Growing by Design
“I’m Not Creative!”
“I’m not creative!” Oh yes, you are! People love to say “I’m not creative”, but reality is that being creative is not an endowment that only some people have. We can all access it if we nurture our capacity to create. To me there are three essential capabilities...
Winning?
I was shocked during this amazing Olympics with the “Winning Isn’t For Everyone” Nike advertising. As a brand builder, this campaign feels off strategy to me for the Nike brand and so disheartening. According to their website, their purpose is one of inclusion and...

Not a Silver Bullet or a Brainstorm
Design Thinking is often over or under rated as part of it's "misunderstanding". Some fanatics feel it is the answer to everything and can solve all manner of challenge. Others reduce it to one aspect of it's dimension--ideation. "It's just a brainstorming" dismisses...

The Often Misunderstood Approach–Design Thinking
Design Thinking is a hot topic and highly misunderstood. We often hear some form of the following sentiments. Design Thinking is something only Designers do Design Thinking is a controlled process with linear steps to yield a consistent outcome. Design Thinking is a...

The Third Growth Option
Listen to Growing by Design – Using Empathy to Unlock Growth from The Third Growth Option with Benno Duenkelsbuehler and Guests on Apple Podcasts. Cindy Tripp

Designing for Social Anxiety: Lead with Trust in the New Normal
The world is opening back up but uncertainty prevails. It is lingering, like a powerful undercurrent. Research by McKinsey indicates uncertainty is at a 35 year high and describes uncertainty as ‘toxic’ to the economy. Not surprising really. The World Health...

Designing for Social Anxiety: Instilling Trust in the Emerging New Normal
How quickly our lives are changing. Simple things, that were once automatic are now conscious for you, your employees and suppliers. Notice your own life: What is no longer automatic? Do you feel anxious when you head into a store that is familiar and yet...

Designing for Social Anxiety: Why Empathy will be a critical business skill in the Covid world
There was a day when I thought the vulnerable were other people, not me. That thought has gone as we face the reality of Covid co-existing in our communities for the foreseeable future. We are all vulnerable. Vulnerable to the shifts happening around us: global...

Before and After
There are many Befores and Afters in our life. For me it was college, marriage, kids, P&G, 9/11, my daughter's leukemia diagnosis. In each case, I was profoundly changed by the event that created the before and after. I was changed. How I approached challenges,...

Advertising, like so many things, all depends…
Is advertising good or bad? People love to hate on ads--saying they don't watch them, skipping over them with their DVR. Ads are defamed as an annoyance to many. Clearly this is the argument that advertising is bad. Yet, as a marketer, I have seen the power of...