Running a business is not for everyone - but designers face an even steeper uphill battle. So why are some of us so ill-equipped when it comes to transitioning into business leadership roles?  German Leon is the Founder and Chief Experience Officer at GESTOOS, where they enable cameras and sensors to see, understand and respond to human movement and behaviour using Artificial Intelligence.   With roots in interaction and user experience design, German has embraced his new role as a business...

What if you could stop looking for work and let your next job find you?  Jeff Gothelf is a recognized Lean thinking and design evangelist and a global Lean UX movement founder.   Now, imagine you could repurpose the principles Jeff has been championing and apply them to your career? That’s exactly what he has done in his time in the corporate world and the businesses he established. In his new book, Forever Employable, he demonstrates how to create your content, use it to develop your...

Thought leadership is a phrase used to describe any number of activities, but few have been able to master its potential. These pursuits can build bridges between ideas and action, driving business results, according to Bill Sherman.  Bill is the COO at Thought Leadership Leverage and co-host of the podcast "Leveraging Thought Leadership". He and his team develop strategies to rescue innovative business ideas often suffocating beneath layers of ambiguity.  Explore how you can build a bridge...

Curiosity is one of our innate superpowers. It powers the human race and fuels innovation. It's what drives us to create new things and explore the world around us.  More than often, Curiosity can be less present or move to the background.  Anthony Rocco, an Experience Designer & Strategist, joins me this week to talk about Curiosity and how to go about re-igniting it. You can find me, Werner Puchert, on LinkedIn and Twitter. Catch my design tool reviews on YouTube and keep up with my...

A story is a way for people to talk about what they know and what they care about. It's a way to connect with an audience. And it's a way to build trust.  Fei Wu is a content creator and digital marketer who helps small businesses and creative entrepreneurs tell better stories, find more customers and create new revenue streams.   Join the conversation this Thursday the 20th at 1 pm ET to hear her story and ask questions about how you can find your story and share it in a way that connects...

Shifting the traditional concept of mentorship into reverse to gain forward momentum. Reverse mentorship is a new concept in the workplace that will change the way we do things. According to this week's guest on the Creative Coffee Break, this approach allows senior team members to learn from junior ones and vice versa. How can you leverage the unique strategic and cultural perspective of junior team members to stay relevant? Come drink at the fountain of youthful insights with my guest,...

One of the best ways to improve your business is to research your customers and prospects. Research can be a huge time suck, complicated, and sometimes expensive.  Research is rocket-fuel, not a phase, according to, Kasia Gawlik a seasoned strategist, experience design leader, and guest on this week’s Creative Coffee Break.   Kasia shares her tips on how you can do research with even a small investment, and if you make it wisely it can lead to some really great results. You can find me,...

Are you interested in building a more sustainable business? Join us this week for a discussion with Dennis Geelen, author of the 'The Zero In Formula' and Customer Experience & Innovation Consultant. We discussed what it takes to build a more effective and sustainable business, along with some practical principles from Dennis to guide the discussion.  You will leave this session with a better understanding of how you can apply the Zero In Formula in your own business and create an...

Can you find fulfilment in your career? What does the word "career" mean to an entrepreneur? Or, if you're getting a little grey like me, how can I go about looking for new challenges after so many years in the market? What's even worse. We only start thinking about these things when we're looking to make a change - leaving us frustrated and overwhelmed.  I know someone with the answers and some guidance! Executive and Career Coach Tammy Gooler Loeb is on a quest to inspire you to engage in...

Have you booked that meeting recently? Two or more people on the invite? Guess what, you are an event owner. However, event design is more than agendas and aesthetics – they need to drive meaningful change and deliver measurable results.    Anthony Vade, North America Director of the Event Design Collective, sharing thoughts on how to design events that drive meaningful change.  Design your event: How to make your meetings matter ft. Antony Vade.   #eventdesign #experiencedesign #eventprofs...

My guest is on a mission to help 1 Million people to innovate. It’s brave. It’s bold. It’s Jens Heitland!  Jens is a former global head of Innovation at IKEA, has taken on this ambitious goal as a consultant, coach and entrepreneur. I’ll be twisting his arm this Friday at 1 PM CET to teach me a few innovation tricks and how he aims to reach the audacious goal by the end of the year.   Important Links from the session,    https://www.onemillioninnovateurs.com ...

Have you noticed how we have become so used to equating walls of sticky notes with innovation and design-related activities? Tamara and Shawna say it's time to burn those walls of sticky notes and focus on outcomes by unlocking your team's creative potential.   Shawna and Tamara Eberle are Partners at Traction Strategy as well as co-founders of the Traction Toolbox. You can find me, Werner Puchert, on LinkedIn and Twitter. Catch my design tool reviews on YouTube and keep up with my latest...

According to Jeff Parks, we should remove our associations and experiences with certain "objects" to consider other possibilities.   Jeff Parks is a User Experience and Product Design Leader and one of the OG's of Information Architecture and User Experience Design.   We explore what it means to move your "Thinking Beyond the Factory"  #creativecoffeebreak #design #designleadership #innovation You can find me, Werner Puchert, on LinkedIn and Twitter. Catch my design tool reviews...

This is a shared episode from the Jens Heitland Podcast. The "Innovation breakfast" format, where Jens meets with previous guests to explore specific topics related to entrepreneurship and innovation.   Today's topic is leading cultural transitions Jens Heitland: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jens-heitland-2b309a44/ Dennis Luijer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dennislui... Joshua Nuttall: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-nu... Werner Puchert:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/wernerpuc... Jump...

This is a shared episode from the Jens Heitland Podcast. The "Innovation breakfast" format, where Jens meets with previous guests to explore specific topics related to entrepreneurship and innovation. Today's topic is Entrepreneurial Culture Jens Heitland: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jens-heitland-2b309a44/ Dennis Luijer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dennislui...​ Joshua Nuttall: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-nu...​ Werner Puchert:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/wernerpuc...​

We're catching up with a quick update as we navigate the pandemic. A lot has changed, but just as many things have changed, some even for the better. Important Links: Werner's side project Podcast - https://www.findingfrequency.show Wall Street: https://www.wsj.com/articles/shipping-container-shortage-gives-commodity-prices-extra-boost-11613648648 Talk: https://youtu.be/yvsudnk_nlU Prof G: https://www.section4.com Peter Thiel:...

Werner and Jonathan sat down earlier last week to catch-up and discuss the current state of the world and how it is impacting them. They didn't realize at that point the flood gate they were opening.

We're still around and working hard to stay the course during these strange times. Wonder if you are having the same disjointed experience? Well, we're popping in to say "Hello" and catch up with you, and each other.

What will happen if you did a podcast a day for 366 days? Finding Frequency is a one man's journey to dial back into life to see the extraordinary in the ordinary one day at a time.  This is episode #63, Big rig driver, and a salute to an uncle who died earlier this year. I could not be with my family during this time and created this episode for him. Rest in peace sir. Werner Puchert is a South African ex-pat living in Warsaw Poland. Music, from Artlist.io and cover photo by Robson...

Do you feel constantly having too many things that you absolutely have to do? We feel you... So many of us could fill their entire time awake only with tasks, whether they are professional, personal, or from hobbies. The paradox of that condition is that it gets in the way of actually achieving any of those tasks. Not only because of analysis-paralysis but also because it leads us to spend a considerable amount of time balancing our focus between them all. And unfortunately, we end up...

What is not to like about reading? What other media can engulf you in the wilderness of Alaska or the mind of a world leader at a critical moment of history, all from any place you would find fit for it. However, at a time when it's never been easier to have access to written content, it's also particularly difficult to commit to long-form reading due to distractions and the lack of habits. The Internet has predisposed to fast-food reading, making long-form more difficult to digest or even...

The world has been upside-down for some months now as COVID-19 is transfigurating whole communities and creating a dreadful sense of fear in our collective psyche. So, in that context, what could happen in the mind of two solo-entrepreneurs at the dawn of the most important sanitary crisis of the past century? Hey there, how are you doing? It's the question that Werner and Jonathan ask each other after a few were both were amending their own lives and businesses. This is what this episode is...

As an independent, either solo-entrepreneur, freelance or consultant, you constantly have to negotiate and prove your value to your (potential) clients. It is a painful exercise that very few are prepared to face at the start of their adventure. Unfortunately, this quickly can become the main culprit for the anxiety and stress that characterize too often the solo experience.

This week, we all discovered that the simple detail that was missing for companies around the world to suddenly discover the wonderful advantages of remote working was... a global pandemic. Now, millions of workers are supposed to become immediately productive in an environment that they, often, never associated with work.