The Design Of Business | The Business Of Design

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 you have to be born with them?These are big, hairy questions. And in this episode of DB|BD, our guests take a stab at them.You will hear excerpts from conversations host Ellen McGirt had with nine different leaders onsite at the Summit. All nine leaders, whose expertise spans across business, law, design, and government, share invaluable wisdom on what it takes to build trust with customers, employees and shareholders in a world where trust itself is scarce. 2025 Edelman Trust BarometerLeaders featured in this episode:Jim

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 she got to do something special. Over the course of a 9-5, Ellen interviewed nine different leaders on mic from the worlds of law, technology, academia, food and the UN. And we are bringing excerpts from all nine of those conversations straight to the DB|BD airwaves. Consider it inside access to this invite-only summit. Over the next two episodes of DB|BD you will hear from powerhouse leaders on what’s keeping them up at night and how they’re dealing with it. Today, we’re covering that first part. Times are tough. A hostile

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 progress, the role big D design can play in creating a better world and how to stay hopeful in a moment that is anything but. Plus, Ellen shares some anecdotes about her career journey never before heard on the DB|BD airwaves!If you enjoy this episode, be sure to subscribe to Say More and listen to more episodes!Follow Tulaine on Instagram and check out New ProfitDesign Observer’s profile on Mr. PTulaine’s conversation with Angela Glover BlackwellTrevor Noah in conversation with Dr. Ruha BenjaminBefore you go! Help u

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 place. In this episode of DB|BD, Catalyst’s Head of Knowledge Transformation and Solution Development Alixandra Pollack sits down with host Ellen McGirt to discuss the four categories of risk companies face when retreating from DEI and the study’s recommendations to leaders for a non-reactive approach to maintaining inclusion and trust.Next up, Ellen chats with a design leader who is really living and breathing one of Alix's recommendations "walk the talk and talk the walk."  Doug Powell is a designer, e

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 Place to Work companies are also some of the most profitable, how expectations for workplace culture vary around the world and why consistency is an essential leadership trait. He also shares his thoughts on whether leadership is based in nature or nurture and if DEI was even fully baked to begin with.Later in the episode, Ellen chats with WNBA legend Candace Parker. Candace is a three time WNBA champion and two time Olympic Gold medalist. She is still the only W player to win Rookie of the Year and MVP in the same season.

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 consulting office that helped federal agencies use technology to better serve the public. Ethan resigned in February, just one month before the office was shut down.In this episode, Ethan describes the difficult choice to leave 18F – a story that  includes practical career advice on what do to do when a job contradicts your personal values. He also discusses the role of compassionate design in this moment, and what its future might be. And Ethan reflects on the state of “responsive design” 15 years later, why redesigning big

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 also the proud co-owners of The Rumpus. In this episode, Debbie tells host Ellen McGirt about her unexpected journey into gardening and the cold email that led to Love Letter. She also shares her process of using Midjourney to create many of the book’s illustrations. Debbie reflects on what 20 years of Design Matters has taught her about the podcasting industry, creativity and herself. She also shares her thoughts on whether brands still have the capacity to be human and how technology will factor in the future of design.

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 Ellen McGirt the story of how taking a trip to India to study turmeric led to her starting a global import-export business at 23 years old. She also shares why Diaspora Co pays the farmers they work with at least 4x the commodity price and and how Diaspora’s packaging is shaking up the spice aisle. And she gets brutally honest about bootstrapping a business and navigating tariffs.  On this season of DB|BD, we are Designing for the Unknown. Host Ellen McGirt asks visionary designers how they navigate uncertainty- whether it be

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 his senior year at USC. He also talks about going from resisting making films about Asian identity to directing an all Asian cast in one of the most successful romantic comedies of all time. Jon also shares lessons he’s learned from turning down Netflix, collaborating on set and owning the room once you’re in the room. On this season of DB|BD, we are Designing for the Unknown. Host Ellen McGirt asks visionary designers how they navigate uncertainty- whether it be technological disruption, global crises, or shifting cultural norms.Visi

Tony Bynum is bilingual. He can speak the language of both business and design, a skill that makes him a unique leader in our industry. Tony is the director of the Institute for Design’s new ID Academy, where he is also a professor of practice. Previously, he founded the Northwestern Mutual Design Thinking Center of Excellence in Milwaukee, WI where he was Principal Senior Director of Experience Design. In this episode, Tony shares lessons from his unorthodox career path that are still applicable in today’s tumultuous job market. He also shares advice for leaders and new hires on how to use design thinking as a tool for resistance. And Tony and Ellen attempt to give a name to the current era of design- hint: it’s all about designing WITH rather than designing FOR.On this season of DB|BD, we are Designing for the Unknown. Host Ellen McGirt asks visionary designers how they navigate uncertainty- whether it be technological disruption, global crises, or shifting cultural norms.Visit our site for more on this epi

Tara Nathan is the EVP of Digital Solutions for Development at Mastercard and the founder of Mastercard’s Community Pass- a digital infrastructure that connects remote agricultural communities to governments, NGOs and the private sector. Community Pass currently serves 6 million farmers across India and East Africa and has an ambitious plan to reach 30 million by 2027.In this episode, Tara tells host Ellen McGirt about creating an ecosystem that makes it possible for smallholder farmers to participate in the digital economy- a so-called “Mastercard for pigs”. She also shares her belief in leveraging both the private and public sectors to solve complex social problems and what she thinks people get wrong about development work.On this season of DB|BD, we are Designing for the Unknown. Host Ellen McGirt asks visionary designers how they navigate uncertainty- whether it be technological disruption, global crises, or shifting cultural norms.Visit our site for more on this episode and to view a transcript.Learn mo

Welcome to the 12th season of DB|BD. This season we are Designing for the Unknown. Michael Eliason of Larch Lab is an architect, researcher, writer and urbanist based in Seattle He’s a self-described activist for dense, livable, affordable, and sustainable cities and the author of Building for People: Designing Livable, Affordable, Low-Carbon Communities. In the aftermath of the fires in Southern California, Michael helps host Ellen McGirt understand how we can build or rebuild communities to anticipate the significant climate changes imperiling our world and make us healthier, happier, more connected people.  On this season of DB|BD, we are Designing for the Unknown. Host Ellen McGirt asks visionary designers how they navigate uncertainty- whether it be technological disruption, global crises, or shifting cultural norms.Visit our site for more on this episode and to view a transcript.Michael’s book Building for People: Designing Livable, Affordable, Low-Carbon CommunitiesLarch LabJane Jacobs: Neighborhoods i

Ovetta Sampson is the Director of User Experience Machine Learning at Google. In December 2023, Business Insider named Ovetta to their AI 100, a list of the 100 most influential people working in artificial intelligence. Her inclusion on that list is a refreshing addition. Ovetta approaches her work with generative AI and machine learning as an activist, with a commitment to humanity and ethics. In the final interview episode of the 11th season of DB|BD, Jessica Helfand and Ellen McGirt sit down with Ovetta to talk about why awareness of how AI is made is the first step towards holding it, and the people who make it, accountable. Ovetta also shares more about her mantra “Skynet not yet”, why we all should have an expectation that our data will be used responsibly and how her dad’s Commodore 64 launched her programming journeyOn this season of DB|BD, co-hosts Jessica Helfand and Ellen McGirt are observing equity by highlighting the “redesigners” — people who are addressing urgent problems by challenging big as

Jorge Fontanez is the CEO of B Lab, a non-profit network that believes business can be a force for good. B Lab is best known for certifying B Corps, companies that meet high standards of social and environmental performance and accountability. To become a B Corp, companies need to be transparently addressing things like DEI, their own climate footprint and labor conditions. There are currently just over 9,000 B Corps in 102 countries across 162 industries, including well known brands like Patagonia, Toms, and Ben & Jerry’s. As the steward of B Lab’s rigorous certification process, Jorge believes that business can be more loving. To Jorge, this means building out corporate structures where every single person has access to opportunity and can benefit from a company’s growth.In this episode of DB|BD, hosts Jessica Helfand and Ellen McGirt sit down with Jorge to discuss just what love really has to do with it (business). Jorge also offers his digestible wisdom on daunting topics like facing down the ESG back

Tracy K. Smith is a Pulitzer prize winning poet, professor and librettist who served as the U.S. Poet Laureate from 2017-2019. She’s published five poetry collections, two librettos and one memoir-manifesto. She is also a Professor of English and African and African American Studies at Harvard. Her most recent Libretto for the opera The Righteous is currently running at the Santa Fe Opera house through August 13th.Pulsing through Tracy’s long list of accomplishments is her belief that language, and specifically poetry, is a pathway to the fullest versions of ourselves- selves that today’s world often doesn’t allow us to be.In this episode of DB|BD, hosts Jessica Helfand and Ellen McGirt sit down with Tracy to talk through the writing process of two of her most recent works: the libretto for The Righteous and her 2024 memoir-manifesto To Free the Captives: A Plea for the American Soul. Tracy also candidly engages in conversation about how she finds faith when you otherwise feel empty, how she uses history to i

In this episode of DB|BD Ellen McGirt and Jessica Helfand talk with two extraordinary women from two seemingly different corners of the design world: Dionna Dorsey and Olivia Peebles. We say “seemingly” because, while they occupy different design disciplines, they approach their work in similar ways. They are both multidisciplinary designers with the hearts and souls of artists whose visuals bring to life what they and their collaborators know to be true about the world.First up, we hear from Dionna Dorsey, who is running three design businesses at the same time! She has her own design firm called Dionna Dorsey Design, where she designs imagery and apparel for powerhouse organizations like Planned Parenthood. She is also the founder of District of Clothing, which is probably best known for those ubiquitous “Trust Black Women” t-shirts. She is also the CEO of Creative Ladder, an organization she co-founded with Ryan Reynolds and David Griner in 2022, that makes creative careers accessible to people from histor

Twenty years ago, Shamina Singh took what might seem like an unlikely leap from a decade-long career as a labor and political organizer into an executive position at one of the world’s biggest financial institutions. To Singh, this leap was a logical next step in her fight for equity and inclusion. She is now the co-founder and president of Mastercard’s Center for Inclusive Growth. The Center, which celebrated its 10th anniversary this spring, is the credit card giant’s social impact hub that leverages Mastercard’s extensive business assets in service of people and the planet. As of 2023, the Center has brought 48 million small businesses worldwide into the digital economy, over half of which are led by women. In this episode of DB|BD, hosts Ellen McGirt and Jessica Helfand sit down with Singh to discuss why the creation of an inclusive global economy is a redesign project that transcends sectors. Singh also talks about why supporting small businesses is essential to global financial inclusion and championing

The WNBA is both the moment and a movement.  Approximately 400,000 fans attended WNBA games during the first month of the 2024 season, the highest first month attendance in 26 years. An average of 1.32 million viewers are tuning into each game. A historic rookie class that includes Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark are bringing new eyeballs to a game that has some of the most dedicated fan bases in professional sports. The league also saw a 200% increase in revenue in 2023 from the year prior and they are currently negotiating a TV deal independently of the NBA for the very first time.  And don’t forget the women of this league are staunch social activists who helped flip a U.S. Senate seat in 2021.In this episode of DB|BD, hosts Ellen McGirt and Jessica Helfand sit down with WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert. Engelbert stepped in as the league’s very first commissioner in 2019 after spending 33 years at Deloitte. Engelbert shares how she transformed an almost non-existent marketing department to revive the 30 ye

Richard Buery is the CEO of Robin Hood, New York City’s largest poverty fighting organization. It supports high-impact community organizations and partners with state and local governments to elevate New Yorkers out of poverty. In 2023 alone, Robin Hood invested $129 million in 200 carefully selected poverty fighting organizations. And New Yorkers need this support more than ever before. Robin Hood’s 2024 Poverty Tracker, released in February, found that nearly 500,000 more New Yorkers lived in poverty in 2022 than in the year prior. But Richard and his team don't see that statistic as a foregone conclusion. It is an urgent call to action to make New York better for all New Yorkers In this episode of DB|BD, Buery discusses the most pressing issues New York City is currently facing, including the migrant crisis and growth in post-pandemic poverty. He also shares why coalition building is the foundation of Robin Hood’s work and why the organization is investing in A.I. as a poverty fighting tool. Later in

 In 2015, interior designer Jonsara Ruth and architect Alison Mears received a grant to study the use of building materials in affordable housing. This grant led to the creation of the Healthy Materials Lab, a design-led research lab based out of the Parsons School of Design that raises awareness about toxins in building materials and draws attention to healthier alternatives. Almost a decade later, they’re still asking big and necessary questions: What if we could make building materials a little more slowly with an eye towards health and sustainability? And what if these materials were accessible by everyone? What would that mean to the health of the world? In this episode of DB|BD, Ruth and Mears discuss why the Lab continues to focus on  affordable housing, what harms typical materials in our built environment cause, what healthy alternatives exist,  and how these healthy materials can become accessible and affordable at scale.On this season of DB|BD,  co-hosts Jessica Helfand and Ellen McGirt are observi