carebydesign

"The workplace is the last place people feel safe asking for mental help."

Mitul Desai speaks about the light and dark sides of mental health in the midst of the pandemic. He advises corporations, startups, and nonprofits on mental health strategy, solutions, and technology. He also invests in aspiring mental health tech entrepreneurs. Join us for an in depth look at the changing face of both our internal mental health challenges at this time and the needed system overhauls.  

His background includes 10+ years in the healthcare industry and 5 years leading teams in product, data services, and digital strategy at a global payments technology firm.   Previously he worked as a patent attorney at Merck and global law firms, and as a healthcare equity research analyst at Piper Sandler. Mitul also served in the Obama Administration as a Senior Advisor at the U.S. State Department, where he handled international economic policy and public-private partnerships in South Asia (the first person to hold such a position).

“As architects, when we are at our best, we don’t talk about the future – we create it.”

Our guest, Jane Frederick, FAIA, is the 2020-2021 President of the American Institute of Architects (AIA).  The AIA is the voice of the architectural profession and a resource for its members in service to society.  Founded in 1857, the AIA and it's 95,000 members across 200 chapters in the US and abroad set the course for the architecture and construction industry.

As the current president, Jane rolled up her sleeves and hit the ground running. She’s a model of inclusion and deep listening, encompassing care by design that extends to the very heart of how we live and treat one another.  You will hear her deftly analyze and admit past institutional errors and injustices. Simultaneously she outlines proactive efforts towards emergency services, climate action initiatives, and equality for people of color, women and all those lacking fair treatment and representation. Please join us for this talk from one of the most inspiring and substantive design thought leaders of our time! 

ABOUT OUR GUEST:

Jane has held a myriad of leadership positions at the AIA, including serving as the AIA 2019 first vice president; South Atlantic Regional representative on the Strategic Council; at-large director on the National Board; and president of AIA South Carolina. Additionally, she has served on the AIA Small Firm Round Table Executive Committee and NAAB Accreditation teams. She has also chaired numerous local planning boards and is a Liberty Fellow.

Her award-winning firm Frederick + Frederick Architects—where she is a principal—in Beaufort, South Carolina, specializes in custom residences and has earned 18 state and local design awards. It was honored with AIA South Carolina’s 2017 Firm Award as well as Southern Living Magazine’s Best Renovation of 2009.

“Be aware of too many pivots. There are people I know who've built their companies and grow them and pivoted so many times along the way, that by the fifth pivot, nobody has any clue.”

This week we continue with Part II of our conversation with Chip Conley as he discusses more about the thinking behind Modern Elder Academy, his school dedicated to helping people navigate midlife, plus the collective experience of wisdom sharing, and how our societal narrative on aging is at odds with our personal narrative on aging. Join us and learn how his views on aging and wisdom have evolved.

Rebel hospitality entrepreneur and New York Times bestselling author, Chip Conley disrupted his favorite industry... twice. At age 26 he founded Joie de Vivre Hospitality (JdV), transforming an inner-city motel into the second largest boutique hotel brand in America. He sold JdV after running it as CEO for 24 years, and soon the young founders of Airbnb asked him to help transform their promising start-up into the world’s leading hospitality brand. Chip served as Airbnb’s Head of Global Hospitality and Strategy for four years and today acts as the company’s Strategic Advisor for Hospitality and Leadership. His books have made him a leading authority at the intersection of psychology and business. Chip was awarded “Most Innovative CEO” by the San Francisco Business Times, is the recipient of hospitality’s highest honor, the Pioneer Award, and holds a BA and MBA from Stanford University.  Today he runs Modern Elder Academy, a school dedicated to helping people navigate midlife.

This is Part Two of a two-part episode.

"We are going to see a travel industry that is less focused on the two-night road warrior stay and more on the two month digital nomad stay. And so the question is:  how does the industry remake itself in that possibility?  Isn't that screaming for a design solution?"

Chip Conley makes it look easy--life, work, leisure. And he has plenty to show for it. He enjoys tremendous success in re-creating the hospitality industry, establishing transformational elder programs and writing best sellers. Similar to great athletes or world class musicians, listening to Chip you begin to sense the level of commitment and sacrifice underlying those achievements. He reminds us that all deeply committed visionaries keep the hard parts to themselves. They live their inspirations and victories out loud. In his case the crowning jewel of his life is his passionate pursuit of wisdom.  Join us and learn about how he shares these gifts with others.

Rebel hospitality entrepreneur and New York Times bestselling author, Chip Conley disrupted his favorite industry... twice. At age 26 he founded Joie de Vivre Hospitality (JdV), transforming an inner-city motel into the second largest boutique hotel brand in America. He sold JdV after running it as CEO for 24 years, and soon the young founders of Airbnb asked him to help transform their promising start-up into the world’s leading hospitality brand. Chip served as Airbnb’s Head of Global Hospitality and Strategy for four years and today acts as the company’s Strategic Advisor for Hospitality and Leadership. His books have made him a leading authority at the intersection of psychology and business. Chip was awarded “Most Innovative CEO” by the San Francisco Business Times, is the recipient of hospitality’s highest honor, the Pioneer Award, and holds a BA and MBA from Stanford University.  Today he runs Modern Elder Academy, a school dedicated to helping people navigate midlife.

This is Part One of a two-part episode.

“What I've learned in more than 20 years of being at the bedside of the dying is it takes a village to have a good death.”

Sierra is a certified End of Life Doula. She began working in a skilled nursing facility at age 16 and considers herself a lifelong caregiver.

After a decade of owning and operating a successful home care agency, Sierra burnt out and took time to reflect on her time helping more than 100 (mostly elders) people through death and dying. She realized the urgent need for families to understand the path ahead, make plans, and prepare for the inevitable in ways that bring them closer and affirm fully living this life.

Sierra created Nurture.Co, a resource site to support and prepare individuals and families through all experiences end of life. On the site, you find many free resources, including Five Conversations, a free guide to plan with a parent or loved one for care at the end.

In this episode she directly, openly and warmly engages us around the realities of Covid19, death, dying and the urgent shortfalls of our elder care system. Her composure and compassion have a disarming effect, supporting us in facing these realities bravely and truthfully, with renewed commitment to positive change.

“We might prescribe a pill, or prescribe the digital layers around that, and increasingly the data will flow more readily to the clinician to not just make sense of the data, but of the insights that come from it.” 

Dr. Daniel Kraft is Chair of Medicine for Singularity University and Founder and Chair of Exponential Medicine, a program that explores convergent, rapidly developing technologies and their potential in biomedicine and healthcare. In response to the pandemic he has jumped in to Chair the XPRIZE Pandemic Alliance Task Force, a data powered alliance to stop Covid-19 through collaboration and technology. 

It’s Daniel’s belief that the tragedy of Covid-19 could also be humanity’s finest hour; a way of honoring these terrible sacrifices. These emerging design innovations will staunch this outbreak, more thoroughly prepare us for future events, stream-line outdated and inequitable systems, support more sustainable practices, instill a stronger sense of and commitment to our individual health, provide invaluable shared global data, and utilize the most miraculous aspects of technology in true service to our health and well-being as a global community.

"You said 'Black Lives Matter.'  What does that mean? Where are you putting the activity that goes behind the words?  Where are you putting that to work? So it's been a really tumultuous time.  But I think it's the beginnings of change."

Monique Woodard is a venture capital investor at the intersection of technology and newly powerful consumer groups. She has invested in startup ecosystems across the US and sub-Saharan Africa. Her investments as Venture Partner at 500 Startups (a venture capital firm with +$350M AUM) and an angel investor include Blavity, Encantos Media, Mented Cosmetics, Silvernest, and many others.

Today, Monique invests in the future of technology being driven by major demographic trends like the shift to majority-minority, an increase in the spending power of women, and an aging Baby Boomer population. She invests in companies with global ambitions who are creating technology products that meet the needs of tomorrow’s internet users.

“We need to really think about what it means to care and what it means to design, and then we'll get somewhere.”

Listening to Nathan speak about his principles, practices and contributions, helps one to feel heard. His communication style is designed to honor relationships, assume connectedness, build trust, enhance critical thinking and inspire creativity.  What could be more needed at this time?

Nathan is a leading business thinker, helping advance the understanding of total value, customer experience, and meaningful business. He is a pioneer in Conversational Interfaces, Experience Design, Interaction Design and Information Design, is a serial entrepreneur, and researches, speaks and teaches internationally about meaning, strategic innovation, and science fiction interfaces.

“We have the solutions. The challenge is how do we implement them and get them into the hands of the people that need them most. And that has to do a lot with leadership and financing.” – @casinclair

New York resident, architect Cameron Sinclair, is a force of nature in the world of humanitarian, innovative architectural design during crises. In response to the current pandemic his organization, Worldchanging Ventures, a shelter solution company, is looking at rapidly deployable mobile housing, schools, and medical facilities such as hospitals, clinics, and testing, vaccine, and recovery unit sites. This design concept has unlimited applications for a variety of regional and global disasters. As a first step he formed Frontline Care, partnering with Jupe Health and Amplifier to create rapidly deployable rest and recovery units for frontline workers.

Join us for this timely, gloves off conversation regarding the role of design amidst our current global crises. A self- responsible examination of design deficiencies and potential solutions.

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