Service Design Show

Listening is the ultimate communication cheat code, yet nobody ever trains for it. Join us as Karen Hentschel reveals her radical 15-minute listening practice and how to turn complex information into human connection.


Karen is the co-founder of Simply Onno, a service that translates complex medical documents into plain language so patients can actually take charge of their health. Before that, she spent years at Nokia, Fjord, and IDEO making dense information navigable. Today, we sit down to discuss what real, active listening looks like in the wild. We explore how to train this vital skill and how to maintain your professional identity when you are no longer the one shipping the shiny output.


Consider this episode your masterclass in the craft of listening.


🎧 In This Episode

• The 15-Minute Practice: Karen reveals her intense voice message routine for building listening endurance.

• Plain Language: How Simply Onno translates confusing medical jargon into clear patient narratives.

• Listening as a Business Model: Why the ability to hear and process information is a concrete skill and not just a metaphor.

• Professional Identity: How to find value in your work when you aren't producing traditional deliverables.

• The Big Twist: A surprising revelation near the end of our conversation that you will not see coming.

Who could you listen to for 15 minutes straight without interrupting or preparing a reply? Let us know in the comments below or drop a review to share your thoughts! Make sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

Enjoy the conversation and keep making a positive impact!

Be well,

~ Marc

--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---

00:00 Listening Challenge

01:15 Meet Karen

04:30 Strong Opinions

11:00 Design Spectrum

15:45 Simply Ono

20:15 Healthcare Design

26:30 Authentic Feedback

32:00 Real Listening

36:15 Identity Conflicts

42:15 Hardest Lesson

49:00 Leadership Calls

53:45 Mindful Decisions

55:45 Closing Question

--- [ 2. LINKS ] ---

• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/hentschelkaren
• Simply Onno - https://www.simply-onno.com/en/

--- [ 3. CIRCLE ] ---

Join our private community for in-house service design professionals.

⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle

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• Youtube ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/265-youtube
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Tired of polished case studies that ignore the messy reality of driving organizational change? In this episode, Cecilie Kobbelgaard shares the unfiltered truth about embedding journey management inside Grundfos over the last four years.

🎧 In This Episode:

• The reality behind "it sold itself" success stories.

• Why journey management is actually everything except journey mapping.

• How a simple cup of tea became the ultimate adoption tool.

• Real lessons from four years of trial and error at a 20,000 employee supertanker.

Ready for more honest stories? Catch Cecilie's full talk at the upcoming Beyond the Map conference in London from November 9 to 11. Secure your spot today and come say hi to Marc in person!

Enjoy the conversation and keep making wiser decisions!


Be well,

~ Marc

--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---

00:00 Introduction

02:15 Meet Cecilie

05:00 Honest Truth

07:15 Hitting Reality

09:45 Grundfosifying

13:00 Stop Pretending

15:45 Key Takeaways

19:15 Driving Excellence

22:00 Outro

--- [ 2. LINKS ] ---

• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ceciliekobbelgaard/

• Beyond the Map Conference: beyondthemap.com

• Get 25% off your ticket with code: SDS26

--- [ 3. CIRCLE ] ---

Join our private community for in-house service design professionals.

⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle

---[4. FIND THE SHOW ON] ---

• Youtube ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/btm26-cecilie-youtube

• Spotify ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/btm26-cecilie-spotify

• Apple ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/btm26-cecilie-apple

• Snipd ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/btm26-cecilie-snipd

Empathy is treated like the ultimate superpower in service design, yet well-meaning teams still build services that fail people in the real world. In this episode, service design researcher and educator Lara Salinas reveals what actually comes after empathy and how to get meaningful work done inside slow-moving organizations.

Every job post, design brief, and conference talk puts empathy on a pedestal. We imagine a user's life for a brief moment, check the box, and go right back to our project timelines. As Lara shares from her own lived experience with type 1 diabetes, understanding someone's struggle means very little if the system you design still gives them a 15-minute lunch break when taking insulin takes 10.

Currently working with Camden Council in London to make good design practice visible across UK local government, Lara knows firsthand how public and private systems get stuck. Together, we unpack why the obsession with efficiency only makes services cheaper instead of better. Instead of another flashy framework, Lara introduces a concept almost nobody has the courage to say out loud in a stakeholder meeting. If you want to bring your whole self to work, create genuine impact, and still hit your deadlines, this conversation is for you.

🎧 In This Episode

• The Empathy Trap: Why imagining a user's experience is no substitute for changing the rules and structures around them.

• What Comes After Empathy: The unexpected principle that turns good intentions into real-world action, even in rigid stakeholder meetings.

• The Efficiency Illusion: Why optimizing for speed and lower costs keeps making modern services worse for the people who rely on them.

• Navigating Slow Organizations: How Lara champions good service design practice inside UK local government without burning out.

• Picking Your Battles: How to recognize when to stop pushing against organizational walls and simply go around them.

When was the last time a service went the extra mile for you? Not just someone saying "we understand," but actually doing the small, practical thing that made your day. Drop your story in the comments below!

Enjoy the episode and keep making a positive impact!

Be well,

~ Marc

--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---

00:00 Intro

03:30 Welcome

04:00 Efficiency

05:45 Fine Arts

07:45 Community Garden

09:15 Gardening Mindset

10:45 Rules

12:15 Forgiveness

14:30 Co-Design Leadership

18:15 Coffee Analogy

21:00 Social Prescribing

22:45 Designer Burnout

24:15 Compromises

26:15 Optimism

31:45 Beyond Empathy

37:15 Impact Stories

41:45 Scaling Out

47:15 Reflection

51:30 Happiness

55:15 Final Question

57:00 Closing Reflections

--- [ 2. LINKS ] ---

* LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-lara-salinas-frsa-0973a82a

--- [ 3. CIRCLE ] ---

Join our private community for in-house service design professionals.

⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle

---[4. FIND THE SHOW ON] ---

• Youtube ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/264-youtube

• Spotify ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/264-spotify

• Apple ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/264-apple

• Snipd ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/264-snipd

Great service design ideas do not sell themselves. In this episode, Stefan Wörnle (Senior Manager Global Customer Experience at MediaMarktSaturn) reveals how to stop your best work from dying in a slide deck and actually get your ideas implemented.

We have all been there. A workshop wraps up with amazing energy, someone types up a tidy list of actions, and then nothing happens. Your hard work gets stuck between sticky notes and the next agenda item. When one repair experience fix at MediaMarktSaturn shipped almost instantly, Stefan got curious and reverse-engineered why it succeeded. Out of that investigation, he discovered 5 practical levers that move customer experience and service design projects from concept to reality.

🎯 In This Episode

• The Quality Myth: Why doing great service design work is never enough on its own to win organizational buy-in.

• The Workshop Trap: Why tidy action lists die right after high-energy mapping sessions and how to break the cycle.

• Reverse-Engineering Success: How analyzing one fast-shipping repair fix revealed 5 levers for getting ideas built.

• The Capital Market Shift: Why reporting Net Promoter Score (NPS) to the capital market for the first time changed everything for customer experience.

• Outcomes Over Workshops: How delivering one tangible business result builds more stakeholder trust than another mapping session ever will.

This conversation is part of a special series leading up to Beyond The Map, the journey management conference happening in London from November 9 to 11. Stefan will be on stage sharing all 5 implementation levers in full detail.

Grab your ticket at the link below and use code SDS26 at checkout for 25% off. Marc will be there too, so come say hi! 👋

Enjoy and keep getting things done!

Be well,

~ Marc

--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---

00:00 Intro

02:00 Stefan Wörnle

03:15 MediaMarktSaturn

04:00 Talk Theme

05:15 Implementation Gap

07:00 Five Levers

08:15 Management Attention

09:45 Operative KPIs

13:15 Mystery Shopping

14:15 Program Management

16:00 High Sponsorship

17:30 Board Role

19:00 Key Takeaway

20:00 Conference Goals

22:45 Outro

--- [ 2. LINKS ] ---

• LinkedIn -  https://www.linkedin.com/in/stefanwoernle/

• Beyond The Map - https://www.beyondthemap.com/

--- [ 3. CIRCLE ] ---

Join our private community for in-house service design professionals.

⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle

---[4. FIND THE SHOW ON] ---

• Youtube ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/btm26-stefan-youtube

• Spotify ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/btm26-stefan-spotify

• Apple ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/btm26-stefan-apple

• Snipd ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/btm26-stefan-snipd

What if the ultimate cheat code for service design is not a new framework, but learning how to deeply listen? Discover how to sharpen your most vital skill and apply everyday activism to your design practice with our guest, Mariana Salgado.

In This Episode:

• The Ultimate Design Skill: Why deep listening is crucial and how to intentionally train your ears for better stakeholder interviews.
• Everyday Activism: How to shift your perspective by starting every project with one question: "who are we leaving aside?"
• Public Sector Design: The unique challenges of designing services when the law mandates that you serve absolutely everyone.
• Global Design Perspectives: Fresh insights from the Spanish-speaking design community that rarely reach English feeds.
• Sustainability & Infrastructure: A look into Mariana's work designing services for ICOS to measure greenhouse gases.

Mariana ended our chat with a powerful question: How has listening improved your design practice? Drop a comment below to share your answer. If you enjoyed this conversation, please hit subscribe so you never miss an episode!
Enjoy the conversation and keep making a positive impact.

Be well,

~ Marc

--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---

00:00 Introduction

04:45 Activism

10:15 Public Sector

14:45 Global South

29:30 Design Research

39:45 Peer Communities

49:45 Deep Listening

01:00:00 Final Question

--- [ 2. LINKS ] ---

• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/marisalgado/
• Mariana's Podcast: Diseño y Diáspora - https://disenoydiaspora.org

--- [ 3. CIRCLE ] ---

Join our private community for in-house service design professionals.

⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle

--- [4. FIND THE SHOW ON] ---

• Youtube ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/263-youtube
• Spotify ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/263-spotify
• Apple ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/263-apple
• Snipd ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/263-snipd

Stop doing the job they posted and start navigating the workplace that actually exists. In this episode, we reveal the hidden political maps that dictate how decisions are really made inside your organization.

Service design professionals love to believe good work speaks for itself. The reality is much more complicated. The official org chart is usually pure fiction, and the real choices happen in rooms you are not in. Marc sits down with Zac Heisey and Jeff Hoekwater to unpack the realities of the political organization. They explain how to draw a map of reality so you stop wasting months on work that is already dead in the water.

🎧 In This Episode

• The Danger of the Job Description: Why doing exactly what you were hired to do can actually get you in trouble.
• The Unofficial Map: How to chart out the real power structures and influence in your company.
• Behind Closed Doors: Uncovering the truth about how and where decisions actually get made.
• Picking Your Battles: How to know when a decision is simply above your pay grade and not worth fighting.
• Job Hunting Masterclass: Practical insights to help you find a team that aligns with the realities of the work.

What is one thing about your role that was entirely missing from the job description? Drop your answer in the comments below or reach out to us directly!

If you want to spend your energy on work that actually has a chance of seeing the light of day, hit the subscribe button so you never miss a guide to the real service design industry.

Enjoy the episode and keep making a positive impact!

Take care,

~ Marc

--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---

00:00 Intro

05:00 Zac's Journey

11:00 Job Hunt

18:30 Networking

21:45 Unofficial Map

26:00 Delight Politics

31:15 Moving On

45:00 Bloopers

52:00 Success Metrics

56:45 Conclusion

--- [ 2. LINKS ] ---

• Zac’s LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/zacheisey
• Jeff’s LinkedIn -https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffhoekwater

--- [ 3. CIRCLE ] ---

Join our private community for in-house service design professionals.

⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle

---[4. FIND THE SHOW ON] ---

• Youtube ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/inside-service-design-15-youtube
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Are you exhausted from constantly chasing the next career milestone without ever feeling truly satisfied? Join us as we explore how to step off the treadmill and shift your focus from endless professional growth to genuine human flourishing.

🎧 In This Episode

• The competitive swimmer mentality and how it secretly drives your service design career.
• Why real rest feels completely incompatible with the standard corporate calendar.
• Unlearning the limiting beliefs about success and security that keep you running 24/7.
• Navigating abrupt career stops and the lessons learned from the closure of IDEO Munich.
• How to transition your mindset from chasing metrics to finding joy in your practice.

Ida Persson is a designer focused on social impact and climate work. After spending 20 years as a competitive swimmer and later working at IDEO Munich, she learned the hard way what it means to finally slow down and question the endless hustle.

What actually brings you joy in your work? We want to hear from you. Drop a comment below with your thoughts or subscribe to the channel for more conversations on building a sustainable design career.

Enjoy the conversation and by all means take a break .

Take care,

~ Marc

[ 1. GUIDE ]

00:00 Introduction

03:15 Achievement Treadmill

09:00 The Cost

12:45 Leaving IDEO

16:45 Corporate Culture

20:30 Creative Price

21:45 Ethical Lines

31:45 Design Shifts

36:30 Status Quo

42:30 True Flourishing

46:00 Open Ideas

50:15 Human Dignity

56:30 Finding Joy

57:15 Takeaways

[ 2. LINKS ]

• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/idampersson/

• DesignShifts - https://www.designshifts.org/

[ 3. CIRCLE ]

Join our private community for in-house service design professionals.

⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle

[4. FIND THE SHOW ON]

• Youtube ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/262-youtube
• Spotify ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/262-spotify
• Apple ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/262-apple
• Snipd ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/262-snipd

Sending applications into the void and facing endless final round rejections will break anyone's confidence. Learn how to disconnect your self worth from your career and discover where the market actually wants your skills.

In this episode, we sit down with Gabriela to discuss the brutal reality of the modern job market. After surviving seven grueling application processes only to receive seven rejections, she learned a massive lesson. Rejection is almost never about your actual talent. We explore how to navigate job search fatigue, stop taking hiring decisions personally, and rethink your entire professional identity.


🎧 In This Episode:

• The Rejection Trap: Why getting cut in the final interview rounds is not a reflection of your talent or worth.

• Identity Shift: How to stop tying your personal identity to a specific job title.

• Personal Futures Exercise: A practical framework you can run on your own career to find your next step.

• The Hidden Job Market: How to read what the industry is quietly telling you (spoiler: it is not happening on LinkedIn).

• Defining True Success: Why you need to stop inheriting other people's goals and find your purest vision of success.


Gabriela leaves us with a powerful question: What is your absolute purest idea of success? We want to hear from you! Drop a comment below to share your take. If you found this episode helpful, please subscribe and share it with a friend who might need a confidence boost today.


Enjoy the conversation and keep making a positive impact, title or no title!

Be well,

~ Marc

--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---

00:00 Introduction

01:00 Background

05:15 Navigating Layoffs

10:45 Self-Worth

16:45 Career Moves

20:00 Rejection

28:30 Visibility

33:30 Mentoring

40:45 Redefining Success

45:15 Job Hunting

51:15 Future Roles

55:00 Final Thoughts

--- [ 2. LINKS ] ---

* LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/-gabrielasalinas/

* Desiiiiign - https://www.desiiiiign.com/

--- [ 3. CIRCLE ] ---

Join our private community for in-house service design professionals.

⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle

[4. FIND THE SHOW ON]

* Youtube ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/261-youtube

* Spotify ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/261-spotify

* Apple ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/261-apple

* Snipd ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/261-snipd

Are your customers tired of dealing with slow and broken systems? Discover what happens when everyday people start using powerful new tools to bypass your organization entirely.

For years, companies and public institutions have delivered bad services simply because users had no other choice. Today, the tide is turning. Civic technology expert Mai-Ling Garcia (Johns Hopkins, city government) joins the show to explain how accessible tech is empowering citizens and customers to build their own solutions. If your organization refuses to adapt, your users will simply route around you.

🎧 In This Episode

• The End of Bad Service: Why organizations can no longer rely on a lack of alternatives to trap their customers.

• The Age of the Workaround: How cheap and powerful tech tools are letting communities bypass broken systems in a single afternoon.

• Frontlines of Public Innovation: Mai-Ling shares her firsthand experiences with empowered users in civic tech and healthcare.

• Humans in the Loop: Why human judgment and decision-making remain critical as AI accelerates our world.

What is a service you are currently working around or wish you could bypass entirely? Drop a comment below to share your thoughts!

Enjoy the episode and keep making a positive impact!Be well,

~ Marc

[ 1. GUIDE ]

00:00 Introduction

03:00 Public Sector Role

05:00 The Empathy Trap

08:45 Real-World Backfire

16:45 Power & Decisions

21:00 Tech & Design

35:00 Citizen Workarounds

43:45 Automation Boundaries

56:15 Key Takeaways

[ 2. LINKS ]

• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mai-linggarcia/

• Ling & Company - https://lingandcompany.com/

• Bold Public Works - https://boldpublicworks.com/

[ 3. CIRCLE ]

Join our private community for in-house service design professionals.

⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle

[4. FIND THE SHOW ON]

• Youtube ~ ⁠https://go.servicedesignshow.com/260-youtube⁠

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• Apple ~ ⁠https://go.servicedesignshow.com/260-apple⁠

• Snipd ~ ⁠https://go.servicedesignshow.com/260-snipd⁠

Are you tired of the relentless AI marketing hype but know you can't afford to ignore it? Discover how to stop blindly applying AI and start mastering it as a malleable "design material" to build impactful, user-centered services .

It’s time to stop buying into the stories big tech companies want us to believe about what Artificial Intelligence can and can’t do. Slapping AI mindlessly onto every project doesn't just create bad user experiences. It can do real harm.

To set a better example for the service design industry, host Marc sits down with Ovetta Sampson. With a resume that includes Director of UX for Machine Learning at Google and AI design leadership roles at Microsoft and Capital One, Ovetta doesn't just talk theory. She runs Right AI to help teams adopt AI safely, responsibly, and effectively. In this conversation, she breaks down exactly how to understand AI's unique properties, navigate its limitations, and mold it into exactly what you need.

In This Episode:

• The Design Material Mindset: How to stop fearing AI and start shaping it like clay to get the outcomes you want.
• Steering the Machine: Practical techniques for guiding generic LLMs to reliably produce high-quality, specific results.
• The Context Crisis: Why understanding your users' real-world context is about to become more important than ever before.
• When "Wrong" Becomes Dangerous: Why AI will always make mistakes, and how to identify the exact point where those errors become harmful.
• Breaking the Model: Why you need to start "messing around" and intentionally trying to break AI tools to build your own grounded mastery.

If you found value in this episode, please hit the Subscribe button on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts so you never miss a conversation. Share this episode with a fellow service designer who needs to hear this!

As always, enjoy, and keep making a positive impact!

~ Marc

[ 1. GUIDE ]

00:00 Intro and AI Sycophancy

03:15 Mindless vs. Mindful AI

06:45 Dangers of Automation Bias

10:00 The Humanizing Trap

17:45 Design as a Verb

24:30 Emergent AI Behavior

27:30 AI Confidence Levels

36:15 The Illusion of AI Memory

39:00 Principle 1 of Mindful AI

43:30 Library vs. Netflix Analogy

49:45 Designing for Failure

55:15 The Socio-Technical Challenge

01:01:45 Advice for Designers

01:06:00 Learning Resources

01:09:00 Redefining the Designer

01:11:15 Outro

[ 2. LINKS ]

• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ovettasampson/
• MindfulAI Masterclass: https://www.ovetta-sampson.com/mindfulai-masterclass

[ 3. CIRCLE ]

Join our private community for in-house service design professionals.

⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle

[4. FIND THE SHOW ON]

• Youtube ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/259-youtube
• Spotify ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/259-spotify
• Apple ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/259-apple
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