Douglas Ferguson is an entrepreneur and human-centered technologist. He is the founder and president of Voltage Control, an Austin-based change agency that helps enterprises spark, accelerate, and sustain innovation. He specializes in helping teams work better together through participatory decision making and design inspired facilitation techniques. He has helped transform teams from Nike, U.S. SOCOM, Google, the Air Force, Apple, Adobe, Dropbox, Fidelity, Vrbo, Liberty Mutual, Humana, and SAIC. Douglas is a thought leader and master facilitator of Design Sprints, Innovation Acceleration, Team Alignment, Meeting Systems, Culture Transitions, and Change Transformations. He is also the author of four books: Magical Meetings, Beyond the Prototype, How to Remix Anything, and Start Within. He has been published in Forbes, Fast Company, Innovation Leader, and is a regular contributor to The Future Shapers. He publishes a weekly podcast called Control the Room. Motivated by a mission to rid the world of horrible meetings and offer meaningful magical meeings in their place, Voltage Control is calling upon fellow facilitators to transform meeting and innovation culture. From free weekly community meetups to Control the Room–the annual facilitator summit, Voltage Control is building a community of facilitators to change the world. Douglas is active in the Austin startup community where he serves on the board of several non-profits, mentors startups, and advises early-stage ventures. Prior to founding Voltage Control, Douglas held CTO positions at numerous Austin startups where he led product and engineering teams.When not facilitating or coaching facilitators you might find Douglas patching up his Modular Synth, boxing, or doing pilates. 

Timestamp

2:12 Doug’s early years, and getting into the startup space

2:36 From getting fascinated about collaboration, to an interest in facilitation

3:41 How his first experience as a speaker started his thought leader journey

5:26 What makes a meeting Magical

6:37 Small changes, big results

8:32 Personal experience in dealing with career change

13:17 Making clients acknowledge the human problem

16:33 How to face fear and identity issues in the change process

18:08 Dealing with organizational change as a result of the pandemic

19:43 How the tragic loss of a co-worker inspired creation of the Safe Pledge

23:39 Building a community of facilitators

26:19 Designing a memorable, accessible meeting experience for all

28:36 Doug’s typical work day

31:44 Curiosity, creativity and self-challenge: taking small steps to start change

33:27 Upcoming activities and plans 

Social Media

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/douglasferguson/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/voltagectrl

SAFE Alliance: https://www.safeaustin.org/

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Patti Dobrowolski 00:03

Hello, Superstars! Welcome to the Up Your Creative Genius Podcast, where you will gain insight and tips to stomp on the accelerator and blast off to transform your business and your life. I'm your host, Patti Dobrowolski. And if this is your first time tuning in, then strap in - because this is serious rocket fuel. Each week, I interview fellow creative geniuses to help you learn how easy it is to Up Your Creative Genius in any part of your life.

Patti Dobrowolski 00:39

Hey, everybody. Oh my gosh, I have Douglas Ferguson here. This guy is an author, a speaker, master facilitator, and he's the president of Voltage Control - and he's going to tell us what Voltage Control is all about - but let me just say that he helps companies to sustain and scale their innovation through design thinking and synthesis of visuals, and creating a Fast to Fail culture - and I love that Fast to Fail idea - so we're gonna get into that for sure. But he's al