“You can’t be an expert in kids, but you can be an expert in your kid,” says Matt Manos, dad of twins and founder of verynice. Matt explains that while he received seemingly endless suggestions from others about what to feed his kids, what books to read them, and what must-have items to buy, ultimately every kid is different. It’s impossible to know what will work for every kid, but you can become an expert in your own children by learning and growing right alongside them.

Matt tells us that one of his favorite parts of being a dad is getting to see things with a renewed sense of wonder through the eyes of his two kids. Matt explains that this is especially useful in generating inspiration for his design strategy practice, verynice. Matt launched verynice in 2008 as one of the first examples of social enterprise in the design industry. The company gives away half of its work for free to nonprofit organizations, which is made possible by its massive network of over 1000 collaborators around the globe.

Tune into this week’s episode of Bathtime 2 Boardroom to learn more about Matt’s journey through fatherhood and the world of design. Learn about the origin story behind Matt’s business, the milestones he’s most looking forward to with his kids, and how Matt’s role as a father and a teacher at Iovine and Young Academy have intersected in surprising ways. 

Quotes

• “Something I really hope that I can do for our kids is just let them know that it’s ok to be a little weird and explore and be creative.” (3:36-3:42)

• “I’m both excited and terrified for when they’re walking because speaking of what it’s like to have twins, I imagine that they both run in different directions and then I’m basically going to have to be like, ‘Ok, which kid is on the brink of death?’ and that’s where I will run first.” (10:58-11:19)

• “I think that one of the things that’s really fascinating to me about having kids is it’s kind of like you’re born again in a way in terms of being able to see things for the first time again.” (11:55-12:11)

• “You can’t be an expert in kids, but you can be an expert in your kid.” (15:54-15:58)

• “I thought, ‘Why doesn’t the design industry have a model like that?’ So, it kind of started there actually beyond just being interested in working with nonprofits, it was seeing this gap that there was not an application of social enterprise in the industry that I was going to work in.” (23:57-24:14)

• “If you can work with kids when they’re younger, you can start to actually cultivate this innovation mindset much easier. We have way less to unlearn about the way that we’ve seen the world when we’re younger.” (32:14-32:30)

• "We spend so much of our life trying to be like everyone else, and really eventually you learn that it’s all about doing something different.” (38:57-39:06)

Links

Connect with Matt Manos:

• Personal website: https://www.mattmanos.com/

• Verynice website: https://www.verynice.co/

• Instagram: @veryniceinstagram

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewmanos/

• Instagram: @wemaketoolkits

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a-verynice-design-studio/

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Podcast production and show notes provided by FIRESIDE Marketing