If your team feels comfortable all the time, you might have a problem. That’s how Ben Swire reframes one of the most misunderstood ideas in leader...

“I have a talented team—so why do we keep churning out tired ideas?” “These people love working together, but when it comes time to brainstorm, the...

Just as human-centered design dives deep into human needs to shape functional and desirable solutions, human-centered leadership is about understanding the needs of your people and your business and serving them in the best way possible. 

We talked with Dabney Hailey, founder and principal of Hailey Group, about the Visual Thinking Strategies (or VTS) method, why it works, how to bring elements of it into your daily practice, and why leaders should shift to the facilitative leadership style this method teaches. Here are six takeaways from our conversation.

  To celebrate the launch of our new Creative Leadership Workshop and Mike Peng’s return as IDEO’s CEO, we’re rounding up some of his most powerfu...

In this episode of our Creative Confidence Series, IDEO Partner and Managing Director Mike Peng chats with IDEO U Dean Suzanne Gibbs Howard about creative collaboration—the method IDEO teams use to come up with innovative new ideas. Mike gives insight into our new course, Cultivating Creative Collaboration, that teaches you how to guide others through the creative collaboration process. He also shares tips for overcoming common challenges, why this way of working is necessary in today’s world, and how tension can be harnessed to unleash creative ideas.

“Our capacity for story making, not just storytelling, is an extraordinary one. It unleashes our creativity—especially when we give ourselves perm...

In one of our most popular recent episodes, we explored how AI is changing the way we design, collaborate, and tell stories. We had so many thought...

Explore how AI is becoming a creative partner in storytelling, prototyping, and content creation. Insights from Google DeepMind’s Matthieu Lorrain and IDEO’s Savannah Kunovsky.

The more ideas you come up with, the better chance you have to reach a truly brilliant solution. For many, brainstorming is the bread and butter of ideation. It’s a great tool to help teams push past obvious solutions to get to breakthrough ideas. Across the thousands of brainstorms IDEO has run—both with internal teams and with clients—we follow seven important rules.

Effective collaboration is fueled by empathy—an awareness of others and an ability to detect their emotions and understand their perspective. To come up with truly innovative solutions requires new ideas. And to bring new ideas to light requires seeking a diversity of perspectives and creating a welcoming space for people to share their ideas without fear of judgment. 

With every new year, we’re faced with excitement at the open slate ahead of us. We’ve collected some resources to help you take the next step in your career. Whether you’re trying to become a better leader, more creative thinker, or more compelling storyteller, we’re here to support you.