Become a Design Thinker

We have different people relationships to manage. These relationships are like concentric rings, like the target of an archer.  Archers cannot choose the battlefield. Archers stand with their legs firmly planted on the ground to have a solid base for shooting. But the master of archery tells us that a great archer cannot always choose the battlefield.  Inspired by the book The Archer, written by B...

Deciding to make a change in midlife is stressful. You want to talk to a lot of people to find the answer. You want a mentor to tell you what to do next. But it never happens. When deciding to change, you are alone. You have to make your decision alone. In this episode, we will use the metaphor of a tightrope walker to see how we should make our go-or-not-go decision alone. Each step of a tightrop...

You’re never too old or too late to seize an opportunity in a new arena. The key is maintaining the momentum to swing from where you are to where you aspire to be. In midlife, it’s easy to fear that we’re too old or too late to make a significant change. We may think our best opportunities have already passed. However, the trapeze artist teaches us that it’s never too late. You may have missed som...

" But why does this happen to me? This is not my plan. I am not going in this direction." We all have a goal. At least, in the past, I believe. Sometimes, we may have tried something. But the outcome is not something that we anticipate, we desire, and we expect. We may quit. We may sit still. We run away, or, we go back to our comfort zone.  What’s the problem behind it?   In this episod...

Your success is shown under the spotlight. Many of us enjoy the moment receiving applause and cheers from the audience. But these applauses and cheers do not mean we are getting better and guaranteeing the next success. This is because you may not aware that something is appearing under the spotlight simultaneously. It is your shadow, which will shape your mind and influence your next success.  In...

*The name of this episode is inspired by the movie “The King of Masks” (1995) directed by Tian-Ming Wu.  We build our skills through our past knowledge and experience. Our current skills may make us feel good, right now. We may think that we are good at something right now, in our workplace, in our daily life. But the world is changing. What is our ability to adapt to the change? It is our skills,...

In this episode, we will gain insight from high-altitude mountaineers when they are pursuing the summit under ever-changing conditions in the mountain. We have our goals. We want to use what we have learned and what we have earned in the first part of our life journey to do something impactful to the world and meaningful to ourselves.  We have a plan. We spend lots of our time and resources on ach...

Design Thinkers bear the doer mindset. Design thinkers drive a change by action rather than dreaming or talking about it. However, excessive or premature action may result in undesirable situations, cause confusion, or hurt the people that you care about. Firefighters perform their duties in life-and-death situations. If we examine carefully, we may find some similarities between the situation fir...

In the episode “Become a Hedgehog and a Fox (Part Two)”, we have discussed the “Hedgehog Concept” by Jim Collins. You have to find out what you are good at, turn it into one great thing and become the best in the world. You have to discover your seed of greatness and cultivate it. We have discussed some methods by which design thinking can help you discover your seed of greatness. Today, we will d...

 “ Some people never become who they are; they stop trusting in themselves; they conform to the tastes of others, and they end up wearing a mask that hides their true nature.” ― Robert Greene  Becoming great means finding the seed of greatness in your heart and making it grow. Everyone is gifted, but gifted differently.  Ancient Greek poet Pindar mentioned, “ Become who you are by learning who you...

“ The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing. ”  ― Isaiah Berlin. Jim Collins, in his book Good to Great , quoted the story of “The Hedgehog and the Fox” from Isaiah Berlin’s essay. Jim said that we have to understand what our competence could become the best in the world, like a hedgehog. This is Jim’s “Hedgehog Concept”.  Fox can be good at many things. But Hedgehog is great...

The story of “The Hedgehog and the Fox” is found in ancient literature, modern essays and books. What insights can we get from this story? And how does it relate to design thinking? Download the AI Prompts: https://become-a-design-thinker.kit.com/design-your-second-act We are deeply grateful if you could take a moment to share your thoughts, ideas, or feedback with us. You can email us directly at...

In this episode, we will dive deeper into the doer mindset of design thinkers: Design Thinkers fail fast and learn fast; Design Thinkers give up to move up; Design Thinkers evaluate to elevate. Learn to fall in love with failure to improve and grow. Download the AI Prompts: https://become-a-design-thinker.kit.com/design-your-second-act We are deeply grateful if you could take a moment to share you...

When encountering problems ahead, many people may rush to find the solutions. But for designers, when they encounter design problems, they will ask more questions to discover more problems.  Designers love problems. Why? Because design is about solving problems. By solving problems, designers manage to improve the design or create new design. Learn to ask more questions to improve and make a chang...

To create good designs, designers need to care about people and accurately listen to what people want and need. If you can listen accurately, you may perform better in your work and build better relationship with people. But there is a problem: sometimes we get in our own way and stop ourselves from listening accurately. In this episode, we will talk about four blind spots that hamper us to become...

Design thinking is inspired by how designers work. If you want to become a design thinker, you may need to have a deeper understanding of how designers work. In this episode, we will discuss four areas of design, which are represented by four categories of designers. Each category of designer contributes to the distinct development of our society. After listening to this episode, you may find one...

You may want to change thousands things but seem you can’t change a single one in reality. Design Thinking is a well accepted idea generation and problem-solving method inspired by how designers work. We will share four design thinker mindset that may help you to make a change and become better. Download the AI Prompts: https://become-a-design-thinker.kit.com/design-your-second-act We are deeply g...