he is a genius though, but he certainly has “balls”. Einstein was a genius.
Third, I honor designers who have the confidence to cut the “rockstar” bullshit, give up the credits, learn about business and blend with other people and professionals in order to produce great results for communities and companies.

5) Can you suggest your favorite books?
The Godfather hands down.

6) Who is your favorite football team?
My team used to be Flamengo. But now I’m not cheering for any, only the national team, which lost miserably to Netherlands 5 hours ago. I think I will drop my soccer preferences for good.

7) What is the difference between good and great design?
Good design produces beautiful and, sometimes, functional goods.
Great design adds meaning and helps people overcome difficult barriers to live and work better.

8) How do you define a good leader?
To me leadership is all about inspiration and transpiration. You cannot lead only by example, at the same time you cannot lead only by being a good storyteller. A good leader is someone who can balance these two.

9) What is the design scene like in Brazil?
Design in Brazil was always related to the publicity/ advertising agencies. Brazil has a strong reputation on good advertisement design and most schools today still direct their teachings to prepare students for this market. Also the word “design” in Portuguese always has an aesthetic connotation. That’s why strategic design is a difficult concept for Brazilians to grasp. But things are changing. Since I started my company in 2007, we’ve been working our asses-off to promote Design Thinking as a profitable way for companies to move forward in a cluttered commoditized world.

But I am happy to say, that our hard work is slowly paying off. Companies as of last year are starting to embrace the idea. We created the first Latin America Design Thinking course in a Business School at ESPM, a major school in executive education in Brazil. Plus, the public workshops we’ve been hosting are always packed. We’ve been busy visiting prospects and delivering projects here. So I can’t complain at all.

I do believe we are moving towards a Design Thinking mindset here faster than other countries. After all, Brazilians are known to have an appetite for new things!

10) What makes you happy?
It’s those silent moments of reminiscing, that I have kept my head up and my heart fully committed in delivering my best.
And of course, my lovely wife and my dog “Foca” which means Seal. (look at the face of this thing!). They bring joy to my soul.

Tennyson and Foca