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PODCAST

The Design Of Business | The Business of Design

Design Observer

The Design of Business | The Business of Design explores how design shapes, and is shaped by, the world around us. Hosted by Ellen McGirt, the podcast features conversations with visionary leaders from a wide range of industries, from architecture and technology to journalism and retail. Together, they examine creative practices, challenge conventional thinking, and explore how design drives business, innovation, and social change. On this season of DB|BD, we are thinking about radical

business design

All Episodes

33:40

DB|BD at Aspen: Proactivity is the Key to Survival...

The Design Of Business | The Business of Design ·

2026/10/06

Dave Fleet sees more corporate crises in a month than many executives see in their entire career. He is the Managing Director and the Head of Global Crisis at Edelman, meaning he helps companies prepare for, and manage through, crises. He is regularly fielding phone calls from people on the worst day of their careers.But his job is also more than that, Dave and his team are fighting disinformation, teaching media literacy and helping businesses proactively build trust with their employees and...

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36:44

DB|BD at Aspen: Eric Ries Would Like to Apologize

The Design Of Business | The Business of Design ·

2026/10/06

In 2011 Eric Ries published a book called The Lean Startup. It sold over one million copies and became something of a Bible for the Silicon Valley set. And Eric himself became something of a prophet. The Lean Startup gave a generation of founders a methodology to build quickly, scale quickly, and build value quickly. Eric encouraged his readers to build businesses to change the world. He forgot to say for the better. And many readers took his omission seriously. The companies The Lean Startup...

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34:58

DB|BD at Aspen: Motivating People is a Design...

The Design Of Business | The Business of Design ·

2026/09/29

Steve Goldbach leads Deloitte’s Sustainability and Infrastructure practice. He believes today's leaders face an emerging new design challenge: figuring out how the next generation will build real judgment and taste when AI is taking over so much of the work that used to teach it. He's the co-author, along with his longtime collaborator Geoff Tuff, of three best-selling books on leadership and innovation. His latest is called Hone: How Purposeful Leaders Defy Drift. In this conversation with...

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45:56

DB|BD at Aspen: Innovation Requires Collaboration...

The Design Of Business | The Business of Design ·

2026/09/29

No one has better insight on what it takes to lead across space and time than Linda Hill. She has been a professor at Harvard Business School for forty years. Her current title is the Wallace Brett Donham Professor of Business Administration and Faculty Chair of the Leadership Initiative. She’s also started two companies of her own and co-authored three books about leadership. The latest is called Genius at Scale. It’s a guide for leaders on mastering the practice of innovation in a tumultuou...

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37:52

DB|BD at Aspen: AI is the Greatest Civil Rights Issue...

The Design Of Business | The Business of Design ·

2026/09/22

Chris Hyams spent 15 years at the job search platform Indeed, becoming its CEO in 2019. When he stepped down in 2025, more than 300 million jobseekers visited Indeed’s site every month. He also 200x’d the company’s revenue. So why would a guy who is so good at what he does step down? According to him, he had a higher calling. Chris believes that AI is the single greatest civil rights issue of our time and he’s appalled it isn’t better regulated. And he’s taking action. Chris is teaching...

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35:20

DB|BD at Aspen: Dean Erika James Says a Prepared...

The Design Of Business | The Business of Design ·

2026/09/22

Erika James became the dean of the Wharton School on July 1, 2020. So she knows a thing or two about leading during a crisis. She even wrote a book about it. Dean James, and her co-author Lynn Perry Wooten, published The Prepared Leader in the fall of 2022. The book breaks down the phases of crisis management and lends some advice on how to make big decisions under pressure. In this conversation with DB|BD host Ellen McGirt, Dean James explains why leading in a crisis-filled world...

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33:46

DB|BD Presents: Draw the Line

The Design Of Business | The Business of Design ·

2026/09/17

DB|BD is proud to introduce Design Observer's latest podcast: Draw the Line, the inside story of Louisiana’s fight over power, maps, and who gets left off them. Because every district line is a design decision — and every decision is about who gets power. The Supreme Court case Louisiana v. Callais gutted the Voting Rights Act and rewrote the rules of American democracy. As goes Louisiana, so goes the rest of the country. Who's fighting for your vote? This is episode one. In it, h...

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43:21

DB|BD at Aspen: Todd Breyfogle on the Aspen...

The Design Of Business | The Business of Design ·

2026/09/15

In 1949, Walter and Elizabeth Paepkes invited 2,000 artists, thinkers and business leaders to the abandoned mining town of Aspen, Colorado, for the first iteration of an Aspen Institute gathering. Eight decades later, artists, thinkers and business leaders still convene in Aspen every summer to discuss the challenges and advances shaping our world. And while their modes of transportation have changed (that first group mostly arrived via horseback), they share a key belief with their pre...

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31:44

AI, Radical Collaboration & Hope: DB|BD Returns to...

The Design Of Business | The Business of Design ·

2026/09/15

Listeners, it has been a while, but DB|BD is back! And this season we are thinking about radical collaboration. For the second year in a row, Design Observer is publishing some exclusive conversations from the Aspen Institute's Business and Society Summit. In July, DBBD host Ellen McGirt interviewed eight thoughtful, important and provocative leaders who are thinking deeply about AI, sustainability, and the role of business in a chaotic world. But before you dive into the interviews, we...

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46:46

DB|BD at Aspen: Judy Samuelson is Still Thinking...

The Design Of Business | The Business of Design ·

2026/09/15

If you’re in the business world, you’ve heard of Judy Samuelson. Even if you’re not in the business world, you may have heard of Judy Samuelson. That’s because Judy is one of the most influential voices thinking about and wrestling with the purpose of business in the modern world and how capitalism can be a force for good. Judy founded the Aspen Institute’s Business and Society Program back in 1998. But perhaps one of her most important contributions is her leadership in the Business Ro...

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49:06

S12E10: The Past, Present and Future of Design with...

The Design Of Business | The Business of Design ·

2025/11/11

Lee Moreau is the host of the Design Observer podcasts Design As and The Futures Archive. He is also a Professor of the Practice of Design at Northeastern University and the founder and director of Other Tomorrows, a design and strategy consultancy based in Boston. Lee is also the perfect guest to cap off the 12th season of DB|BD- a season that grappled with designing for the unknown. Lee faces the challenge of uncertainty head-on in his teaching, on his podcasts and in his consultancy practi...

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41:49

On Location at the Aspen Institute Part 2:...

The Design Of Business | The Business of Design ·

2025/09/09

We’re back with part 2 of our peek behind the curtain of the 2025 Aspen Business & Society Summit. And this time we are asking the big question. In a period of global turmoil, does leadership need a redesign? It’s clear that today’s leaders- whether of a business, a government or a family- require an unprecedented level of courage, vision and integrity. But what exactly does that type of leadership look and feel like? And can you develop the skills needed to be an audacious leader, or do ...

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35:40

On Location at the Aspen Institute Part 1: Diving...

The Design Of Business | The Business of Design ·

2025/08/19

Every summer, the Aspen Institute’s Business and Society Program’s annual summit gathers 200+ leaders from the worlds of business, science, government, design, and the arts at the Institute's Colorado campus. They convene for three days of panels, spontaneous conversations and knowledge sharing- all driven by a shared belief that business can shape and contribute to the health of our world. The 2025 Summit took place in July. And of course, DB|BD host Ellen McGirt was there. This year s...

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41:03

Special Episode: Ellen McGirt Opens the Curiosity...

The Design Of Business | The Business of Design ·

2025/08/05

Instead of our usual episode, we're excited to share a podcast we think you'll love: Say More with Tulaine Montgomery. In her podcast, Tulaine speaks with people who are deeply committed to making the world a better place, while also taking care of themselves and supporting their communities. In this episode, she puts DB|BD host Ellen McGirt on the other side of the mic! Ellen and Tulaine talked about many things that matter to Design Observer listeners, including: curiosity as a key to...

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52:26

S12E9: The Risks of Retreating from DEI with...

The Design Of Business | The Business of Design ·

2025/07/22

In a time where it's hard to feel hopeful, a new study has left leaders who value DEI aflutter with tentative optimism. It’s called The Risk of Retreat, conducted by Catalyst and the NYU Meltzer Center of Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging, it compiled data from surveys of 2,500 employees from across the U.S. on their thoughts about workplaces backtracking from their DEI policies. The study found that retreating from DEI poses significantly MORE business risk than keeping those policies in pl...

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47:41

S12E8: Candace Parker & Michael C. Bush on Purpose,...

The Design Of Business | The Business of Design ·

2025/07/01

In this episode of DB|BD, you’re in for a two for one– or in this case, a double double. First up, host Ellen McGirt sits down with Michael C. Bush, the CEO of Great Place to Work. Every year, Great Place to Work sends out a survey to 23 million people across 170 countries to ask them how valued and respected they feel at work. Companies that score well on the survey are bestowed with the honor of being- you guessed it- a certified Great Place to Work. Michael talks with Ellen about why Great...

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41:27

S12E7: Compassionate Design, Career Advice and...

The Design Of Business | The Business of Design ·

2025/06/10

Ethan Marcotte is a web designer who may be best known for coining the term “responsive design” in 2010 – which turned out to be a prescient manifesto for the quest to design beautiful, accessible, and effective digital experiences everywhere. Ethan’s also a compassionate web designer and a prolific writer. His most recent book is “You Deserve A Tech Union,” a treatise on the rise of the labor movement in tech. Ethan also recently spent nearly a year working for 18F, a governmental digital co...

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52:24

S12E6: Love Letter to a Garden and 20 years of Design...

The Design Of Business | The Business of Design ·

2025/05/27

Debbie Millman is a shapeshifting creative who does a little bit of just about everything. She is a writer, designer, educator, artist, brand consultant and host of the podcast Design Matters- which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. Last month, Debbie also published a beautiful new book: Love Letter to a Garden. It details her journey into gardening through her signature illustrations, creative vignettes and recipes from her wife, writer Roxane Gay. As of May 1st, she and Roxane are ...

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42:36

S12E5: Redesigning the Spice Trade: Talking Turmeric...

The Design Of Business | The Business of Design ·

2025/05/13

Sana Javeri Kadri is the founder of Diaspora Co., a single origin spice company that is revolutionizing the 500 year old $5 billion spice industry. Their mission is to “put money, equity and power into the best regenerative spice farms across South Asia, and bring wildly delicious, hella potent flavors into your home cooking.” In just 8 years in business, Diaspora Co. has put money, equity and power into 140 farms into countries across India and Sri Lanka. In this episode, Sana tells host Ell...

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44:06

S12E4: Making Space with Jon M. Chu

The Design Of Business | The Business of Design ·

2025/04/22

Jon M. Chu is a director, producer and screenwriter. Along with both parts of the Wicked movie adaptation, he directed Crazy Rich Asians, Step Up 2 and In the Heights. In a special live episode of DB|BD, Jon joins Ellen McGirt onstage at the Great Place to Work For All Summit, which took place in Las Vegas on April 10th-12th, 2025. Jon details how he went from a child of immigrants with a Sharper Image film mixer making bar mitzvah videos to being discovered by Spielberg during hi...

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