What do a Brazilian retail strategist and an Indian industrial designer have in common? A passion for transforming complex systems through service design—and a shared mission to push the profession forward. In this episode, Lou welcomes Gustavo Vieira and Shreya Dahwan, two of the curators behind the upcoming Advancing Service Design conference, for a behind-the-scenes look at how service design is evolving—and how they’re helping shape that evolution.
Gustavo shares how his early work in franchising sparked a fascination with aligning brand strategy, operations, and customer experience, eventually leading him to service design as a more holistic lens. Shreya’s journey began with product design in hospitals, where she realized the real challenge wasn’t just designing a better object—it was improving the entire system around it.
Together, they reflect on the emerging trends in the field, including the move toward systems-level thinking, new contexts like journalism and B2B, and the rich global collaboration shaping this year’s conference. The conversation is full of thoughtful insight, heartfelt reflection, and a few unexpected gifts—from Ken Wilber to Picasso.
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What do a Brazilian retail strategist and an Indian industrial designer have in common? A passion for transforming complex systems through service design—and a shared mission to push the profession forward. In this episode, Lou welcomes Gustavo Vieira and Shreya Dahwan, two of the curators behind the upcoming Advancing Service Design conference, for a behind-the-scenes look at how service design is evolving—and how they’re helping shape that evolution.
Gustavo shares how his early work in franchising sparked a fascination with aligning brand strategy, operations, and customer experience, eventually leading him to service design as a more holistic lens. Shreya’s journey began with product design in hospitals, where she realized the real challenge wasn’t just designing a better object—it was improving the entire system around it.
Together, they reflect on the emerging trends in the field, including the move toward systems-level thinking, new contexts like journalism and B2B, and the rich global collaboration shaping this year’s conference. The conversation is full of thoughtful insight, heartfelt reflection, and a few unexpected gifts—from Ken Wilber to Picasso.
Destigmatizing Failure to Encourage Innovation with Dan Ward
Rosenfeld Review Podcast
27 minutes 21 seconds
9 months ago
Destigmatizing Failure to Encourage Innovation with Dan Ward
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.
Rosenfeld Review Podcast
What do a Brazilian retail strategist and an Indian industrial designer have in common? A passion for transforming complex systems through service design—and a shared mission to push the profession forward. In this episode, Lou welcomes Gustavo Vieira and Shreya Dahwan, two of the curators behind the upcoming Advancing Service Design conference, for a behind-the-scenes look at how service design is evolving—and how they’re helping shape that evolution.
Gustavo shares how his early work in franchising sparked a fascination with aligning brand strategy, operations, and customer experience, eventually leading him to service design as a more holistic lens. Shreya’s journey began with product design in hospitals, where she realized the real challenge wasn’t just designing a better object—it was improving the entire system around it.
Together, they reflect on the emerging trends in the field, including the move toward systems-level thinking, new contexts like journalism and B2B, and the rich global collaboration shaping this year’s conference. The conversation is full of thoughtful insight, heartfelt reflection, and a few unexpected gifts—from Ken Wilber to Picasso.
