Designing Schools

In This Episode We Discuss:

• How Nancy's personal experiences with sleep led her to found End No Sleep
• How her experiences as an entrepreneur led to a a realization of what was missing from her education experience
• How she hires high school interns and the questions she asks them
• Her experience fleeing war, being an immigrant to the United States and what she thinks about college and the American dream
• Advice to those who are considering a gap year and how to plan for it
• What she hopes to see evolve in the future of education

Today I'm delighted to welcome Dan Faill to the podcast for a conversation where he shares insights, with a unique mix of humor and vulnerability, that we all need to hear right now. Dan Faill is an accomplished storyteller and international speaker. Having worked for over a decade on college campuses, advocating for safe and positive student experiences, Dan now travels the country as a full-time speaker, coach and consultant, engaging audiences in hard but needed conversations. Dan shares personal stories that engage and inspire others to be their authentic selves and be brave enough to have the conversations that matter.

In This Episode

• How and why Dan took the leap and launched his side hustle into a full time business
• How to identify if you are throwing away conversations
• How to change the way you start sentences to design conversations that matter
• How the dynamic of a conversation changes when working with a facilitator to provide the group with a myriad of solutions
• How he facilitates conversations about social justice, race, equity and inclusion that allow us to think like scientists
• How vulnerability fosters a culture of trust and creativity
• Why "Google it" is bad advice and what to do instead

Connect with Dan

Dan's unique ability to design conversations that matter through vulnerability and humor eases the audience into taking the leap to having conversations that matter. You can learn more from Dan by visiting his website and following him across social media @danfaill.

In This Episode We Discuss:

• What we need to consider before we "start with why"
• How to identify your non-negotiable black sheep values, and why we don't always actually know what they are
• How a personal tragedy led Brant to discover the importance of understanding your core values and motivated him to help others become more self aware about what drive who we are and what we do.
• How to build bridges within your organization to reach the highest level of performance
• Gut check: are you winging it 😬 and the story behind the origin of that phrase
• How to show up as your authentic self in a cancel culture world
• The consequences on not creating healthy spaces where people can connect, collaborate and be heard
• The advice, strategies, and questions Brant shares with leaders to strengthen teams so that they can work better together

To Learn More

To learn more from Brant you can visit his website. Black Sheep is a book that I reference time and time again and you can find it here. I hope you enjoyed this episode of the podcast. Tag me (@AskMsQ) and Brant () online and let us know what your favorite part was, what resonated and what questions you might have.

In today’s world the easy part is having access to all the information we need to address challenges, start new businesses or explore opportunities. The hard part however is how to make sense of that information, how to curate, organize and make sense of it so that we can use it to ultimately enhance our lives, our communities and our world.

In This Episode:

• How the design sprint process transitions Sabrina to move from designing for the client to designing with the client
• How she inspires teams to enhance their self-efficacy in their creative skills and abilities
• The conditions that need to be in place to implement a successful design sprint, from the team to the structures that are needed
• How Sabrina defines community and why she believes this is important in a rapidly changing world
• Advice about community building that Sabrina does not agree with
• The skills and mindsets Sabrina believes are important for young people to learn and how she is creating spaces to bring them together to enhance and develop them

Connect with Sabrina

Sabrina is one of the most dynamic people you will follow online. Her energy and enthusiasm is contagious and every day she inspires me to be a better leader and community builder. You can follow Sabrina on LinkedIn. To join her Beyond Design Sprint community click here.

My favorite definition of leadership comes from David Notgrass. He says, "Transformational leaders are those who encourage creativity, recognize accomplishments, build trust and inspire a collective vision. They are role models for the beliefs and values they want to see others adopt and they believe that their audience is able to rise to the occasion." 

Today I’m delighted to introduce you to the leader who comes to mind when I think of what it means to be transformational - Dr. Kevin Lohenry. From integrating digital technologies to advancing diversity and equity initiatives, Dr. Lohenry has been at the forefront of leading innovation in higher education. Dr. Lohenry currently serves as the Associate Dean of Graduate Student Affairs and Director for the Division of Physician Assistant Studies at the Keck School of Medicine of USC

In this episode we discuss:

• The history and evolution of the Physician Assistant profession
• The relationship between leadership and advocacy and how the PA Program at USC prepares students for taking on this role
• How to advance diversity and equity initiatives
• The role of digital technologies to keep higher education relevant
• The importance of leading with empathy and how that can lead to the development of strong teams
• Strategies and practices for being a transformational leader
• How to stay optimistic during uncertainty and navigate change
• What Dr. Lohenry is thinking about for the next five years

To connect with Kevin you can follow him on LinkedIn and on Twitter. 

A few weeks ago I came across this article in my feed, "Revolutionizing the public school system: A Design sprint case study." I knew this was a person I wanted to interview and this week I'm delighted to have Daniel Andor on the podcast. Daniel is the founder and lead product designer at Durran. He helps startups go from idea to validation with real users in just a few days and design awesome digital products faster by running Design Sprint workshops.

In This Episode:

• The design sprint process and how it can be used to frame and solve problems
• How Daniel used the design sprint process to make a career transition during the pandemic and how you can use it as well
• The case study with an edtech company serving 650 schools and 100,000+ users
• The difference between trying to do a sprint in house vs bringing in a facilitator to design the experience
• How the problem framing process enriches the sprint experience and the gap Daniels team discovered during their research phase
• The benefits of engaging in a sprint when we are feeling overwhelmed by change, yet would like to make an impact
• The role of design sprints in education

To learn more visit askmsq.com 

This week you'll hear from me as I share an interview I did with Jason Reagin on his podcast Design Cast.

In this episode I share:

• Why pursuing a doctoral degree was an empathy experiment
• The research study I did at Design39 Campus on how design thinking can be used to prepare learners with the knowledge, skills and mindsets to thrive in future workplaces and as global citizens
• How to break the silos in education and design teams that work well together
• The value of having an. online presence while being a student
• What I learned students really need from their professors
• Why cultures of innovation begin with a culture of empathy

To learn more about the research study visit askmsq.com

I first came across today's guest when I read, "I'm a high school sophomore. Here's how schools can teach kids to solve real world problems." I was intrigued and impressed and knew this was a conversation I wanted to share with all of you. 

Luke Harris is a New York City high school sophomore at Horace MannSchool. He enjoys taking things apart and not quite getting them back together, building computers, and being a varsity wrestler.  He works part-time for Avid games, helping with the design of their award-winning game Cards, the Universe and Everything.  For the past year, he has been developing a design engineering curriculum for kids, created to teach real-world entrepreneurial and engineering skills.

• What Luke felt was missing from his high school engineering course
• What Luke designed to solve for the gap that he saw
• Why Luke believes the culture of collaboration and brainstorming is broken and what we can do to fix it
• The difference between creating for yourself and creating for others
• What students can learn from the engineering curriculum he designed
• Advice for education leaders and students as we think about reinventing education.

To learn more about Luke's curriculum you can visit his website and reach out to him for more details. He is truly an inspiration that we are all creative and we can all design solutions to the challenges we see around us.

Today's guest believes we can democratize more access and exposure to opportunities through the development of a personal brand. Regardless of where you are in your personal branding journey, today’s guest, entrepreneur, personal branding and growth expert Brittany Krystle joins us to share the endless possibilities to what we can create for ourselves through strategically positioning ourselves online so that we can create a more equal distribution where everyone has access to opportunities the world has to offer.

In This Episode We Discuss:

• Why the traditional narrative of the school to career pathway is broken and how Brittany went from being a lawyer to an entrepreneur
• The relationship and cycle between creation and clarity
• Strategies students can use to leverage LinkedIn as a portfolio to showcase your work and build a professional network
• The skills and mindsets that GenZ should enhance and develop during their academic career during the pandemic and beyond
• Why clarity is a journey and not a goal
• The relationship between social influence and trust
• How a personal brand can create more broadly shared prosperity

To learn more you can connect with Brittany across her social channels on Instagram | Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook | Pinterest | and of course on Clubhouse: @brittanykrystle.

When I think of individuals who have leveraged technology to reinvent work, shape their destiny, create their own path, and empower others to do so as well, the first people who came to mind are entrepreneurs and luxury travel content creators Jeremy Austin and Angie Villa who founded, "The Visionary Media Group." They specialize in creating unrivaled photography, video production and social media campaigns for the World’s leading luxury hotels, resorts and exclusive villa rental properties. Their clients include Four Seasons, the Aman hotels, St Regis and many others.

They take us behind the scenes to discuss:

• Their transition from school to the real world
• Understanding your unique superpower and how to leverage it
• The value of showcasing your work online and creating a portfolio
• How to develop relationships with brands and the importance of overdelivering
• Why everyone should have a life resume
• The power of spirituality and manifesting your goals and dreams through a grounding vision
• How to learn new skills and how to stay relevant in a world that is rapidly changing
• Why they created, "The Creator Retreat" how you can attend and why this isn't just for travel creators
• The future of travel and why they are optimistic

Resources

• Learn more about The Visionary Media Group
• Discover their presets to take your photos to the next level