DESIGN THINKER PODCAST
Episodes
Ep#55: From Process to Experience - The role of recruitment in the age of AI
28 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Dr Dani and Designer Peter are joined by Tim Bush, a recruitment professional who's rethinking what hiring looks like in the age...
Ep#54: Amplifying Human Potential by Collaborating with AI
02 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What if AI isn't here to replace us, but to help amplify our potential? In this episode, Dr Dani and Designer Peter are joined by Dave Howden, C...
Ep#53: Thinglessness, E-Bikes, and the Future of UX
19 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when the tools we’ve mastered become obsolete overnight? In this episode, Dr Dani and Designer Pete are joined by one of the OGs of UX...
Ep#52: Performance Without the Buzzwords – Doing What Matters, Better.
16 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We throw around words like productivity, engagement, and performance all the time. But do we actually know what they mean or how to create the conditi...
Ep#51: The Age of Experience - Rethinking How We Think
10 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We live in a world that’s changing faster than the frameworks we've relied on can keep up with. So, is it time to rethink how we think? In this...
Ep#50: Why You Get What You Celebrate - What Recording 50 Episodes Taught Us About Progress, Rituals, and Resilience
03 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We did it—50 episodes! In this milestone episode, we pause to reflect on the journey, the lessons, and why celebration isn’t just a “nice-to-hav...
Ep#49: Can You Use Design Thinking Without Buy-In?
29 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when you believe in design thinking but your organization doesn’t? In this episode, Dr Dani and Designer Peter, share ways you can star...
Ep#48: Why Playing It Safe Is the Real Risk - A Dark Optimist’s Call to Action
14 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What if the only real safety lies in continuous change and standing still is the true danger?In this episode, Dr. Dani and Designer Peter are joined b...
Ep#47: The Productivity Crisis: What We’re Getting Wrong and How to Fix It
09 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Productivity is a hot topic in news headlines, boardrooms, and everyday conversations. In this episode, Dr Dani and Designer Peter unpack the producti...
Ep#46: The Power of Dumb Thinking - The Dumbify Framework with David Carson
31 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Dr Dani and Designer Peter delve into the concept of 'Dumbify' with guest David Carson. Discover how embracing 'dumb&a...
Ep#45: Where Human-Centered Design Meets Systems Thinking
13 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The inspiration for this podcast came from a question posed by Ian Scott, a longtime listener and friend of the podcast. Ian asked, "What's ...
Ep#44: Design Thinking in Action - The SWAT Approach to Business Transformation
03 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When Fonterra - a dairy cooperative in Aotearoa New Zealand - faced a critical workforce shortage, the usual ways of working weren't going to del...
Ep#43: Collaboration Fatigue - How to Fix the Most Overrated Buzzword in Business
11 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Has collaboration become a catch-all solution, losing the focus and impact it was meant to deliver?In this episode, Dr. Dani and Designer Peter unpack...
Ep#42: The Manager's Guide to Coaching, Driving Performance One Conversation at a Time
14 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of the Design Thinker Podcast, Dr Dani and Designer Peter are joined by Dr John Bennett, a leading scholar-practitioner, executive coa...
Ep#41: What Can Skydiving Teach Us About Leadership?
31 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Peter steps into the spotlight, recounting how his skydiving experiences shaped his perspective on courage, self-talk, goal-setting, ...
Ep#40: How Lessons from Design School Helped Me Drive Results in the Corporate World
23 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Dr. Dani shares her nontraditional career path from aspiring law student to graphic designer to leading corporate transformations. A ...
Ep#39: Power of the Pause: Why Taking a Break Matters
02 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In a world that glorifies busyness, breaks are dismissed as unimportant and a barrier to productivity. However, this isn't actually the case. In ...
Ep#38: What to do about perfectionism
25 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Do you struggle with perfectionism? Is it holding you back? In this episode, Dr. Dani Chesson and Designer Peter Allan explore how perfectionism hinde...
Ep#37: Why your customer experience will fail if you ignore EX
18 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We often focus on creating a seamless customer experience (CX), but what happens when we ignore employee experience (EX)? In this episode, Dr. Dani an...
Ep#36: What it Takes to Win in Customer Experience
03 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Customer Experience (CX) is vital for businesses in the 21st century, but do we know what we mean when we say CX? In this episode, Dr Dani and Designe...
Ep#35: The Anatomy of an Experience
27 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Experience — a term that's become ubiquitous in business, but do we really know what we mean when we say Customer Experience, Employee Experien...
Ep# 34: Emotions: What are they good for anyway?
20 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Emotions are central to the human experience, influencing every aspect of our personal, professional, and social lives. They are complex and multiface...
Ep#33: Are You Ready for the BANI World?
24 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Have you heard of BANI? Are you ready for it? The term VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity) was coined in the 1980s to describe the c...
Ep#32: Informed Consent: The Ethical Backbone of Design Research
28 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What are the ethical obligations of design research? In this episode, Dr Dani and Designer Peter explore the importance of informed consent when doing...
Ep#31: Reducing the Risk of Innovation with Discovery
19 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What is discovery work? How does it help reduce risk and deliver better outcomes? In this episode, Dr Dani and Designer Peter dive into the "how-...
Ep#30: A Human Centered View of Privacy Law
12 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How might we use privacy law to build trust with customers? Often regulations are viewed as an obligation, something organizations need to comply with...
Ep#29: Design Thinking is Dead...Or Is It?
05 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Over the past several years, the relevance of design thinking has come under scrutiny. Is it a fad that has run its course? Is design thinking still u...
Ep#28: Navigating Organizational Tensions with Design Thinker Capabilities
22 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Organizational tensions are inevitable and become increasingly complex as organizations scale. In this episode, Dr Dani and Designer Peter discuss the...
EP#27: Context: The meaning at the center of everything
17 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Context plays a pivotal role in shaping our understanding of the world. From everyday conversations to pondering the meaning of life, context is at th...
EP#26: The Past, Present, and Future of Design Thinking
01 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Design Thinking, where did it come from? How is it being used today? What will its purpose be in the future? Join Dr Dani and Designer Peter as they d...
EP#25: Design Thinking: What is it? How can it help?
23 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What is Design Thinking? In this back-to-basics episode, Dr Dani and Designer Peter define Design Thinking. In this episode, you will • learn abou...
Ep#24: Accepting the Inescapable Reality of Failure with Podcast Guest Chris Taylor
15 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Do you struggle with accepting failure as an opportunity for growth? In this episode, Dr Dani and Designer Peter are joined by Life and Business Coach...
EP#23: Oral, Visual, Written, Does How You Tell a Story Matter?
24 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How do you know the best way to get others to resonate with the story you want to tell? In the final episode of our series on storytelling, Dr Dani an...
Ep#22: The Tale of Grandma Sue and Other Stories We Share with Each Other
17 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Storytelling is everywhere. It shapes the culture of our families, social groups, and organizations. In part two of our series on storytelling, Dr Dan...
Ep#21: Shhh, Gertrude I'm Speaking - Reframing the Stories We Tell Oursevles
09 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ever wonder how the stories you tell yourself might be holding you back? In this episode, Dr Dani and Designer Peter explore how the stories we tell o...
Ep#20: The Desirability Lens - Will anyone actually buy it?
12 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The third of a three-part series on the three lenses of design thinking, this episode explores the desirability lens. In this episode, you will be ab...
Ep#19: The Viability Lens - Is it more than just cabbage soup?
05 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The second of a three-part series on the three lenses of design thinking, this episode explores the viability lens. In this episode, you will be able...
Ep#18: The Feasibility Lens: Is it something we can conceivably do?
27 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The first of a three-part series on the three lenses of design thinking, this episode explores the feasibility lens. Join Dr Dani and Designer Peter a...
Ep#17: Empathetic Exploration: A game-changer for creating what people really want
19 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Empathetic Exploration, are you using this capability to deliver what customers really want? In this episode, Dr Dani and Designer Peter take a deep d...
Ep#16: How will AI transform human-centered design?
12 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ever wondered how AI will transform human-centered design? In this episode, Dr Dani and Designer Peter explore this question, raising their own concer...
Ep#15: Why do organizations fail to scale design thinking?
05 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Discover the reasons behind organizations' struggles to scale design thinking in this episode of the Design Thinker Podcast. Join Dr Dani and Dsi...
Ep#14: Perspectives of Design with Podcast Guest Jason Osburn
29 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Dr Dani and Designer Peter chat with Strategy & Experience Designer, Jason Osburn. Learn how a love of comedy and fear of public ...
Ep#13: Situation Optimizing, Seeing Beyond the Rose-Colored Glasses
13 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Optimism is essential to problem-solving, but it's not just about seeing the good, we have to understand the constraints. In this episode, Dr. Da...
Ep12: Curious Experimentation, learning in action
17 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Curious Experimentation, learning in action. How do we respond to a problem when there isn't a clear cut answer? This is where the Design Thinker...
Ep11: Visual Communication, when words fail us
05 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Visual Communication when words fail us. Have you ever had an experience where words failed you? In this episode, Dr. Dani and Designer Peter talk abo...
Ep10: Iteration, the Power of Keeping Going
15 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome back listeners! In this episode, we talk about the power of keeping going. Getting started is vital, but we can’t just stop there. We have t...
Ep9: The Power of Getting Started
20 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Dr Dani and Designer Peter talk about the power of getting started. Hear how this concept was put into practice in the making of the ...
Ep8: Creativity, Innovation, and Risk Management
01 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Dr Dani and Designer Pete take a deep dive into how creativity, innovation, and risk management influence each other to understand ho...
Ep7: Artists and Designers, What's the Difference?
01 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Artists and Designers, how are they different? In this week’s episode, Dr Dani and Designer Pete dive into the differences between the work of artis...
Ep6: Innovation and Creativity, Can One Exist Without the Other?
18 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this week’s episode, Dr Dani and Design Pete explore innovation and creativity to understand how these two concepts are different and if one can ...
Ep5: Conditions for Collaboration
10 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Do you know how to create the conditions needed for collaboration? In this episode, Dr Dani and Designer Pete explore the conditions needed for collab...
Ep4: A Deep Dive into Empathy
03 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Dr. Dani and Designer Pete take a deep dive into empathy. What is it? Why is it important? And what does empathy look like in practic...
Ep3: The Ethics of Human Centered Design
27 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The ethics of Human Centered Design. What are some of the unintended consequences? How might we minimize them?
Ep2: The “Human” in Human Centered Design
19 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Human-Centered Design…you, me, we, us, is it only for humans? This week Dr Dani Chesson and Designer Peter Allan explore the “human” in human ce...
Ep1: Ingredients for Co-Design
13 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to the very first episode of the Design Thinker Podcast. This week, Dr Dani Chesson and Design Peter Allan talk about co-design. What is it? A...