Creative Confidence Podcast
IDEO U
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/privacy for more information.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Mar 20, 2026 • 44min
What Gets In the Way of Trust on Teams: Q&A with Ben Swire
Ben Swire, co-founder of Make Believe Works and author of Safe Danger, helps teams build trust through designed experiences. He discusses why vulnerability can backfire, repairing harm, inclusive retreat design, micro rituals for online meetings, and ways leaders and teams can rebuild connection after breakdowns.
Mar 5, 2026 • 57min
Building Risk-Taking Teams: Ben Swire
Ben Swire, co-founder of Make Believe Works and author of Safe Danger, helps teams build trust and creative confidence. He discusses why most team building fails, the difference between comfort and psychological safety, practical rituals to rehearse risk, and how leaders can model vulnerability to make real cultural change.
Feb 18, 2026 • 39min
Playful Thinking Under Pressure: Q&A with Cas Holman & Michelle Lee
Michelle Lee, IDEO partner who helps teams apply playful thinking to tough challenges, and Cas Holman, play designer behind Rigamajig, discuss play under pressure. They tackle making psychological safety fast, using constraints to spark creativity, collaborating without losing edge, and bringing playful practices into policy and healthcare. The conversation is pragmatic, story-driven, and full of quick, usable approaches.
19 snips
Feb 4, 2026 • 51min
How a Playful Mindset Leads to Better Work: Cas Holman & Michelle Lee
Michelle Lee, IDEO partner who brings playful thinking into complex organizations, and Cas Holman, play designer and creator of Rigamajig, discuss play as a leadership mindset. They explore asking better questions, design function versus form, psychological safety, seeding playful conditions, adult play types, purposeful friction, and balancing exploratory play with business goals.
8 snips
Jan 21, 2026 • 44min
Leadership Philosophies in Practice & Building Creative Teams: Q&A with Mike Peng
In this engaging discussion, Mike Peng, CEO of IDEO and a veteran in design leadership, dives into the essence of modern creative leadership. He explores how to foster trust in resistant teams, emphasizing empathy as a tool for converting skeptics. Mike shares valuable lessons on the importance of psychological safety and building strong, complementary teams. He also highlights how failure has shaped his approach, encouraging leaders to embrace small wins and seek inspiration from everyday sources to elevate creative excellence.
54 snips
Jan 7, 2026 • 51min
Part 2: Honest, Realistic, and Optimistic Leadership Advice from Friends of IDEO
In this enlightening conversation, Ilya Prokopoff, a seasoned partner at IDEO, teams up with Frederik Pferdt, former Chief Innovation Evangelist at Google. They explore innovative leadership strategies, emphasizing the importance of nurturing potential and embracing uncertainty with curiosity. Conversations about vulnerability highlight transforming fear into action. They discuss grounding decisions in values and cultivating creativity amid AI. Frederik offers daily practices to build confidence and inspire a future-ready mindset. A must-listen for aspiring leaders!
42 snips
Dec 30, 2025 • 44min
Key Abilities of Creative Problem-Solvers: David Kelley (Replay)
David Kelley, the innovative mind behind IDEO and Stanford's d.school, shares insights on fostering creative problem-solving. He emphasizes the importance of deeper experiences over quick workshops for genuine innovation. Kelley discusses navigating ambiguity to uncover revolutionary solutions and stresses the value of rapid prototyping. He provides strategies for engaging leadership and ensuring client buy-in, while advocating for projects framed to encourage iterative design. Lastly, he inspires students to embrace unique life experiences that cultivate creativity.
76 snips
Dec 18, 2025 • 43min
Part 1: Honest, Realistic, and Optimistic Leadership Advice from Friends of IDEO
Ilya Prokopoff, a seasoned partner at IDEO, joins forces with voice memo contributor Kim Scott, author of Radical Candor, to share invaluable leadership insights for 2026. They delve into the necessity of embracing uncertainty, encouraging leaders to utilize intuition and pausing for clearer decision-making. The discussion explores how imagination can transform uncertainty into opportunity, the importance of direct feedback, and the value of experimental approaches in leadership. Ilya and Kim inspire a mindset of flexibility and strategy for the future.
19 snips
Dec 4, 2025 • 58min
3 Leadership Philosophies to Inspire Creative Excellence: Mike Peng
In this conversation, Mike Peng, CEO of IDEO, shares his journey from neuroscience to design and global leadership. He discusses three impactful leadership philosophies: 'fewer but better,' personal monopoly, and combinatorial creativity. Mike emphasizes the importance of humility and healthy friction in fostering creativity. He highlights how leaders should guide their teams by setting direction and creating conditions for success. Additionally, Mike provides insight into maintaining inspiration and building diverse, innovative teams.
65 snips
Nov 19, 2025 • 51min
How to Prototype with AI: Takashi Wickes
In this engaging conversation, Takashi Wickes, an interaction designer and founding designer at OpenStudio, shares his insights from the IDEO U course on AI prototyping. He emphasizes the importance of a creative mindset over rigid prompts and discusses how AI can enhance collaboration between creatives and technologists. Takashi advocates for intentional friction in design, fostering deeper engagement and reflection. He also highlights playful experimentation with AI and warns against relying solely on LLMs, urging the integration of human insights for richer design outcomes.
