Designing Next

Cast & Hue
  • 0.0 (0)
  • Design

The world is changing at a rapid pace, and consumer expectations are constantly evolving. As technology and AI plays a larger role in business and life, people are craving deeper human connections. In this podcast, we speak to experience design and innovation leaders about how they envision, design, and build new futures. We explore how they use human-centered design and service design to ensure the user voice is heard, orchestrate their operations, and successfully implement and measure the financial and human impact of these experiences.

  1. Aug 12

    [RE-RELEASE] How to Make Your Product Positioning Obviously Awesome

    Originally released December 2, 2021 Guest April Dunford Author  Obviously Awesome - How to Nail Product Positioning so Customers Get It, Buy it, Love it. Summary April Dunford, product positioning leader and author of the book Obviously Awesome - How to Nail Product Positioning so Customers Get It, Buy it, Love it, joins Designing Next to share her insights and methodology around product positioning. In this episode, April shares why traditional positioning statements are not useful, how she now approaches positioning with her five components of effective positioning, and how she has seen the COVID-19 pandemic affect how companies approach their positioning.  Show Details This episode’s guest is April Dunford, product positioning leader and author of the book Obviously Awesome - How to Nail Product Positioning so Customers Get It, Buy it, Love it. Unsurprisingly, April has a tremendous amount of product positioning experience. She spent the first 25 years of her career as a start-up executive, leading marketing, product and sales teams. Six of her seven startups were acquired by brands including IBM, SAP, and Siebel. Through it all, she positioned, re-positioned and launched 16 products. Today she is an author and consultant.  Of course, we’re thrilled that she decided to share her knowledge and wisdom through the book Obviously Awesome, which captures her ideas about positioning and a methodology for doing it that anyone can follow. As she says, positioning is the foundation of everything we do in marketing and sales -- and we would say it is a key part of everything we do in innovation and design as well.  In this episode, Chad and Steve dig into all things positioning with April. Look forward to learning: How April approached the development and writing of her book as if she was developing a new product. Why April feels traditional positioning statements are not useful, and how she now approaches positioning as a result - including her five components of effective positioning. How April has seen the COVID-19 pandemic affect how companies approach their positioning.  Visit April’s personal website: https://www.aprildunford.com/ Get the book: https://www.amazon.com/Obviously-Awesome-Product-Positioning-Customers/dp/1999023005/

    [RE-RELEASE] How to Make Your Product Positioning Obviously Awesome

  2. Aug 11

    [RE-RELEASE] Exploring Design Inspiration from Picasso to Cyberpunk

    Originally released November 11, 2021 Guest Tonya Browning Vice President, Dell Digital Design  Dell Technologies Summary Tonya Browning, Vice President, Dell Digital Design at Dell Technologies, joins Designing Next to share her learnings and perspective from leading design at organizations large and small. Tonya covers a wide variety of subjects with Steve and Chad, including her three key waypoints around design leadership at large companies, why failing fast is so important in design - and how to fail fast the right way, and her diverse sources of design inspiration - from Cyberpunk to palimpsests to Picasso. Show Details This episode’s guest is Tonya Browning, Vice President, Dell Digital Design at Dell Technologies. As the first Vice President of Design in Dell’s IT organization, Dell Digital, Tonya is building a modern design practice as the organization transforms and adopts modern methodologies as well as new technologies. She oversees digital design, analytics, generative content, UX engineering, research and customer satisfaction measures. As we’ll hear in our conversation, she is an expert in and passionate about design, software engineering, usability, content and accessibility. She has many varied experiences, implementing enterprise level applications and digital experiences for PayPal, Express Scripts/Cigna, Magento, Visa, as well as a number of startups (including one she founded).   There is so much to talk about with Tonya, she has a unique passion and a really interesting perspective across a number of subjects. Look forward to learning:  What she has learned about design from her experience at organizations of all sizes, from start-ups to large enterprise organizations.Tonya’s three key waypoints around design leadership at large companies. Why failing fast is important from a design perspective, how it works best and why it sometimes doesn’t work. The advice that Tonya has for those who want to bring more of a design focus and mindset to their organizations.  Visit Tonya’s personal website: tonyabrowning.com.

    [RE-RELEASE] Exploring Design Inspiration from Picasso to Cyberpunk

  3. Aug 10

    [RE-RELEASE] Scaling Design Thinking at an International Company

    Originally released October 28, 2021 Guest Elena Zloteanu International Design Thinking Program Manager  Hochland Summary Elena Zloteanu, International Design Thinking Program Manager at Hochland, joins Designing Next to share insights from Hochland’s journey of scaling design thinking across their organization. In this episode, Elena covers a number of topics with Steve and Chad, including how she learns from failures and how a past “successful failure” in design thinking helped lead her to where she is today, how she integrates Hochland’s mission to excite consumers about cheese into all of her design thinking challenges, and how she continued innovation and design thinking efforts through COVID - creating what she calls an innovation bubble.  Show Details This episode’s guest is Elena Zloteanu, International Design Thinking Program Manager at Hochland. Hochland is a cheese and dairy manufacturer based in Germany, with distribution across Europe and the United States. Elena has been with Hochland for 18 years and held many positions across marketing and innovation. Today, her role focuses on implementing Design Thinking at Hochland. Her mission is to scale adoption of Design Thinking across the organization as both a toolbox and mindset, with the goal of contributing to the organization's innovation effort and speeding up the time to market of new products..  Years ago, Elena made it her mission to bring Design Thinking into Hochland, and make it a core element of their business. In this episode, she is going to share a lot about that journey with us. Look forward to learning:  Elena’s perspective on why innovation is important in the food category - and for cheese specifically for herHow Elena learns from failures and how a past “successful failure” in design thinking helped lead her to where she is todayHow she continued innovation and design thinking efforts through COVID - creating what is called an innovation bubble.

    [RE-RELEASE] Scaling Design Thinking at an International Company

  4. Aug 9

    [RE-RELEASE] The Evolution of Design Thinking in Business

    Originally released October 14, 2021 Guest Joe Smiley Group Design Manager  Blizzard Entertainment Summary Joe Smiley, Group Design Manager at Blizzard Entertainment, joins Designing Next to talk about a topic that Chad and Steve are passionate about - design thinking, and how it is utilized in business.  In this episode, Joe speaks with Chad & Steve about how he has seen the role of the designer evolve in the last 20 years, what it means to be a design driven company, and the advice Joe would give leaders who want to integrate design further into their organization. Show Details In this episode of the Designing Next Podcast, we’re joined by Joe Smiley, Group Design Manager at Blizzard Entertainment. Joe’s passion is designing + developing extraordinary digital products via Human-Centered Design to explore consumers’ motivations & needs. Then utilizing those deep insights to design products that solve their challenges and fulfill unmet needs. His career has spanned 20 years, utilizing his design experience with firms ranging from AOL to PwC to Marriot to eTrade and now Blizzard Entertainment.  Joe is passionate about the role design can play in organizations large and small. You’ll hear that passion throughout this episode’s conversation. Look forward to learning:  How Joe has seen the role of the designer evolve over the last 20 years. What it means to be a design-driven company. The advice Joe would give leaders who want to integrate design further into their organizationWhy Joe wants to focus on the role of education in design thinking and why he believes we should change STEM to STEAM - adding art to science, technology, engineering and math  Joe’s web site/blog: https://dsruptr.com/

    [RE-RELEASE] The Evolution of Design Thinking in Business

  5. Aug 7

    [RE-RELEASE] How Big Companies are Driving Startup Culture

    Originally released September 30, 2021 Guest Danielle Cohn Vice-President of Business Development and Startup Engagement  Comcast NBCUniversal Summary Danielle Cohn, Vice-President of Business Development and Startup Engagement at Comcast NBCUniversal, joins Designing Next to share her unique insights around innovation and the startup world.  In this episode, Danielle speaks with Chad & Steve about why a large company like Comcast NBCUniversal has such a focus on startups, how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the environment for startups, and how Danielle’s personal experiences led her into the startup world herself and ignited a passion around care.  Show Details In this episode of the Designing Next Podcast, we’re joined by Danielle Cohn, Vice-President of Business Development and Startup Engagement at Comcast NBCUniversal.This conversation will really get into that intersection of large enterprise organizations and startups. Danielle has a presence in both worlds, so her perspective on innovation, startups and the world of entrepreneurship today will be very interesting.  Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs helps talented startups create rapid breakthroughs in connectivity, media, with access to their renowned network of partners, brands, and mentors. Danielle has been with Comcast NBCUniversal for 7 years and prior to joining the organization, she spent 15 years at the Philadelphia Convention & Visitors bureau.  In this episode, Danielle shares her passion and perspective about the startup world, innovation and many other topics. Look forward to learning:  Why a large company like Comcast NBCUniversal has a focus on startupsHow the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the environment for startupsHow Danielle’s personal experiences led her into the startup world herself and ignited a passion around care

    [RE-RELEASE] How Big Companies are Driving Startup Culture

  6. Aug 7

    [RE-RELEASE] Strategies for deploying innovation in large organizations

    Originally released September 16, 2021 Guest Paul Puopolo Executive Vice-President of Innovation Dallas Fort Worth International Airport Summary Paul Puopolo, Executive Vice-President of Innovation at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, joins Designing Next to share his experience and learnings from a career leading innovation across several large organizations. In this episode, Paul speaks with Chad & Steve about the commonalities he has seen in the successful innovation projects he has been a part of, advice he would give to those building a career in innovation, and his four P’s - the four key elements Paul believes are crucial to the success of any innovation initiative.  Show Details In our first episode of the Fall season, we are talking innovation with Paul Puopolo, Executive Vice-President of Innovation at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. Not only is it interesting to explore innovation in the aviation and airport industry, but Paul brings the podcast an incredible depth of knowledge and experience in innovation as a whole.  Paul has had an interesting path to his role today leading innovation for one of the busiest airports in the United States. He served over 12 years in the U.S. Navy and then entered the corporate world in the health insurance space, holding several roles at Humana, leaving after 9 years as their Director of Consumer Innovation. He then moved onto Highmark, holding the role of Vice President of Business Innovation, before spending two years at MetLife as Vice-President of Innovation. He’s been in his current role at DFW for three years.  In this episode, Paul shares a lot of interesting insights and learnings around innovation. Look forward to learning: The commonalities has seen in the successful innovation projects he has been a part ofWhat he wished he knew “then” - the advice he would give to those building a career in innovationHow Paul sees the differences between being an entrepreneur and an intrapreneurPaul Puopolo’s four P’s - the four key elements Paul believes are crucial to the success of any innovation initiative

    [RE-RELEASE] Strategies for deploying innovation in large organizations

  7. Aug 5

    [RE-RELEASE] Moving CX From a Concept to a Strategic Asset in B2B

    Originally released April 15, 2021 Guest Jennifer Zamora Senior Global Director Customer Experience & Employee Experience Dow Summary Jennifer Zamora, Senior Global Director Customer Experience & Employee Experience at Dow, joins Designing Next to talk about building a customer experience capability in a complex B2B environment. In this episode, she speaks with Chad & Steve about how customer-centricity moved from being an abstract concept to a key strategic initiative at Dow, why humility is so important when you are listening to your customers and how Dow developed a metrics framework around CX that all levels of the organization could buy into.  Show Details This episode’s guest is Jennifer Zamora, Senior Global Director Customer Experience & Employee Experience at Dow. You’ve likely heard of Dow - the materials science company was founded in 1897 and has over 37,000 employees.  Jen has been with Dow for over 20 years, holding positions across marketing, customer service, and financial areas. For the last several years, her focus has been on deploying the long-term CX strategy and discipline, which includes implementing the customer listening process, institutionalizing a customer-centric culture across Dow and defining and implementing Dow’s transformative customer distinction model and journey mapping practices.  In this episode, we speak to Jen about what it is like to stand up a new CX initiative in a complex organization like Dow, and what has been key to their success thus far. Look forward to learning: How customer centricity moved from an abstract concept at Dow to becoming a true asset and one of the organization's four key ambitions.  Why humility is so important when you are listening to your customers to truly understand their experiences. How Jen and her team developed a measurement framework that resonated across the organization.

    [RE-RELEASE] Moving CX From a Concept to a Strategic Asset in B2B

  8. Aug 4

    [RE-RELEASE] Leading transformation in a regulated environment

    Originally released April 1, 2021 Guest Jody Allison Vice President, Transformation Algonquin Power & Utilities Summary Jody Allison, Vice President, Transformation at Algonquin Power & Utilities, joins Designing Next to talk about driving transformation in the utilities and renewable industry. In this episode, she speaks with Chad & Steve about her journey from accounting and risk management to leading transformation at a large utilities organization, what transformation looks like in the utilities industry and how it compares to other industries, and how Jody and the team at Algonquin have successfully continued their transformation efforts even as the COVID-19 pandemic changed so many aspects of their business. Show Details This episode’s guest is Jody Allison, Vice President, Transformation at Algonquin Power & Utilities. Algonquin operates a number of renewable energy and regulated utility services across the United States and Canada.  Jody has been with Algonquin for almost 18 months, so as you might imagine, she has had an interesting experience with COVID-19 changing everything just a few months into her tenure. Jody’s path to leading transformation has come through the finance world, she started as an accountant and spent almost 20 years at Paychex, working in risk management and service strategy before transitioning into the utility industry, first with National Grid and now with Algonquin.  Many of us may not always think about the utilities industry first when it comes to transformation, but as Jody will share with us, it is a space that is ripe for innovation in a number of areas. Look forward to learning: About Jody’s journey from accounting and risk management to leading transformation at a large utilities organizationWhat transformation looks like in the utilities industry and how it compares to other industriesHow Jody and the team at Algonquin have successfully continued their transformation efforts even as the COVID-19 pandemic changed so many aspects of their business.

    [RE-RELEASE] Leading transformation in a regulated environment
See All (23)

About

The world is changing at a rapid pace, and consumer expectations are constantly evolving. As technology and AI plays a larger role in business and life, people are craving deeper human connections. In this podcast, we speak to experience design and innovation leaders about how they envision, design, and build new futures. We explore how they use human-centered design and service design to ensure the user voice is heard, orchestrate their operations, and successfully implement and measure the financial and human impact of these experiences.

Information

  • Creator
    Cast & Hue
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    23
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Cast & Hue