Creative Confidence Podcast
IDEO’s Creative Confidence Podcast shares candid conversations with creative leaders, changemakers, and innovators navigating today’s most pressing challenges. Through real-world stories and insights, we explore how to lead with creativity, build resilient teams, and drive innovation. Grounded in IDEO’s 40 years of expertise in design thinking and innovation, each episode offers inspiration and practical tools for audacious leaders at every stage of their careers. Hosted by Mina Seetharaman, Head of New Ventures at IDEO, the podcast brings a human-centered lens to the complexities of making more courageous futures. Discover more at IDEOU.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/pr...
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What Gets In the Way of Trust on Teams: Q&A with Ben Swire
<p>There are many hidden barriers to building trust on teams, and sometimes we don’t see them until something breaks down.</p><p>In this episode of the Creative Confidence Podcast, Mina Seetharaman sits down again with Ben Swire—co-founder of Make Believe Works and author of Safe Danger—for a practical Q&A on what actually gets in the way of trust on teams.</p><p>Drawing on his experience designing team experiences for organizations around the world, Ben answers questions from the Creative Confidence community. Why does trust break down even on high-performing teams? What makes feedback feel r...
Building Risk-Taking Teams: Ben Swire
<p>Team building often feels like a necessary evil. Leaders know it matters, but too often it feels awkward, forced, or disconnected from real work.</p><p>In this episode of the Creative Confidence Podcast, Mina Seetharaman speaks with Ben Swire, co-founder of Make Believe Works and author of Safe Danger, about what actually builds trust, psychological safety, and creative collaboration on teams.</p><p>Ben introduces the concept of “safe danger”—the emotional sweet spot between comfort and fear—where teams feel secure enough to take risks, practice vulnerability, and grow together. He explains why most team building fails, why psyc...
Playful Thinking Under Pressure: Q&A with Cas Holman & Michelle Lee
<p>How do leaders apply playful thinking at work when time is short and the stakes are high?</p><p>In this Q&A episode of the Creative Confidence Podcast, host Mina Seetharaman is joined by play designer and author Cas Holman and IDEO Partner Michelle Lee to explore how a playful mindset holds up under real-world constraints.</p><p>Building on their earlier conversation about why play matters at work, this episode focuses on what it looks like in practice: navigating tight timelines, creating psychological safety quickly, collaborating without losing your competitive edge, and leading in high-stakes environments like...
How a Playful Mindset Leads to Better Work: Cas Holman & Michelle Lee
<p>Play isn’t the opposite of serious work. Iit’s a leadership mindset that helps teams stay curious, creative, and effective under pressure.</p><br><p>In this episode of the Creative Confidence Podcast, host Mina Seetharaman is joined by Cas Holman, play designer and author of Playful, and Michelle Lee, IDEO Partner and Executive Co-Managing Director, to explore how play supports better questions, psychological safety, and innovation at work.</p><br><p>Drawing on Cas’s work designing open-ended play systems and Michelle’s experience leading teams at IDEO, they share practical examples of how playful thinking shows up in re...
Leadership Philosophies in Practice & Building Creative Teams: Q&A with Mike Peng
<p>IDEO CEO Mike Peng returns to the Creative Confidence Podcast to answer questions from listeners about modern creative leadership. Building on his previous episode, Mike goes deeper on how to lead creative teams when organizations resist change, how to reduce fear and build trust, what failure has taught him about leadership, and how to stay inspired in a fast-moving world.</p><p>If you’re a leader trying to foster creativity, guide teams through complexity, or rethink what creative excellence looks like today, this listener-driven episode offers grounded advice, real stories, and clear perspective you can apply right away.</p>...
Part 2: Honest, Realistic, and Optimistic Leadership Advice from Friends of IDEO
<p>The creative leadership advice continues. In Part 2, creative leaders including IDEO partners, alumni, and IDEO U instructors share hard-won lessons on relationships, reflection, and staying human as we move into 2026. Host Mina Seetharaman and IDEO Partner Ilya Prokopoff share reactions and builds on each leader's advice.</p><br><p>Many of the leaders featured on this episode have been guests on the podcast. Find links to their episodes at ideou.com/blogs/inspiration.</p><br><p>Guests on this episode:</p><br><p>Grace Hwang — Design Leader; Former IDEO Associate Partner; Co-Founder, Upturn Health</p><br><p>Michelle Lee — Part...
Key Abilities of Creative Problem-Solvers: David Kelley (Replay)
<p>This episode is a Creative Confidence Podcast replay. In celebration of 20 years of the Stanford d.school, we’re revisiting our conversation with David Kelley, founder of IDEO and the Stanford d.school, on the core abilities of the most successful creative problem-solvers. David also shares personal stories and learnings from his friendships with several of today’s most innovative CEOs and leaders.</p><br><p>At a moment when creativity is increasingly essential to leadership, this episode offers a chance to revisit the fundamentals of creative problem-solving and hear them directly from one of the people who helped defi...
Part 1: Honest, Realistic, and Optimistic Leadership Advice from Friends of IDEO
<p>As the year winds down, we asked 20 friends of IDEO including IDEO U instructors, Creative Confidence Podcast guests, and partners of IDEO to share honest leadership advice for leaders heading into 2026. In part one, hear reflections on uncertainty, creativity, and momentum. Host Mina Seetharaman and IDEO Partner Ilya Prokopoff share reactions and builds on each leader's advice.</p><br><p>Find more episodes of the Creative Confidence Podcast at ideou.com/podcast. Take online courses in human-centered design, AI, leadership, and more at ideou.com.</p><br><p>Many of the leaders featured on this episode have been guests...
3 Leadership Philosophies to Inspire Creative Excellence: Mike Peng
<p>Host Mina Seetharaman chats with IDEO CEO Mike Peng about what creative excellence means today and how leaders can cultivate it on their teams. Mike shares three favorite leadership philosophies, stories from his global career, and practical ways to spark creativity, build healthy friction, and stay inspired.</p><br><p>Sign up for invitations to live podcast recordings at ideou.com/podcast.</p><p>__________</p><br><p>Get episode recaps and register for free live podcast events at ideou.com/podcast.</p><p>Build your creative problem-solving skills with IDEO U's online courses in human-centered design, AI, leadership, and...
How to Prototype with AI: Takashi Wickes
<p>Learn how interaction designer Takashi Wickes uses AI to prototype ideas with more creativity, intention, and humanity. In this conversation with host Mina Seetharaman, Takashi shares mindsets, stories, and practical methods from IDEO U’s Prototyping with AI online course to help you stay curious, embrace friction, and keep humans at the center of AI-powered design.</p><br><p>Sign up for invitations to live podcast recordings at ideou.com/podcast.</p><p>__________</p><br><p>Get episode recaps and register for free live podcast events at ideou.com/podcast.</p><p>Build your creative problem-solving skills with IDEO U...
