Part 2: Honest, Realistic, and Optimistic Leadership Advice from Friends of IDEO

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. Many of the leaders featured on this episode have been guests on the podcast. Find links to their episodes at ideou.com/blogs/inspiration . Guests on this episode: Grace Hwang — Design Leader; Former IDEO Associate Partner; Co-Founder, Upturn Health Michelle Lee — Partner and Executive Managing Director, IDEO; IDEO U Instructor: Creative Thinking for Complex Problem Solving Sara Kalick — Founder, The Possible: IDEO U Instructor: From Superpowers to Great Teams Jenn Maer — Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer, Knitted; IDEO U Instructor: Storytelling for Influence Jennifer Riel — Adjunct Professor, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto; Former Head of Global Strategy, IDEO; IDEO U Instructor: Designing Strategy & Activating Strategy Susie Wise — Designer, Design for Emergence; Author, Design for Belonging Takashi Wickes — Founding Designer, Open Studio; IDEO U Instructor: Prototyping for AI YC Sun — Senior Design Director, Healthcare and Wellbeing, IDEO Dabney Hailey — Founder and Principal, Hailey Group; Lecturer, MIT Sloan Amy Bonsall — Founder, Light Actions at Collective; IDEO U Instructor: Designing a Business Frederik Pferdt — Former Chief Innovation Evangelist, Google; author of What’s Next is Now __________ Get episode recaps and register for free live podcast events at ideou.com/podcast . Build your creative problem-solving skills with IDEO U's online courses in human-centered design, AI, leadership, and more at ideou.com . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Part 2: Honest, Realistic, and Optimistic Leadership Advice from Friends of IDEO is an episode from Creative Confidence Podcast by IDEO U.

This episode is 50:41 long.

This episode was published on Jan 7, 2026.

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