The best work I've ever been part of happened when people realized they were braver, more creative, and more capable together than anyone had let them be.
I create brave spaces and help teams do that work — running head first towards the problems they care about most.
For more than 20 years, I've been in rooms where something shifts. A team of engineers and community members who've never worked together suddenly co-designing a solution. A student who walked in thinking they weren't "the creative type" walking out with an idea that changes a campus. Two sisters in one of DC's most overlooked neighborhoods throwing dinner parties that transform how their community eats.
I didn't invent what happens in those rooms. I've just gotten good at creating the conditions for it — and helping people do the brave, messy, creative work together.
My background is in human-centered design, innovation leadership, and teaching. I've built innovation programs at Johns Hopkins and Kaiser Permanente, taught at Stanford School of Medicine and Montana State University, and served as a design advisor to the Obama White House. Along the way I've shared these methods with more than 10,000 students, leaders, and teams.
But the credential that matters most to me is this: I keep ending up in rooms where people surprise themselves.
What I'm up to now
Teaching. Speaking. Facilitating. Writing about what happens when you treat change like an art form. Building things with my hands — including, recently, a custom lamp shaped like the mountain range outside my window.
Always looking for the next room full of people ready to do something they didn't think they could.
I'd love to hear what you're working on.
Let’s Talk
Let’s find some time for a quick chat. I’d love to hear what you are excited about.
What I can help with
Strategic Design Guidance
Maybe you’ve got a hard challenge without an obvious answer, or maybe you’ve got a plan that feels risky. I help mission driven leaders run towards those challenges using design methods and creativity.
EG: Employee Engagement
Today, employee engagement means a lot more than providing snacks in a break room. How we think about work is fundamentally changing. That is as true for leaders and managers as it is for front line staff. How are you thinking about your culture, processes, norms, and values to create a vibrant, engaged, inspired team?
EG: Hard Problems, without obvious answers
What’s the difference between innovation and implementation? Implementation can absolutely be hard, but at least there is a plan and known end state. Innovation is the art of addressing the unknown, hard problems without obvious answers. A design-based approach to innovation is all about getting messy, at first, to get polished in the end. And it requires embracing the unknown, curiosity, and creativity.
Speaking
I enjoy sharing the good, bad, and ugly of decades of leading change. I’m available to speak on topics including:
Leading change through design
The transformation from sick care to well care through community engagement
Empowering front line innovation
Planning, building, launching, and maintaining an internal innovation program
Emerging technology (including AI) and its impact on innovation
Leader and Team Coaching
I coach leaders and teams in areas including:
Cultivating a Culture of Innovation: Together, we can explore strategies to foster a culture of innovation within your organization, empowering your team to generate and implement new ideas.
Leading Change through Human-Centered Design: I'll coach you on applying human-centered design principles to drive meaningful change, ensuring that your initiatives are rooted in empathy and designed with the end-users in mind.
Navigating Digital Transformation: I can help you navigate the complexities of digital transformation and guide you in adopting innovative digital strategies that align with your purpose-driven goals.
Facilitation
A great meeting or workshop is a thing of art. Bringing people together, keeping them engaged, and reaching a valuable outcome takes planning, creativity, and a lot of energy. I’ve led workshops for boards, leadership teams, customer groups, and more. The goal is always the same - bring people together and get stuff done in creative ways.
Brainstorming
The old joke is that a brainstorm is a meeting without an agenda. But, in design, that’s not the case. Our brainstorms are highly researched, structured, and guided. As a result, they lead to real, clear outcomes where everyone is on the same page.
About
Nick
I’ve led design innovation at some of the leading healthcare delivery organizations. I’ve advised the highest levels of government, states, and localities on more human centered responses. And I’ve helped major organizations launch their own innovation programs.
