Being Liminal is a podcast about the changing nature of Leadership in Business & Society today. Brian and Martin explore the mindsets and skills that are necessary to navigate a world that is undergoing increasing and ever-present flux, the limits organisations place on themselves by not acknowledging the liminality of change and the edges of todays systems where we find examples of how our futures could be - if we could just embrace liminal leadership. www.beingliminal.com
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A podcast exploring how Design Leadership is evolving and maturing as a business discipline, the implications on Design Management, Design Education and the role of Chief Design Officers and Executives. With a focus on in-house design teams our guests are Design executives, directors and CDOs from around the world who have dealt with evolving design to support and have impact within large-scale business. Your host Martin Dowson is a Design Leadership Coach and Interim Design Exec with over 2 ...
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Liminality is about existing in transition, where uncertainty and ambiguity dominate. Innovation, at its core, is a liminal activity—organisations step away from established norms to explore new futures. But how comfortable are businesses with this uncertainty? In this episode, Richard Walzer joins us to discuss: * Why innovation is inherently limi…
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Liminal Thoughts: Are We Sleepwalking into a Creative Crisis?
26:17
26:17
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26:17A new format that we are trying out where one of us shares a shorter deep dive on a current topic - we are interested in your responses and thoughts on the topics in these shorter episodes and we will pick up on the topic together in our longer format sessions. In this episode of Being Liminal, I (Martin) explore the growing intersection of AI and …
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Longwave Thinking – Thriving in Complex Systems
59:46
59:46
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59:46Longwave Thinking – Thriving in Complex Systems Part 3 of 3 exploring three levels of disruption from Design Team to Wider Systems Introduction In the final episode of our three-part series, we move beyond organisations to the broader systems that shape them. We discuss the extended cycles of disruption impacting society and business alike. From cl…
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Navigating Transformation – Organisational Blind Spots
48:31
48:31
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48:31Navigating Transformation – Organizational Blind Spots Part 2 of 3 exploring three levels of disruption from Design Team to Wider Systems Introduction In part two of our series, we zoom out to explore transformation at the organisational level. We discuss why businesses often repeat past mistakes, how continuous improvement and transformation inter…
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Design's Woes Are a Symptom of Larger Business Challenges
42:44
42:44
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42:44Design's Woes Are a Symptom of Larger Business Challenges Part 1 of 3 exploring three levels of disruption from Design Team to Wider Sytems Introduction: In the first episode of this three-part series of Being Liminal, we begin at the team level, exploring why design often feels undervalued within organisations. We unpack how design’s challenges, f…
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Joe Macleod: Endineering - Designing Ends
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1:02:46
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1:02:46Joe Macleod: Endineering - Designing Ends This episode was recorded at the end of 2023 just before we took a hiatus in publishing. It is as relevant now as it was then but you may find references to current events of 2023. Our apologies but we did have some sound issues which we weren’t able to rectify - it doesn’t alter the content but you will he…
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Ben Reason: Embracing a Sense of Place, Edge Thinking and Systemic Change in the Anthropocene
1:12:33
1:12:33
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1:12:33Ben Reason, one of the early pioneers of Service Design and co-founder of the boundary pushing agency Livework joins Martin and Brian for a thoughtful discussion on navigating the liminal spaces and the systemic changes that are shaping our world as we know it. Ben's thought-leadership on designing in the Anthropocene was the stimulus for recording…
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Bethany Jarroussié - Navigating change as a leader while supporting transformation
57:11
57:11
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57:11In this episode Brian and Martin are in conversation with Bethany Jarroussié. Bethany is on the design leadership team at BP and her career as a design leader has seen her take on distinctly non-design type activities. It's a conversation that covers, how, if we're honest about the nature of transformation, it can be very unpredictable, and with th…
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Ola Gwozdz: A Data Philosopher's perspective on Identity, Leadership, and Change
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1:02:30
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1:02:30In this episode Brian and I are in conversation with Ola Gwozdz, a listener who reached out to share her perspective and we realised we just had to bring into our exploration. Ola helps us delve into the intricacies of identity, power dynamics, and the transformative potential of liminal spaces. She describes herself as a Data Philosopher, a concep…
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Andy Thornton: Navigating Change with Regenerative Design and Leadership
1:14:42
1:14:42
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1:14:42Do you ever wonder how your organization can embrace change and thrive in the face of uncertainty? Join us on a journey into the world of regenerative design and leadership with our guest, Andy Thornton, the Head of Regenerative Design at the RSA - The Royal Society of Arts, Commerce, and Manufacturing. We explore design and systems thinking, discu…
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Leaning into Liminality - Reflecting on a necessary Pivot with the Podcast
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43:37
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43:37"The One where Brian and Martin realise they haven't been very 'liminal' in their approach to researching liminality"In response to both Listener and Guest feedback as well as some of our own reflection on what we've learnt so far from our guests - this episode is a moment for us to reflect on our need to pivot our approach to the research and expl…
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Clive Grinyer : The Future of Design Education as a Catalyst for Transformation in Business
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52:32How do you leverage a moment of potential transformation? How do you support fundamental change in an organisation that sees the need but doesn't know how to realise it? In our discussion with Professor Clive Grinyer, Head of Service Design at the Royal College of Art, we challenge the notion that organisations don't want to change and discuss how …
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Cennydd Bowles: Decoding Ethical Challenges in Business Transformation
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1:05:44
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1:05:44What if you could transform your business while also putting ethics at the forefront? That's exactly what we tackle in our conversation with Cennydd Bowles, a designer and technologist turned ethicist, and author of Future Ethics. Cennydd sheds light on the importance of weaving ethics into the fabric of transformation and how ‘designed futures’ ca…
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Maria Giudice - Unleashing the Changemaker Within: The role of Creativity in Leaders of Change & Transformation
1:12:25
1:12:25
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1:12:25What if the superpowers needed to navigate today's complex world were already within us? That's what we discovered in our fascinating conversation with Maria Giudice, co-author of "Changemakers," as we discussed the evolving nature of leadership in business transformation and the innate qualities designers possess that make them powerful agents of …
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Designing Transformation: How ESG, Data, and Purpose are driving Business Transformation
1:26:00
1:26:00
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1:26:00What does it take for businesses to adapt to the rapidly changing expectations on their role in society and what will it mean for how we Design, Build and Lead business of the future? In this first full episode of Liminal Leaders Brian & I dive right into ESG as an example of a force for change in the way business interpret their purpose in Society…
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Sheryl Cababa - Beyond Individual Use: Expanding Design Horizons with Systems Thinking
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1:05:27
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1:05:27What if you could elevate your design skills by incorporating systems thinking? We had the pleasure of discussing this fascinating approach with the brilliant Sheryl Cababa, author of "Closing the Loop." Sheryl shares her expertise in design, research, and strategy, providing valuable insights into her journey as a design leader. Whether you are a …
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An Introduction to Being Liminal - Episode Zero
22:20
22:20
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22:20Welcome to Being Liminal -this short episode is an overview of what we're hoping to achieve with the podcast. Because we are also researching and writing a book through this podcast - Episode Zero will set the scene and theme for the episodes that follow which will jump around between topics as we conduct our research. We'd also really appreciate y…
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Brian Hoadley & Martin Dowson - Season 1 Review
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1:02:01
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1:02:01Season 1 Final Episode - Martin & Brian Hoadley review the season. I've invited Brian Hoadley to return, having opened the season, and reflect back with me on 9 interviews with 9 very different Leaders of Design. All of our guests have led design in an in-house, large-scale complex environment and have brought with them some insightful perspectives…
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Nathan Weyer - Philips - The Co-Dependency of Design and Business
37:23
37:23
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37:23OVERVIEW In today's episode, I'm going to be in conversation with Nathan Weyer COO of Design at Phillips. For me Phillips is one of two aspirational models for Design in complex legacy organizations (The other being IBM). Organisations that have transformed themselves to be relevant and growing into the future with Design as a core superpower. In t…
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Peter Merholz - The Success of in-house Design and the Design Executive Leader Role
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52:07
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52:07OVERVIEW: In this episode, I am joined by Peter Merholz, Design Executive and Organisational Consultant, Author and Founder of Adaptive Path. His book, co-authored with Kristin Skinner, Organisational Design for Design Orgs is a go-to book for so many Designers, Design and non-design Leaders. In our conversation, we cover specifically the differenc…
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Jane Austin - CXO @ Digitas - In-house vs Agency Leadership Perspectives
55:46
55:46
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55:46In this episode, I am joined in conversation by Jane Austin who is the Chief Experience Officer for Digitas UK, prior to which she held a number of Design Exec roles for in-house teams. Jane recently delivered a talk on the Language of Business at UXLive where she shared measurement frameworks such as Pirate Metrics with the Audience. She speaks wi…
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Pernilla Johansson - Electrolux - The Evolving Role of the CDO
58:02
58:02
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58:02In this episode, I am joined in conversation by Pernilla Johansson, who when we were recording this, was stepping down as the Chief Design Officer of Electrolux. Pernilla shares her own journey through Design from Philips to Electrolux, from going deep into the belly of industrial design processes, working across global teams through to setting up …
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Jose Dos Santos - Signify - The 10 barriers to Designers in the C-Suite
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1:01:17
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1:01:17In this episode, I talk with José Dos Santos, Head of Design at Signify, about his Ph.D. research into the lack of Designers in the C-Suite of large-scale complex organisations. This is a fascinating piece of work articulation 10 key factors behind why there are not more Designers at the C-suite level. Some of the factors are intrinsic to what José…
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Andrew Barraclough - Design Director GSK - Linking Business and Design Strategy
47:12
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47:12In this episode, Andrew Barraclough, Design Director for GSK and Board Member for the Design Business Association joins me to discuss the linking of Business Strategy and Design Strategy. Andrew has been working with GSK for over 10 years. And in that time he has built and developed the design function practically from scratch into a core valued ca…
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Clive Grinyer - RCA - The role of Design Education in Preparing Emerging Designers for Design in Business
44:40
44:40
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44:40In this episode I talk with Clive Grinyer, Head of Service Design at the Royal College of Art, founder of Tangerine, and previously Design Director at IDEO-Samsung, Orange, Cisco and Barclays Bank. We discuss the role that Design Education plays in maturing Designers for the workplace, how Design disciplines and the business value of Design has evo…
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Dr Anne Stenros - Lost & Found - The Auteur of Design
1:03:27
1:03:27
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1:03:27My guest in this Episode, Dr Anne Stenros, is the former CDO of Helsinki, Design Director of KONE and Professor of Design Business Management. She is an Architect and Multi-Disciplinary Designer whose family steeped her in Design from an early age to the extent that it really is a part of her. Anne was introduced to me because she has a perspective…
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Brian Hoadley - Earning a Seat for Design - but which table?
58:06
58:06
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58:06My guest in this episode, Brian Hoadley, is an Interim Design Executive, currently a Design Transformation Director with SopraSteria and a seasoned builder and shaper of Design Capability. We caught up to discuss his recently published article about Design missing out on the many Tables it could be playing at while it worries about not reaching the…
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In this first short episode, I (Martin Dowson) will introduce Business X Design to you. You'll hear how my guests and I will be exploring and challenging the evolving role of in-house Design Leadership, I'll share a few clips from the first four episodes that we are releasing and invite you to subscribe to keep following the conversation. After eac…
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