1 00:00:00,536 --> 00:00:03,007 fourteen guests across fourteen episodes. 2 00:00:03,007 --> 00:00:06,689 All of them are building something in the physical world. 3 00:00:06,689 --> 00:00:10,851 Most of them can tell you in very precise terms who they are building 4 00:00:10,851 --> 00:00:13,662 it for and what's wrong they are trying to write. 5 00:00:13,662 --> 00:00:18,014 This is the WHY Design Mission and Purpose Compilation. 6 00:00:21,494 --> 00:00:23,905 And don't get me wrong, those were incredibly impactful moments, 7 00:00:23,905 --> 00:00:28,038 but this I think was the moment for me that it became so very real because 8 00:00:28,038 --> 00:00:31,460 we had someone who who 9 00:00:31,960 --> 00:00:38,634 had a horrible experience and cared enough about what 10 00:00:38,634 --> 00:00:42,536 we were doing to call us from the hospital bed the day after her surgery 11 00:00:42,536 --> 00:00:46,008 and say to us, I wanna try again though. 12 00:00:46,008 --> 00:00:49,430 I I am going to try again with Beia and 13 00:00:51,158 --> 00:00:57,100 And I just thought, my God. I it I think two things hit home 14 00:00:57,200 --> 00:01:01,501 for me in that moment was the gravity of the thing that we were doing. 15 00:01:01,501 --> 00:01:04,792 ~ you know, you just sort of always I always used to say, 16 00:01:04,792 --> 00:01:06,860 we're changing lives, we're changing people's lives. 17 00:01:06,860 --> 00:01:08,723 And and it feels like such an airy, 18 00:01:08,723 --> 00:01:12,704 fairy and ~ sort of like blithe thing to say. 19 00:01:12,704 --> 00:01:16,565 And of course, you know, be you're helping people conceive, 20 00:01:16,565 --> 00:01:18,766 you know, yeah, their lives are changing, 21 00:01:18,766 --> 00:01:19,766 but 22 00:01:19,702 --> 00:01:25,865 In this moment it had never felt more true to me that this woman this brilliant, 23 00:01:25,865 --> 00:01:29,347 brilliant woman i you know, ectopics are high risk, 24 00:01:29,347 --> 00:01:31,528 right? She had emergency surgery, 25 00:01:31,528 --> 00:01:34,750 she's down a fallooping tube that impacts your fertility, 26 00:01:34,750 --> 00:01:38,832 and yet here she is saying, I'm gonna try again and I just thought, 27 00:01:38,832 --> 00:01:41,843 My goodness, we've really built something here. 28 00:01:41,843 --> 00:01:43,424 The wrong that started it all. 29 00:01:45,708 --> 00:01:48,580 Most of the products on this show exist because someone looked at 30 00:01:48,580 --> 00:01:52,742 the world and decided that the way things were just was not acceptable. 31 00:01:52,742 --> 00:01:57,464 For guests on the specific wrong their product is trying to right. 32 00:01:57,464 --> 00:02:00,166 And people without money to just struggle alone. 33 00:02:00,166 --> 00:02:15,314 ~ 34 00:02:15,498 --> 00:02:21,371 and take chances. And that really like plucked at that. 35 00:02:21,371 --> 00:02:24,142 Well, hang on a second. That's not fair. 36 00:02:24,142 --> 00:02:28,464 ~ sort of desire. And ~ and then yeah, 37 00:02:28,464 --> 00:02:33,766 creating a company where I was able to build a team and and start creating that sort 38 00:02:33,766 --> 00:02:36,917 of culture. Yeah. 39 00:02:36,917 --> 00:02:39,868 And it was ~ the early days were really, 40 00:02:39,868 --> 00:02:42,610 really fun. Really hard, but really fun. 41 00:02:43,640 --> 00:02:45,811 So yeah, Windfall Energy is a company. 42 00:02:45,811 --> 00:02:49,852 We're we're building ~ a home energy product, 43 00:02:49,852 --> 00:02:54,134 battery that's aimed for people who live in flats and small homes 44 00:02:54,134 --> 00:02:58,136 and people renting, which is about half the homes in UK. 45 00:02:58,136 --> 00:03:02,408 So there's twenty eight million homes in the UK and about half are either flats, 46 00:03:02,408 --> 00:03:06,659 renters, small homes, people for whom solar panels, 47 00:03:06,659 --> 00:03:11,391 they don't have a roof, they don't have space for a big ~ Tesla power wall 48 00:03:11,391 --> 00:03:13,272 or something. Just the the kind of 49 00:03:13,966 --> 00:03:16,908 tr it's probably too early to say traditional home energy products, 50 00:03:16,908 --> 00:03:19,189 but the the incumbent stuff just doesn't work. 51 00:03:19,189 --> 00:03:22,691 ~ and those people kind of be left behind. 52 00:03:22,691 --> 00:03:28,174 If you you hear about ~ kind of octopus homes where the people have no bills. 53 00:03:28,174 --> 00:03:30,345 And but in order to get there, 54 00:03:30,345 --> 00:03:34,948 you need to have a big enough house to have solar and and kind of some sort 55 00:03:34,948 --> 00:03:36,318 of energy infrastructure built in. 56 00:03:36,318 --> 00:03:38,570 You need to be able to afford it. 57 00:03:38,570 --> 00:03:42,422 I mean that's typically solar and batteries in a bigger house could cost 58 00:03:42,744 --> 00:03:47,247 ten grand plus. And so if you're in a flat ~ living in the city, 59 00:03:47,247 --> 00:03:52,431 that's just not gonna happen. ~ and the result of that is just bills going 60 00:03:52,431 --> 00:03:54,942 up and a lot of people are kind of stuck. 61 00:03:54,942 --> 00:03:59,505 So we thought, what can we make a product for those people? 62 00:03:59,505 --> 00:04:03,428 So factory for half the the country that's been left behind. 63 00:04:03,428 --> 00:04:05,770 ~ and typically home batteries, 64 00:04:05,770 --> 00:04:07,511 so people think of a Tesla power wall, 65 00:04:07,511 --> 00:04:11,734 they're primarily designed to take excess solar 66 00:04:11,896 --> 00:04:13,707 power when you're not using it. 67 00:04:13,707 --> 00:04:15,948 So that means you need solar panels. 68 00:04:15,948 --> 00:04:19,550 And again, only about five percent of homes in the UK have solar panels. 69 00:04:19,550 --> 00:04:23,042 So effectively that means all home batteries are kind of aimed at those five percent 70 00:04:23,042 --> 00:04:27,465 of people. Which again is kind of crazy that that's almost like 71 00:04:27,465 --> 00:04:29,936 the mainstream market. It's just that tiny little niche. 72 00:04:29,936 --> 00:04:35,860 So we thought how can we open this up a bit more and make a battery for everyone. 73 00:04:35,860 --> 00:04:39,852 I've I've worked in lots of businesses where they've implemented automation 74 00:04:40,428 --> 00:04:43,120 And the business has grown. I when I joined Eccardo, 75 00:04:43,120 --> 00:04:44,671 it was two thousand employees. 76 00:04:44,671 --> 00:04:50,994 We developed ~ a a big automation stack and ~ it grew to t when I left 77 00:04:50,994 --> 00:04:52,415 it was twenty two thousand people. 78 00:04:52,415 --> 00:04:55,567 So I don't know how many it's grown to now, 79 00:04:55,567 --> 00:04:58,479 but ~ that that's the opposite story. 80 00:04:58,479 --> 00:05:03,132 And I I worked in the underground construction industry where nobody wants 81 00:05:03,132 --> 00:05:04,993 to work underground in the dark, 82 00:05:04,993 --> 00:05:06,954 ~ and it and the safety record 83 00:05:07,474 --> 00:05:10,135 ~ isn't great. So it's quite dangerous. 84 00:05:10,135 --> 00:05:11,886 ~ quite a dangerous environment. 85 00:05:11,886 --> 00:05:16,259 So if you remove people from those horrible environments and those horrible jobs 86 00:05:16,259 --> 00:05:19,831 and those unsafe jobs, then ~ I think it's the right thing to do. 87 00:05:19,831 --> 00:05:23,363 ~ and with the fruit fruit harvesting, 88 00:05:23,363 --> 00:05:28,156 ~ our biggest client is and our biggest pull and the biggest pain in 89 00:05:28,156 --> 00:05:31,918 the industry is in Australia where people don't want to pick. 90 00:05:31,918 --> 00:05:33,448 They so they can't get the labour. 91 00:05:33,448 --> 00:05:36,120 So they're flying them over from all over the world. 92 00:05:36,568 --> 00:05:39,239 Which has got a terrible carbon footprint as well. 93 00:05:39,239 --> 00:05:42,661 And ~ they're they're having to house them on the farm. 94 00:05:42,661 --> 00:05:46,423 And ~ so ~ we're not we're not putting people out of jobs. 95 00:05:46,423 --> 00:05:52,587 We're trying to ~ I guess what we're trying to do is ~ stop ~ raspberries being like 96 00:05:52,627 --> 00:05:57,089 ten pounds a punnet or fundamentally like some of the things that we've done. 97 00:05:57,089 --> 00:06:00,671 You know, there's there's a customer we have where we're automating 98 00:06:01,372 --> 00:06:05,474 the sampling of cancer biopsies and this then creates a DNA profile. 99 00:06:05,856 --> 00:06:08,908 of that person to do like targeted cancer treatment and therapy. 100 00:06:08,908 --> 00:06:12,811 So we're working on things that can potentially like save people's lives 101 00:06:13,251 --> 00:06:16,934 or at least give them back more time and and try and like manage their cancer. 102 00:06:16,934 --> 00:06:19,486 But it's also things like drug discovery. 103 00:06:19,486 --> 00:06:22,358 So this the like one one one of the things we were involved with 104 00:06:22,358 --> 00:06:23,589 was well naturally drug discovery, 105 00:06:23,589 --> 00:06:26,311 one of the first implementations we did was in covet testing, 106 00:06:26,311 --> 00:06:29,924 you know, to or PCR test that everyone was doing down at 107 00:06:29,924 --> 00:06:31,324 the University of Southampton. 108 00:06:31,324 --> 00:06:33,856 And this is before I joined, but the the they had ~ 109 00:06:34,968 --> 00:06:38,600 ball together some stuff w which was then automating like the the the t 110 00:06:38,600 --> 00:06:41,843 I think I think it was PCR testing for for all the COVID samples. 111 00:06:41,843 --> 00:06:44,925 But then it can also be used for drug discovery so you know vaccine development 112 00:06:45,225 --> 00:06:50,398 you know maybe you know how amazing would it be if our system was then used 113 00:06:50,398 --> 00:06:53,721 on something that was like a cure for cancer ~ and that kind of thing. 114 00:06:53,721 --> 00:06:55,645 But then it's now moving into a space where, 115 00:06:55,645 --> 00:07:00,335 you know, with AI, AI is being leveraged in like the drug discovery space as well. 116 00:07:00,335 --> 00:07:04,638 So it's really and then if you've worn a you know you've got like 117 00:07:05,206 --> 00:07:07,517 essentially millions of models that these things are looking at in terms 118 00:07:07,517 --> 00:07:09,127 of what what a treatment could be. 119 00:07:09,127 --> 00:07:13,658 And you can then test that with automation like faster, 120 00:07:13,658 --> 00:07:17,629 what do you do manually? So I I think for me there's got to be like 121 00:07:17,629 --> 00:07:19,590 two two things that are excited about a project. 122 00:07:19,590 --> 00:07:21,190 Is like one, what impact can I have? 123 00:07:21,190 --> 00:07:22,418 And that was definitely there. 124 00:07:22,418 --> 00:07:23,901 I was given the freedom to operate. 125 00:07:23,901 --> 00:07:26,042 And then two is like, is the thing I'm working on, 126 00:07:26,042 --> 00:07:28,152 do I believe in it? Then and I really did. 127 00:07:28,152 --> 00:07:29,953 So like it just ticks both of those boxes. 128 00:07:29,953 --> 00:07:33,794 And our latest campaign is about 129 00:07:34,642 --> 00:07:40,285 looking into safety for women and girls on ~ on public transport. 130 00:07:40,285 --> 00:07:43,886 And so we've been working with 131 00:07:46,167 --> 00:07:49,229 a a woman who has a a research grant, 132 00:07:49,229 --> 00:07:51,189 who's a a kind of rail professional, 133 00:07:51,189 --> 00:07:57,812 and ~ we've spoken at a couple of ~ conferences about the subjects, 134 00:07:57,812 --> 00:08:01,274 started to do our own ~ research. 135 00:08:01,946 --> 00:08:04,467 And set a project that we've run with Central St. 136 00:08:04,467 --> 00:08:07,069 Martin's with their master's course. 137 00:08:07,069 --> 00:08:13,072 And it's about kind of I guess next six to twelve months is about taking that 138 00:08:13,072 --> 00:08:17,835 to the next stage, hopefully sharing some prototypes 139 00:08:18,655 --> 00:08:22,817 and giving a platform to a really important subject. 140 00:08:22,817 --> 00:08:28,170 And, you know, again, kind of what I love about what we do and about working with 141 00:08:28,170 --> 00:08:31,302 transport is, you know, essentially a pillar of 142 00:08:31,874 --> 00:08:35,717 society and you 143 00:08:35,717 --> 00:08:41,601 get to explore really yeah important issues 144 00:08:41,682 --> 00:08:47,246 to improve ~ yes social equity. 145 00:08:47,246 --> 00:08:52,490 And that panel demonstrated how many women there 146 00:08:52,490 --> 00:08:57,654 are in design and how many have lots of ~ 147 00:08:58,582 --> 00:09:04,043 energy and enthusiasm and ideas and courage and they just there was a 148 00:09:04,043 --> 00:09:08,415 bit of a common thing where just sometimes couldn't see themselves belonging 149 00:09:08,415 --> 00:09:10,345 in certain places. 150 00:09:11,265 --> 00:09:17,957 And obviously hopefully in teams like mine when you see that there's 151 00:09:17,957 --> 00:09:21,558 a female leader you can see a bit of hope and you can see that 152 00:09:21,558 --> 00:09:28,070 you can belong somewhere. ~ I think because it is male dominated 153 00:09:29,162 --> 00:09:31,595 It just and and not just design. 154 00:09:33,634 --> 00:09:36,805 higher the higher roles, 155 00:09:36,805 --> 00:09:41,096 the higher roles in many other functions, 156 00:09:41,096 --> 00:09:43,437 right? So when you are growing within design 157 00:09:43,437 --> 00:09:45,357 and interacting more cross-functionally, 158 00:09:45,357 --> 00:09:51,409 you are also getting together with mostly male leaders 159 00:09:51,409 --> 00:09:55,961 and there's so much think I've had to learn about how 160 00:09:55,961 --> 00:09:59,542 to present myself in those situations, 161 00:09:59,542 --> 00:10:00,762 how to persuade 162 00:10:02,008 --> 00:10:03,779 How to convince people of things. 163 00:10:03,779 --> 00:10:08,664 And that that's just you it's a lot of effort 164 00:10:08,744 --> 00:10:14,833 and and ~ learnings that ~ might 165 00:10:14,833 --> 00:10:19,385 not attract everyone. and I hope that after a 166 00:10:19,385 --> 00:10:24,367 few years of me and all the many female leaders, 167 00:10:24,367 --> 00:10:29,902 by the way, that do exist in design can have forge a bit of ~ 168 00:10:30,444 --> 00:10:35,225 different way of of conflict resolution 169 00:10:35,225 --> 00:10:42,107 or persuasion or pitching ideas and stuff like that that we can then create this 170 00:10:42,107 --> 00:10:45,478 environment where other people feel like they could take part. 171 00:10:45,478 --> 00:10:48,099 The moment the mission became undeniable. 172 00:10:48,099 --> 00:10:51,700 Mission is easy to declare. 173 00:10:51,700 --> 00:10:55,841 These are the moments where it stopped being a statement and became something else. 174 00:10:55,841 --> 00:11:00,032 Undeniable, personal and impossible to walk away from. 175 00:11:00,438 --> 00:11:03,220 So actually one of the key moments for us, 176 00:11:03,220 --> 00:11:07,164 ~ we were working with some US based clinicians, 177 00:11:07,164 --> 00:11:12,078 ~ and Rory had a bit of a sketch on it on the back of a piece of paper around trying 178 00:11:12,078 --> 00:11:16,670 to access and illuminate the surgical site in a in a better manner. 179 00:11:16,670 --> 00:11:19,554 And the surgeon said, I was only thinking about that last night. 180 00:11:19,554 --> 00:11:22,016 I was like going to sleep thinking, 181 00:11:22,016 --> 00:11:27,420 How on earth do we get more light into the the small spaces in ET ~ so that 182 00:11:27,420 --> 00:11:28,981 we can do the operations better? 183 00:11:28,981 --> 00:11:29,981 So I think, you know. 184 00:11:29,954 --> 00:11:34,236 those kind of aha moments that we're not the only one thinking about this problem. 185 00:11:34,236 --> 00:11:38,078 ~ and that what we've seen is validated by the clinician. 186 00:11:38,078 --> 00:11:41,401 It was it was really important point for us very early on. 187 00:11:41,401 --> 00:11:44,462 But the the challenge with you know what happened to us, 188 00:11:44,462 --> 00:11:45,623 we were actually in real life. 189 00:11:45,623 --> 00:11:47,884 We were ~ in Boulder, Colorado. 190 00:11:47,884 --> 00:11:50,456 So we were actually off. it was a Sunday afternoon. 191 00:11:50,456 --> 00:11:53,007 It was very cold outside. We were walking through. 192 00:11:53,007 --> 00:11:54,888 We went to go get we have a newborn. 193 00:11:54,888 --> 00:11:57,760 she's now sixteen months, but at that time she was six months old. 194 00:11:58,294 --> 00:11:59,695 And we were gonna go get our ears pierced. 195 00:11:59,695 --> 00:12:01,557 So we were in Boulder, Colorado, 196 00:12:01,557 --> 00:12:05,471 ~ at the ~ piercing shop, and she had a diaper emergency, 197 00:12:05,471 --> 00:12:08,073 and immediately the first thing her and I did, 198 00:12:08,073 --> 00:12:11,647 my wife and I, was started to try to find a restroom to go change her. 199 00:12:11,647 --> 00:12:17,322 What we discovered in about ten minutes time was there was absolutely no access. 200 00:12:17,322 --> 00:12:23,018 We had zero percent ability to find a restroom ~ that was either unlocked or 201 00:12:23,438 --> 00:12:25,150 ~ that was clean enough to use. 202 00:12:25,150 --> 00:12:26,819 We we found a public restroom and boulder. 203 00:12:26,819 --> 00:12:29,103 It was completely un and unusable. 204 00:12:29,103 --> 00:12:32,606 there was trash, it was cold, it was dirty, 205 00:12:32,606 --> 00:12:39,212 I mean just filthy. ~ and so we ~ stumbled across two or three good coffee shops 206 00:12:39,212 --> 00:12:43,236 or sandwich shops and all of them had codes on the door that said customers only. 207 00:12:43,236 --> 00:12:47,310 And so as I'm walking to a final stop and I just finally said 208 00:12:47,310 --> 00:12:49,792 I'm gonna buy something ~ here's five bucks. 209 00:12:50,168 --> 00:12:51,669 put the soda and I got the soda, 210 00:12:51,669 --> 00:12:53,229 got the code, we changed the diaper, 211 00:12:53,229 --> 00:12:55,199 we got in the car and I literally said, 212 00:12:55,199 --> 00:12:57,371 I would have been happy to just pay for a restroom. 213 00:12:57,371 --> 00:13:00,172 ~ I don't need the soda. This was an emergency. 214 00:13:00,172 --> 00:13:01,903 We had to go in. It wasn't, you know, 215 00:13:01,903 --> 00:13:04,214 this this was a moment to where I didn't need to buy anything. 216 00:13:04,214 --> 00:13:05,975 ~ I just needed to go to the restroom. 217 00:13:05,975 --> 00:13:09,786 So that was a moment where I realized we're we have an opportunity. 218 00:13:09,786 --> 00:13:11,707 We we've been to Europe, we've been to Mexico, 219 00:13:11,707 --> 00:13:14,588 you know, traveling and and realized that you know, 220 00:13:14,588 --> 00:13:16,579 it's not apple to charge for a restroom. 221 00:13:16,579 --> 00:13:18,350 We just don't do it here. And now that 222 00:13:18,956 --> 00:13:23,328 We have this interesting lockout situation happening across our cities. 223 00:13:23,328 --> 00:13:27,571 And for r I I I understand it as a business owner and I grew up 224 00:13:27,571 --> 00:13:30,492 in the family business. we understand it's it's a cost. 225 00:13:30,492 --> 00:13:34,685 so we know that a non customer using your restroom is a true cost, 226 00:13:34,685 --> 00:13:41,479 right? So but over this period of time we we created this mindset of is it possible? 227 00:13:41,479 --> 00:13:44,020 that's when I started doing the homework and saying, 228 00:13:44,020 --> 00:13:46,201 you know, I think this can be done, 229 00:13:46,201 --> 00:13:47,522 you know, technology 230 00:13:48,060 --> 00:13:51,232 exist in s in forms, not this specific one. 231 00:13:51,232 --> 00:13:52,733 But we knew that we had payment. 232 00:13:52,733 --> 00:13:56,086 We knew that we had locks that could be manufactured to unlock, 233 00:13:56,086 --> 00:13:59,889 right? So we knew that there was a lot of things that existed that could 234 00:13:59,889 --> 00:14:01,470 be combined to each other. Yeah, 235 00:14:01,470 --> 00:14:04,392 there's a lot I mean some of it's it's a useful constraint. 236 00:14:04,392 --> 00:14:08,204 Things like the the first thing we worked out was the 237 00:14:09,525 --> 00:14:13,328 the thread parameters based off some ergonomic data. 238 00:14:13,328 --> 00:14:16,180 Weirdly from an old lecturer from my engineering degree in Sheffield. 239 00:14:16,886 --> 00:14:20,468 around the grip strength of older women. 240 00:14:20,468 --> 00:14:26,490 So we set as a main performance thing we have to have less than four newton meters. 241 00:14:26,490 --> 00:14:31,632 And then also try and capture that so that other studios, 242 00:14:31,632 --> 00:14:35,234 the weird thing as well with this project is designing the design guidelines 243 00:14:35,234 --> 00:14:38,575 for someone else to design a product to your work. 244 00:14:38,575 --> 00:14:44,578 ~ So we've had a number of design teams now working on 245 00:14:45,432 --> 00:14:51,524 their own dispenses. I sat in the the front room of a house ~ that had no furniture. 246 00:14:51,524 --> 00:14:56,356 We just bought it when I ~ first started at Timpany and ~ I was on the phone 247 00:14:56,356 --> 00:14:57,777 to Rory and he were talking and I was like, 248 00:14:57,777 --> 00:15:00,248 Hold on, this could go anywhere. 249 00:15:00,248 --> 00:15:03,769 Like this is a an opportunity way beyond EAT surgery. 250 00:15:03,769 --> 00:15:09,862 So the mission really is changing rigid endoscope technology and that 251 00:15:09,862 --> 00:15:14,644 our technology becomes the standard of care for rigid visualisation in surgery. 252 00:15:15,987 --> 00:15:19,209 This episode is sponsored by Vax and TTI Floorcare. 253 00:15:19,209 --> 00:15:23,071 And Kodu, my company, is running the hiring I'm about to describe. 254 00:15:23,071 --> 00:15:25,073 So you know exactly what this is. 255 00:15:25,073 --> 00:15:27,114 This is why I wanted to make it anyway. 256 00:15:27,114 --> 00:15:30,036 I've recruited for Vax for more than 10 years. 257 00:15:30,036 --> 00:15:33,999 Over 50 people, including a VP of engineering and a head of design. 258 00:15:33,999 --> 00:15:38,091 I know that building well. Right now they are rebuilding their 259 00:15:38,091 --> 00:15:41,624 UK engineering and innovation function from the ground up. 260 00:15:41,624 --> 00:15:43,935 Advanced development, design engineering, 261 00:15:43,935 --> 00:15:44,935 and industrial design. 262 00:15:45,216 --> 00:15:50,339 All at once. I've not seen them move at this pace in a decade of working with them. 263 00:15:50,339 --> 00:15:54,770 So I'm going to tell you what is actually happening and you can decide. 264 00:16:05,122 --> 00:16:08,443 Design that exists because someone was being failed. 265 00:16:08,443 --> 00:16:12,215 A product that does not work for the people who need it most is 266 00:16:12,215 --> 00:16:14,546 not a finished product. It is a gap. 267 00:16:14,546 --> 00:16:19,778 Three guests on the design decisions that come from understanding exactly 268 00:16:19,778 --> 00:16:25,510 who the product is failing. And I know that the job of a a good designer is to, 269 00:16:25,510 --> 00:16:30,102 you know, not lean on lived experience and to be able to design for everybody. 270 00:16:30,102 --> 00:16:32,433 I I know that that is supposed to be true, 271 00:16:32,433 --> 00:16:34,494 but we were working with very good 272 00:16:34,574 --> 00:16:38,287 people. And it took a woman to design those instructions for use 273 00:16:38,287 --> 00:16:41,379 to make them understandable for the women who are putting this in their bodies. 274 00:16:41,379 --> 00:16:44,821 Yeah, that's that's a critical point you've hit on there. 275 00:16:44,821 --> 00:16:48,724 So again, home batteries typically now are just a big white box, 276 00:16:48,724 --> 00:16:52,136 kind of like a boiler. They're and they're designed to be in the garage 277 00:16:52,136 --> 00:16:53,768 or just basically tucked away. 278 00:16:53,768 --> 00:16:58,671 ~ so but whereas this is could quite likely be in someone's living room 279 00:16:58,911 --> 00:17:01,793 or it's a product that you it's gonna be in your home and you're gonna 280 00:17:01,793 --> 00:17:02,793 be living with it. 281 00:17:03,160 --> 00:17:05,511 So the industrial design and the look and feel is definitely something 282 00:17:05,511 --> 00:17:07,172 we focusing a lot of attention on. 283 00:17:07,172 --> 00:17:10,453 So it needs to look like almost small like a little piece of furniture. 284 00:17:10,453 --> 00:17:13,634 A of people talk about it being a side table or something in your living room. 285 00:17:13,634 --> 00:17:18,415 So it's something that is a completely it's kind of a new a new type 286 00:17:18,415 --> 00:17:22,478 of product really. It's a kind of new paradigm of what a home energy product could 287 00:17:22,478 --> 00:17:27,220 be. But the industrial design look and feel is critical and that we're working with 288 00:17:27,220 --> 00:17:29,261 a a designer called Ben Ben King, 289 00:17:29,261 --> 00:17:31,572 who he's worked previously for yeah. 290 00:17:32,166 --> 00:17:38,268 ~ IKEA and Lakeland and kind of more consumer sort of ~ interior type products 291 00:17:38,268 --> 00:17:42,949 rather than we don't want this to be kind of techy and there's a lot 292 00:17:42,949 --> 00:17:47,420 of there are home batteries or or kind of portable camping batteries is quite 293 00:17:47,420 --> 00:17:49,651 a big kind of ~ category of products. 294 00:17:49,651 --> 00:17:53,442 And they're always just very kind of teenage boy bedroom kind of look. 295 00:17:53,442 --> 00:17:56,443 Yeah. And that that's not we're very much not going for that. 296 00:17:56,443 --> 00:17:59,274 This needs to be a a kind of home product that you want 297 00:17:59,990 --> 00:18:03,752 But the the male body and the female body are are actually completely different. 298 00:18:03,752 --> 00:18:05,583 You know, different hormone cycles, 299 00:18:05,583 --> 00:18:07,084 different needs, different this. 300 00:18:07,084 --> 00:18:10,336 It's just simply completely insufficient to take innovation that 301 00:18:10,336 --> 00:18:14,378 was created around men and just shrink it proportionate to body size. 302 00:18:14,378 --> 00:18:18,641 And I'm so glad that we live in a world where at a minimum we're starting 303 00:18:18,641 --> 00:18:21,982 to recognize it, if not fully designed for it. 304 00:18:21,982 --> 00:18:25,855 I think that just allows you to have a little bit more faith in 305 00:18:25,855 --> 00:18:27,746 the industry as well, right? To say, 306 00:18:27,746 --> 00:18:28,746 ~ they are 307 00:18:29,016 --> 00:18:33,859 things coming out that are for everybody and and serve as well. 308 00:18:33,859 --> 00:18:36,300 So I want to be part of that. Yeah. 309 00:18:36,300 --> 00:18:38,481 And I think that would that'll feed out, 310 00:18:38,481 --> 00:18:39,652 yeah, because it will be the, you know, 311 00:18:39,652 --> 00:18:41,953 seeing, you know, if there's a, 312 00:18:41,953 --> 00:18:46,131 you know, a young woman that's thinking about studying design and then 313 00:18:46,131 --> 00:18:50,768 she sees that there's product designed for her and for those those problems, 314 00:18:50,768 --> 00:18:54,961 those challenges that she's been s facing and up until this point hasn't been 315 00:18:54,961 --> 00:18:57,002 serviced, you know, if that 316 00:18:57,206 --> 00:19:01,059 inspires someone to think actually there is products for me that I could 317 00:19:01,059 --> 00:19:06,133 dis b be part of. Keeping your purpose when the system pushes back. 318 00:19:06,133 --> 00:19:09,516 For most of these guests, the mission is their own. 319 00:19:09,516 --> 00:19:13,840 But three of them spent time inside large institutions. 320 00:19:13,840 --> 00:19:16,482 The question they all faced is the same. 321 00:19:16,482 --> 00:19:20,726 How do you stay yourself when the institution wants you to become it? 322 00:19:20,726 --> 00:19:24,809 It was one of my favorite dangerous stories in corporate life. 323 00:19:24,809 --> 00:19:25,809 ~ 324 00:19:26,326 --> 00:19:28,678 And yes, we we did have this marvelous dinner. 325 00:19:28,678 --> 00:19:35,092 There were four hundred GE executives ~ there and I I was honored 326 00:19:35,092 --> 00:19:39,935 to be invited. It was ~ relatively early in my time at at GE. 327 00:19:39,935 --> 00:19:46,740 they had this motivational speaker who primarily coached professional 328 00:19:46,740 --> 00:19:49,301 baseball teams, major league baseball players. 329 00:19:49,301 --> 00:19:55,986 ~ anyway, this gentleman pacing back and forth started ~ 330 00:19:56,440 --> 00:19:59,562 you know, into his routine and asked us all to stand and lock arms, 331 00:19:59,562 --> 00:20:03,094 as you said. ~ and he wanted us to solemnly say, 332 00:20:03,094 --> 00:20:07,176 I am G E. I G E. And I'm thinking, 333 00:20:07,176 --> 00:20:10,298 what the hell is this? ~ and you know, 334 00:20:10,298 --> 00:20:14,650 I I s always had this this strong sense of I will give you my head, 335 00:20:14,650 --> 00:20:19,143 heart, and hands all in, but I'm not going to give you my soul. 336 00:20:19,143 --> 00:20:23,305 And so I started to chant, unlike everyone else, 337 00:20:23,305 --> 00:20:24,406 I am Bob. 338 00:20:25,298 --> 00:20:28,070 I am Bob. And the fellows next to me, 339 00:20:28,070 --> 00:20:29,650 they're elbowing me, Shut up, shut up, 340 00:20:29,650 --> 00:20:32,582 you're gonna get fired. And I just kept doing it. 341 00:20:32,582 --> 00:20:35,564 And then the guy on the on the stage heard me. 342 00:20:35,564 --> 00:20:38,051 And he's giving me the stink eye, 343 00:20:38,051 --> 00:20:41,327 you know. and ~ I don't know. 344 00:20:41,327 --> 00:20:44,749 Eventually it ended. But I never moved off of I am Bob. 345 00:20:44,749 --> 00:20:48,781 And ~ I th I really thought I was gonna get in big trouble 'cause there 346 00:20:48,781 --> 00:20:53,974 was some ~ how shall I say, superiors who who heard me as well. 347 00:20:53,974 --> 00:20:54,974 But 348 00:20:55,094 --> 00:20:59,496 And they got it in the end. And ~ anyway, 349 00:20:59,496 --> 00:21:02,857 I took a risk and they still kept me employed. 350 00:21:02,857 --> 00:21:07,760 The future that you set is the now that you get. 351 00:21:07,760 --> 00:21:14,242 So if you commit to and share verbally a future that 352 00:21:14,242 --> 00:21:18,024 you are trying to construct and behave accordingly, 353 00:21:18,024 --> 00:21:20,705 that actually changes who you are in the present. 354 00:21:20,705 --> 00:21:22,456 And 355 00:21:22,848 --> 00:21:25,240 If you design that future well enough, 356 00:21:25,240 --> 00:21:31,005 then you can actually f fill yourself with purpose 357 00:21:31,005 --> 00:21:33,607 and fill others with purpose with you. 358 00:21:33,607 --> 00:21:39,131 And that as far as I'm concerned is how you end up living a life you love. 359 00:21:39,131 --> 00:21:43,054 And you know, 360 00:21:43,054 --> 00:21:47,758 ~ my purpose, which has taken many design iterations 361 00:21:48,224 --> 00:21:52,757 Is a world that works for all living things because civilization thrives. 362 00:21:52,757 --> 00:21:55,878 And there's a lot to unpack in that. 363 00:21:55,878 --> 00:21:56,939 I'm not going to unpack it all. 364 00:21:56,939 --> 00:22:00,661 I'm just going to say that we are a long way away from that future, 365 00:22:00,661 --> 00:22:04,423 and it still lights me up every step of progress we make towards it. 366 00:22:04,423 --> 00:22:07,025 So every tree we forest plants, 367 00:22:07,025 --> 00:22:10,837 every time a child learns to code with Raspberry Pi Foundation, 368 00:22:10,837 --> 00:22:16,170 ~ every time the drug that SENS Foundation ~ you know spun out. 369 00:22:16,674 --> 00:22:18,816 Has another successful clinical outcome. 370 00:22:18,816 --> 00:22:23,619 These are all moving us forward towards a future where the world works 371 00:22:23,619 --> 00:22:27,062 for all living things because our civilization thrives. 372 00:22:27,062 --> 00:22:30,304 And then Shobani, design led, but innovation led. 373 00:22:30,304 --> 00:22:32,256 I mean, found all these are founder-led companies. 374 00:22:32,256 --> 00:22:34,247 I mean, ~ that's another interesting thing. 375 00:22:34,247 --> 00:22:35,638 And so you have a lot of flexibility. 376 00:22:35,638 --> 00:22:37,670 That's a big difference. Founder led versus, 377 00:22:37,670 --> 00:22:39,471 you know, publicly traded versus, 378 00:22:39,471 --> 00:22:43,374 you know, shareholder of pri for heaven forbid private equity or 379 00:22:43,786 --> 00:22:46,028 Venture backed. I mean, those are very different models. 380 00:22:46,028 --> 00:22:47,670 You know, if you want to make change happen, 381 00:22:47,670 --> 00:22:49,011 don't go to a private equity company. 382 00:22:49,011 --> 00:22:52,474 I mean, that's you know, that's just realistic. 383 00:22:52,474 --> 00:22:56,708 ~ no, so I think, you know, I feel really good about the companies that I've been 384 00:22:56,708 --> 00:22:58,189 in where it's not a cost center, 385 00:22:58,189 --> 00:23:03,244 where design was really supported and advocated for. 386 00:23:03,244 --> 00:23:06,027 And Walmart is one of those huge, 387 00:23:06,027 --> 00:23:08,549 huge companies, again, publicly traded but family held. 388 00:23:08,549 --> 00:23:09,549 ~ 389 00:23:09,730 --> 00:23:13,541 Where they took some real gambles and risks as the largest employer in the world, 390 00:23:13,541 --> 00:23:15,152 second only to the Chinese army. 391 00:23:15,152 --> 00:23:19,813 you know, ninety-eight percent of Americans are within ten miles of Walmart. 392 00:23:19,813 --> 00:23:23,654 I mean, it is a monstrosity. And and they always thought design, 393 00:23:23,654 --> 00:23:27,165 whether it was the store, whether it was the processes for their greeters. 394 00:23:27,165 --> 00:23:29,546 I mean, I it's not my favorite. 395 00:23:29,546 --> 00:23:33,387 I I'm not I'm not trying to advocate that Walmart's like the best corporate citizen 396 00:23:33,387 --> 00:23:35,178 or anything else. I'm not making a judgment call. 397 00:23:35,178 --> 00:23:36,178 I'm just sharing that like. 398 00:23:36,972 --> 00:23:38,953 It was very thoughtful on every level, 399 00:23:38,953 --> 00:23:40,063 whether it was sustainability, 400 00:23:40,063 --> 00:23:42,444 whether it was scholarship programs for their staff, 401 00:23:42,444 --> 00:23:44,484 whether it was, you know, their big, 402 00:23:44,484 --> 00:23:49,776 you know, ~ s like party that they host every year in in Arkansas, 403 00:23:49,776 --> 00:23:51,596 you know, for for shareholders. 404 00:23:51,596 --> 00:23:54,787 I mean, it was design was always at the the forefront. 405 00:23:54,787 --> 00:23:58,468 Well, in everything we do as a company, 406 00:23:58,468 --> 00:24:04,610 I feel very conscious of the privilege that we have to, 407 00:24:04,610 --> 00:24:05,610 you know, we 408 00:24:05,994 --> 00:24:08,395 work with extraordinary companies, 409 00:24:08,395 --> 00:24:13,957 we get to travel and see lots of different experiences in the world. 410 00:24:13,957 --> 00:24:19,260 And I think we have a responsibility to share that experience 411 00:24:20,820 --> 00:24:25,402 by, you know, pushing like ideas, 412 00:24:25,402 --> 00:24:32,365 new ways of thinking, or actually tackling maybe thorny questions 413 00:24:32,806 --> 00:24:33,806 to help 414 00:24:33,846 --> 00:24:37,769 you know, encourage more people to travel by public transport. 415 00:24:37,769 --> 00:24:40,952 but yeah, 416 00:24:40,952 --> 00:24:45,996 using our design thinking to tackle tricky questions, 417 00:24:45,996 --> 00:24:52,441 but also by putting those ideas out into the world to push that public discourse 418 00:24:52,441 --> 00:24:57,445 around an area. So it's less about we own this. 419 00:24:57,445 --> 00:25:03,346 We're just using our expertise and our knowledge to ~ 420 00:25:03,980 --> 00:25:08,474 Yeah, to make the world a better place and that might sound sound naive. 421 00:25:08,474 --> 00:25:13,017 ~ but that is the intention. 422 00:25:13,017 --> 00:25:16,661 Yeah, use our expertise for yeah, 423 00:25:16,661 --> 00:25:20,464 for for good. What sustains you when it gets hard? 424 00:25:20,464 --> 00:25:25,007 The mission forms once. The work goes on for years. 425 00:25:25,007 --> 00:25:29,781 The final three clips are from founders who know precisely what it takes 426 00:25:29,781 --> 00:25:32,754 to keep going when the gap between where you are and 427 00:25:32,886 --> 00:25:35,728 And where you need to be still feels very large. 428 00:25:35,728 --> 00:25:40,078 And it's interesting. Anytime I'm dealing with a really big fire, 429 00:25:40,078 --> 00:25:46,046 the universe gifts us a positive pregnancy report just to remind us that like you're 430 00:25:46,046 --> 00:25:51,020 doing the right thing. I think I I question the done enough is probably 431 00:25:51,020 --> 00:25:54,232 the biggest thing I do every day when I'm on my computer and either 432 00:25:54,232 --> 00:25:57,504 I haven't had enough emails come through or I don't have enough appointments 433 00:25:57,504 --> 00:25:59,416 in my calendar, or maybe 434 00:25:59,968 --> 00:26:02,060 I didn't go out and actually knock on doors, 435 00:26:02,060 --> 00:26:04,701 you know, and I had four hours and I couldn't have done that this morning. 436 00:26:04,701 --> 00:26:08,274 You know, you questioned should you ~ and if you didn't, 437 00:26:08,274 --> 00:26:11,306 are you doing enough for the people that are waiting on you to get, 438 00:26:11,306 --> 00:26:14,939 you know, enough momentum so they can start making real good money, 439 00:26:14,939 --> 00:26:17,250 right? So, ~ that's the biggest question. 440 00:26:17,250 --> 00:26:20,123 I don't put what I have at stake. 441 00:26:20,123 --> 00:26:22,274 I put what the people on my team have at stake, 442 00:26:22,274 --> 00:26:25,797 right? So I always look at I will be the last person to get money. 443 00:26:25,797 --> 00:26:27,658 ~ so if I have, you know, 444 00:26:27,982 --> 00:26:30,254 20 grand, I'm going to make sure that five goes to E, 445 00:26:30,254 --> 00:26:32,696 five goes to E, five goes to E and five goes to to them. 446 00:26:32,696 --> 00:26:35,488 And then maybe if there's anything left over, 447 00:26:35,488 --> 00:26:38,231 you know. And so until we get to that moment, 448 00:26:38,231 --> 00:26:39,582 I got to make sure that these guys, 449 00:26:39,582 --> 00:26:41,614 because that's really where I'm at. 450 00:26:41,614 --> 00:26:44,847 So my time in the day or the even in the week, 451 00:26:44,847 --> 00:26:46,458 like on a Saturday, if I'm off, 452 00:26:46,458 --> 00:26:50,902 off, ~ and I'm at a at a at a park with my daughter, 453 00:26:50,902 --> 00:26:53,194 you know, I'm like, man, could I have done something today? 454 00:26:53,194 --> 00:26:55,186 Should I, should I have done something today? 455 00:26:55,186 --> 00:26:56,186 Or 456 00:26:55,712 --> 00:26:57,392 It's Sunday and nobody's sending me emails, 457 00:26:57,392 --> 00:26:58,443 of course, 'cause nobody's working. 458 00:26:58,443 --> 00:27:00,074 And I'm like, I need somebody to send, 459 00:27:00,074 --> 00:27:01,074 you know, I just need something. 460 00:27:01,045 --> 00:27:02,156 I need an appointment for Monday. 461 00:27:02,156 --> 00:27:03,596 I need, you know, something locked in, 462 00:27:03,596 --> 00:27:07,098 right? So in in not even really about what the appointment is, 463 00:27:07,098 --> 00:27:12,211 but staying active is the most important part of the game. 464 00:27:12,211 --> 00:27:16,354 Someone else that I met that a a hero of mine for sure. 465 00:27:16,354 --> 00:27:18,515 It's a gentleman called Peter Brock. 466 00:27:18,515 --> 00:27:21,637 anyone that's into their cars will probably be aware of him. 467 00:27:21,637 --> 00:27:23,948 He he designed the first ~ Corvette. 468 00:27:24,690 --> 00:27:28,112 he was also the the lead engineer ~ at Shelby. 469 00:27:28,112 --> 00:27:31,254 So he designed the the Shelby Daytona and Cobra. 470 00:27:31,254 --> 00:27:33,875 This guy, he's he's in his nineties now, 471 00:27:33,875 --> 00:27:38,118 and he's he's working with us ~ on a few projects. 472 00:27:38,118 --> 00:27:44,581 And I I was really fortunate enough ~ at the start of this year to spend some time 473 00:27:44,581 --> 00:27:49,484 with him. And by time I mean one of the cars turned up in the US at ten 474 00:27:49,484 --> 00:27:52,728 pm at night and we needed to do a whole load of things to it. 475 00:27:52,910 --> 00:27:55,971 check it and we want we wanted to sort of improve it for the next day. 476 00:27:55,971 --> 00:28:01,062 This man in his nineties ~ stayed up all night until 7 a.m. 477 00:28:01,062 --> 00:28:03,933 the next day. He was underneath the car. 478 00:28:03,933 --> 00:28:07,374 He was lifting things heavier than I probably was at the time. 479 00:28:07,374 --> 00:28:11,845 And it at that age he kept going all through the night and then went 480 00:28:11,845 --> 00:28:13,296 to the event with us the next day. 481 00:28:13,296 --> 00:28:17,857 And he did that because even though all the things he's done, 482 00:28:17,857 --> 00:28:21,518 he says, I'm only actually interested in what I can do next. 483 00:28:21,838 --> 00:28:24,030 Like what's happening next. That's the thing that excites me. 484 00:28:24,030 --> 00:28:26,982 Like I don't I don't look back necessarily on on what's happened there. 485 00:28:26,982 --> 00:28:29,834 And this man has you know, he's in the automotive hall of fame for 486 00:28:29,834 --> 00:28:34,307 all the things he's done. but he looks forward and I think that's probably what what 487 00:28:34,307 --> 00:28:35,587 really keeps us going as well. 488 00:28:35,587 --> 00:28:38,159 ~ I wish it didn't filter over into personal life, 489 00:28:38,159 --> 00:28:39,971 Chris, 'cause it would save a lot of money on therapy, 490 00:28:39,971 --> 00:28:42,763 but there we go. So that's it. 491 00:28:42,763 --> 00:28:45,384 Fourteen guests. Each of them is linked below. 492 00:28:45,384 --> 00:28:49,877 If any of this resonated, the full episodes go much further into the work, 493 00:28:49,877 --> 00:28:50,877 the products 494 00:28:50,678 --> 00:28:51,785 and the missions behind them. 495 00:29:31,822 --> 00:29:33,423 Thanks for listening to Why Design. 496 00:29:33,423 --> 00:29:35,665 If this episode gave you some new ideas, 497 00:29:35,665 --> 00:29:38,227 share it with someone in your team who'd find it useful. 498 00:29:38,227 --> 00:29:40,789 And follow the show so you don't miss what's next. 499 00:29:40,789 --> 00:29:44,753 And if you're building a product team or looking for your next challenge 500 00:29:44,753 --> 00:29:47,915 in design or engineering, that's exactly what we do at Codu. 501 00:29:47,915 --> 00:29:50,918 We help companies hire smarter and faster, 502 00:29:50,918 --> 00:29:54,261 and help great talent find work that actually fits. 503 00:29:54,261 --> 00:29:58,094 I'm Chris White, connect with me on LinkedIn and let's keep raising 504 00:29:58,094 --> 00:29:59,585 the bar for design leadership. 505 00:29:59,585 --> 00:30:00,726 Until next time. 506 00:30:01,398 --> 00:30:05,106 Stay curious, stay creative and keep asking why design.