Michela Frecchiami

When someone offers you a challenge, don’t think of all the reasons why you can’t do it. Instead, say, ‘Yes!’ Then figure out how you’ll get it done.” This is the foundational principle for leading with a yes. — Tom Greever

Design matters because it helps us solve problems, think creatively, understand the world around us, develop empathy, and be critical. Just as you would hire an architect when building a house, design plays an important role in creating functional, beautiful, and meaningful solutions in all aspects of life.

Ben Shih

Membership

After law school at the University of Southern California, Mr. Price started his career representing grocers and other merchants. With the temperament of a shopkeeper who obsesses over his customers and fusses over the smallest of details, in the 1950s Mr. Price began converting empty San Diego warehouses into members-only bazaars where

For whatever action scares you (and isn’t life-threatening), remember this surefire way to eliminate the fear: do it 100 times.

Julie Zhuo

A concept is strategy, visualized

Great designers are able to distill the essence of a strategy and transmute it (through a mockup, a storyboard, a sentence, a quote, a metaphor, or a story) into a form that stakeholders can grasp and embrace.

https://www.doc.cc/articles/concept?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

A talented person can quickly become mediocre when you force them to be someone they aren’t.

You can only optimize what you can measure. This explains both why it’s impossible to optimize for happiness (not measurable), and why we so often optimize for things that don’t actually make us happy (money, social media likes, how much you can deadlift, etc—all easy to measure!)

Julie Zhuo

While concepting, focus on… concepts

There’s a time and place for different discussions. Oftentimes, in the absence of strategic arguments, peers might raise tactical commentary when reviewing conceptual work (the classic “have you thought about the empty state” comment). But while it's tempting to address every potential scenario immediately,

We can’t think that we’re the only ones with good ideas, that we have all the best solutions, or that there is only one way (our way) to accomplish the goals. Our egos can get in the way of our ability to respond to stakeholders effectively. There is tension here, though. Our expertise in design suggests that we should be recommending the best