What happens when two brilliant minds from the world of information architecture team up to create a podcast that’s part leadership playbook, part intellectual high-wire act? That’s exactly what Harry Max and Jorge Arango set out to explore with their new podcast, Traction Heroes. Lou Rosenfeld chats with two and learns how they envision their project and how their podcast differs from traditional interview formats.

Instead of scripted discussions, Traction Heroes features Harry and Jorge reading thought-provoking passages from books to each other—without prior preparation—sparking impromptu, insightful conversations. The goal? To decode complex ideas and turn them into actionable advice for leaders and decision-makers. The pair leverage their complementary strengths: Harry’s applied, results-driven approach, and Jorge’s deep, theoretical mindset. Together, they aim to help listeners gain traction in their careers and lives, all while keeping the dialogue engaging and accessible.

Launched in January 2025, the podcast avoids technical or siloed jargon, and focuses on practical tools for structuring decisions and creating meaningful outcomes. Available on major platforms and at TractionHeroes.com, the show promises a fresh take on leadership and decision-making.

Why do so many organizations struggle to learn and evolve? Robin Beers, an organizational psychologist and founder of Ubuntu Culture Company, argues that businesses have been stuck in a transactional mindset—hoarding knowledge rather than embracing it as a dynamic, social process. In this conversation, she explains why researchers must shift from simply delivering insights to becoming knowledge curators, helping organizations not just understand their customers, but also reflect on their own strategies and structures.

Robin explores how organizations often present themselves based on internal hierarchies—rather than how customers actually engage with them—and how researchers can help bridge this gap. She also discusses the critical need for sense-making, the skills researchers should develop to navigate complex systems, and why UX research must expand beyond just improving digital products.

As a speaker at Advancing Research 2025, Robin will offer practical strategies for researchers to drive real change within their organizations.

What happens when an academic researcher trades a university lab for the fast-paced world of tech? Katie Hansen, Senior UX Research Manager at Thumbtack, shares her journey from studying unconscious bias at Princeton to leading research at companies like Etsy, Instagram, and Facebook. She breaks down the challenges of transitioning from academia—where studies take years—to industry, where research needs to drive business decisions quickly.

Katie dives into the power of survey experiments, explaining how they can uncover deep psychological insights and help teams prioritize what to A/B test. She also discusses the value of meta-analysis and literature reviews, showing how researchers can tap into existing knowledge to save time and uncover patterns.

With two talks lined up at Advancing Research 2025, Katie will explore experimental research techniques and the impact of meta-analysis in UX. She also shares her favorite research tools, the importance of repositories, and why Hidden Brain is a must-listen for anyone fascinated by human behavior.

If you’re looking to level up your research game and future-proof your career, don’t miss this conversation!

Failure is often seen as something to avoid, but Dan Ward sees it as a gateway to innovation. Dan is a military technologist, author, USAF veteran, and innovation catalyst at MITRE Corporation, and he and Lou talk about the profound lessons failure can teach. Drawing from his book LIFT: Innovation Lessons From Flying Machines That ALMOST Worked and The People Who NEARLY Flew Them, Ward shares stories of pre-Wright brothers (more accurately pre-Wright siblings) aviation experiments that, despite ending in failure, laid the groundwork for modern flight. He explains how studying and learning from setbacks can drive innovation and problem-solving in any field.

Dan shares his innovation team's unique approach to failure: celebrating it with “failure cake.” This ritual helps his team process setbacks, learn from them, and destigmatize failure in a supportive environment. He also emphasizes the importance of storytelling, arguing that even the best ideas are meaningless if they can’t be communicated clearly. The conversation highlights how embracing failure and sharing its lessons are essential for growth, whether in aviation, design, or technology.

Mark your calendars! Lou announces that Dan will headline Rosenfeld Media’s first Failure Friday on February 7, 2025, where he’ll further discuss the failure cake practice.

What keeps you up at night? For Brandon Schauer, it was climate change. In a stroke of genius, the former CEO of Adaptive Path decided to look for a role that would help him address his concerns about our planet. He ultimately transitioned to his current role as Senior Vice President of Climate Culture at Rare.

Brandon has a big heart, and it can be felt in his conversation with Lou. They discuss his education and career path, highlighting his leadership role at Adaptive Path where the agency thrived by sharing knowledge and empowering new talent. As CEO, Brandon navigated business challenges and focused on building lasting client relationships and expanding the agency's impact. This experience eventually led to Adaptive Path's acquisition by Capital One, which marked a significant turning point in Brandon's career.

His transition to climate work was driven by a growing concern for the environment. After struggling to find a direct path connecting design and climate change, Brandon discovered a role at Rare, an organization focused on behavioral change to reduce U.S. carbon emissions. His team at Rare works to identify and promote lifestyle changes, such as how people eat, travel, and power their homes.

Brandon also shares how his design background continues to influence his work at Rare, particularly in "behavior placement"—a method of subtly integrating eco-friendly choices into entertainment to normalize sustainable behaviors. He emphasizes the soft power designers hold, noting how they can integrate sustainability into their work, even if their roles aren’t explicitly focused on climate. By doing so, designers can influence corporate decisions and consumer behaviors, helping to create a shift toward more sustainable norms in everyday life.

Imagine transforming a forgotten, dark space beneath one of New York’s most iconic landmarks into a vibrant community hub—this is the ambitious vision behind Gotham Park. Facilitating the vision and creation of the space beneath the Brooklyn Bridge is Lou’s guest, Rosa Chang. She shares her dream of transforming the neglected nine-acre area into a community-driven park. Initially underutilized and uninviting, the space is now being reimagined as a vibrant public hub for diverse groups to gather and connect.

Rosa discusses the process of bringing her idea to the public, emphasizing the importance of listening to the community and allowing the vision to evolve through conversations. Rather than adhering to a rigid design from the start, she facilitates discussions with local stakeholders to ensure the park meets the needs of the people it serves. She highlights the significance of respecting the space's history while meeting contemporary needs.

Their conversation also touches on Gotham Park's early successes, including the opening of the first acre and the push to revive iconic spaces like the Brooklyn Banks skate park. Rosa's approach has been one of connection and collaboration, bridging gaps between individuals and organizations to create a public space that fosters unity. Listen and be inspired!

Just as a rock climber meticulously checks their gear and follows strict safety protocols to navigate treacherous heights, security UX professionals must also anticipate risks and design safeguards to ensure a smooth and safe journey for users in a digital landscape. In Lou’s interview with Heidi Trost, author of Human-Centered Security: How to Design Systems that are Both Safe and Usable, Heidi highlights the critical safety protocols climbers and belayers follow, which mirror the precautions needed in system design to mitigate human error and anxiety. This analogy sets the stage for a broader discussion on security user experience challenges.

Heidi stresses the necessity of cross-disciplinary collaboration, especially when dealing with sensitive data like personally identifiable information (PII) and electronic protected health information (EPHI). She points out how involving legal and security teams early can streamline projects and improve outcomes. Designers, as facilitators, must bridge the gap between complex security concepts and user comprehension. Heidi’s book helps them do this by using personas to understand how the dynamic between users, security UX, and threat actors shapes.

Lou and Heidi’s conversation explores the evolution of multi-factor authentication (MFA) and its unintended consequences. What started as a simple 6-digit code morphed into a troublesome fatigue for users. Heidi underscores the importance of iterative design to adapt to these evolving challenges, likening the chaos of security interactions to a relentless ping-pong match.

As they look ahead, Louis and Heidi discuss the rapid evolution of AI in security contexts, emphasizing the balance between technological advancement and user protection. With AI assistants poised to know more about individuals than ever, designers must remain vigilant to prevent potential misuse. Their conversation is an invitation for professionals to rethink how they approach security UX and design, encouraging a proactive stance in this ever-changing landscape.

Imagine being the service design lead of a healthcare network of 88,000 patients. Your team consists of five people. Sounds daunting, doesn’t it? This is the work that Carol Massa does every day at Northwell Health, New York's largest healthcare network. She brings her wisdom and experience not only to this episode of the Rosenfeld Review, but to the inaugural Advancing Service Design Conference on December 3-4, 2024.

Starting as a design student at SCAD, Carol’s career path has taken her to management consulting and now to her pivotal position at Northwell’s Enterprise Digital Service division.

Carol discusses her team's unique approach to service design, acting as translators of human insights for digital services. Her team’s work involves transforming research and data into actionable insights, creating playbooks, and facilitating collaboration across various departments. The focus is on enhancing patient and clinician experiences by streamlining administrative tasks through innovative digital tools.

Throughout the conversation, Carol highlights the importance of building relationships and humanizing interactions. She shares insights on using familiar frameworks to engage clinicians and bridge gaps in communication, ensuring that all stakeholders understand the shared goals of improving patient care.

What You'll Learn from this Episode:

- The Role of Service Design in Healthcare: Understanding how service design can improve patient and clinician experiences within large healthcare systems like Northwell Health

- Collaboration Across Disciplines: How a small service design team collaborates with various departments and stakeholders, including clinicians, engineers, and business strategists, to enhance service delivery

- Translating Insights into Action: Techniques for translating complex data and human insights into actionable strategies and digital tools that address specific needs

- Humanizing Interactions: The importance of building personal relationships and fostering open communication to bridge gaps

- Prototyping and Testing Ideas: How rapid prototyping and testing can be used to validate ideas and improve processes, ensuring that new tools and services effectively meet user needs.

- Adapting Existing Frameworks: Creative approaches to leveraging existing frameworks (like problems, goals, and tasks) in a way that resonates with different audiences, particularly in translating technical language for clinicians.

Quick Reference Guide:

0:00 - Meet Carol

2:02 - Service design at Northwell

7:25 - The makeup of the service design team

9:49 - The operational tools and documentation the team uses

13:46 - An example of incorporating and automating a new operational process

17:36 - Why you need the Rosenverse

20:04 - Action-driven problems, goals, and tasks

24:35 - Breaking into established systems

29:02 - Carol’s gift for listeners

Resources and Links from Today's Episode:

Advancing Service Design (inaugural conference) https://rosenfeldmedia.com/advancing-service-design/

Everyday Astronaut https://www.youtube.com/everydayastronaut

“Systems are very good at being resilient,” and “Systems are very good at dehumanizing,” are sentiments that anyone who has worked in organizational transformation or systems change can appreciate. Luke Roberts is the COO and co-founder of HighFive and a speaker at the upcoming Advancing Service Design Conference. As a self-proclaimed "systems provocateur," Luke emphasizes the importance of understanding the underlying dynamics of any system, whether it’s in education, healthcare, or corporate environments. He and Lou discuss the intricacies of how systems operate and the challenges faced when attempting to provoke meaningful transformation, often drawing on relatable insights from Luke’s work within education systems.

One of the standout insights from the conversation is the vital role of time in enacting change. Luke argues that significant systems change requires a long-term commitment, with research indicating that anything less than three years typically fails to yield lasting results. This understanding is crucial, especially when organizations often seek quick wins that can lead to a cycle of temporary fixes without addressing deeper issues.

Ultimately, our discussion reveals that provoking change is not just about identifying problems or changing individuals; it's about creating a collective vision and investing the time and energy required to realize it. As we navigate complex systems across various sectors, embracing the challenge of systems change can lead to meaningful and sustainable transformation.

What You'll Learn from this Episode:

- The Nature of Systems Change: Understanding that systems are complex and often resistant to change, requiring a nuanced approach to provoke transformation.

- The Importance of Time: Recognizing that meaningful systems change typically takes at least three years, challenging the desire for quick wins and highlighting the need for long-term commitment.

- Energy Dynamics in Systems: Exploring how the flow of information and attention affects change efforts, and how misdirection can stall progress.

- Collaboration Across Stakeholders: The necessity of fostering collaboration among all participants—whether in education, healthcare, or corporate environments—to create a shared vision for change.

- Provocation as a Tool for Change: Learning how to challenge existing norms and behaviors within a system without blaming individuals, thereby encouraging open dialogue and reflection.

- Practical Examples and Insights: Gaining insights from real-world examples, such as the education system, to illustrate how systemic issues can perpetuate negative outcomes and the strategies needed to address them.

Quick Reference Guide:

0:14 - Meet Luke

2:40 - An example of change at a system level - bullying in schools

5:50 - Helpful frameworks - mapping and metaphors

9:06 - Why training individuals is not a long-term solution

14:00 - The window of change

18:13 - 5 reasons to use the Rosenverse

20:28 - Provoking systems

24:58 - Flow of energy

28:49 - Luke’s gift for listeners

Resources and Links from Today's Episode:

Advancing Service Design - December 3-4, 2024 https://rosenfeldmedia.com/advancing-service-design/

The Grasshopper: Games, Life, and Utopia by Bernard Suits https://www.amazon.com/Grasshopper-Third-Games-Life-Utopia/dp/1554812151/

Leading Schools and Sustaining Innovation by Luke Roberts https://www.amazon.com/Leading-Schools-Sustaining-Innovation-Roberts/dp/1032015624/

“I’ve been asking myself the question, ‘Why are you doing that?’ since I was about four,” says Amanda Woolley. As an organizational development (OD) consultant and facilitator, she seems to have found the right profession. Amanda began her career with NHS England, eventually becoming the System Leadership Development Senior Manager before working as a consultant. Ironically, she initially rejected the notion that she was an “OD person,” not being entirely sure what the requirements were.

In Lou and Amanda’s discussion, she reflects on her journey into OD. She explains that OD focuses on helping teams step back and evaluate how they work together, addressing the complexities and “weirdness” that can emerge in workplace dynamics. They discuss the ideal environment for creating effective change in an organization, emphasizing the importance of neutrality, creativity, and ownership.

Amanda shares a personal story about being a caregiver at a young age for her ill mother. She reflects, “My best experiences in healthcare are when people have broken the rules.” Today, she brings stakeholders together so that procedures can be rewritten to make protocols efficient and effective for all involved—and she’ll bring her experience and OD perspective to her panel at Advancing Service Design 2024 (virtual, December 3-4).

What You'll Learn from this Episode:

- The purpose of Organizational Development and who typically does it

Common “weird” challenges organizations face

- When and why organizations should bring in consultants, like OD specialists, to provide a neutral perspective and facilitate better communication and problem-solving

- Amanda’s career path and the rich experiences that inform her work today

Quick Reference Guide:

0:14 - Meet Amanda

1:50 - Systems and organizational development share a focus on frameworks and language

5:08 - What is organizational development, and who does it?

6:24 - Being aware of what’s weird and doing something about it

9:43 - The triggers that expose the need for an organizational development specialist

14:21 - Creating space that invites change and creativity

17:15 - 5 things about the Rosenverse

19:53 - How Amanda’s experience with the National Health Services in the UK has influenced her work today

27:27 - Amanda’s gift for listeners

Resources and Links from Today's Episode:

Advancing Service Design Conference - December 3-4, 2024 https://rosenfeldmedia.com/advancing-service-design/

Tomorrowmind: Thriving at Work with Resilience, Creativity, and Connection―Now and in an Uncertain Future by Martin Seligman and Gabriella Rosen Kellerman https://www.amazon.com/Tomorrowmind-Resilience-Creativity-Connection_Now-Uncertain/dp/1982159766