Asking the Right Questions: Life, Hope and Moving Forward During the Pandemic
Summary
Details to come.
Key Insights
-
•
Starting meetings or classes with a simple warm-up increases attentiveness and presence.
-
•
Remote teaching often results in students keeping cameras off, impacting engagement, but this can be navigated with inclusive strategies.
-
•
Peloton taught the speaker practical leadership lessons including compassion, collaboration, and community support.
-
•
Consistency is critical in leadership and personal growth, exemplified by the speaker's 73-week exercise streak.
-
•
Inclusive leadership requires acknowledging where people are physically and emotionally, offering alternatives accordingly.
-
•
Organizations must consistently provide education and enforce policies addressing discrimination, considering intersectional identities.
-
•
Leadership must listen actively and avoid placing the burden of diversity work solely on marginalized groups.
-
•
Recognizing external stressors such as global events is essential to empathetic leadership and inclusive workplaces.
-
•
Language matters; everyday expressions can unintentionally exclude or offend marginalized communities.
-
•
Inclusion and accessibility should be embedded into every designer's responsibilities, not isolated to specialists.
Notable Quotes
"I had you all do a warm-up before we started to help everyone be present and calm."
"Sometimes working with a bunch of boxes and letters on Zoom was the reality of remote classes."
"Be compassionate with yourself and others. Not everyone likes high fives, and that's okay."
"Collaboration is key. I'm never alone in a Peloton class, even at 4:30 in the morning."
"Consistency is key. I'm on a 73-week streak right now, and that's pretty badass."
"Identity is not monolithic; policies should address layered experiences."
"It is not the responsibility of marginalized groups to do all the educating about their experiences."
"Listen is a skill that is not emphasized enough in leadership."
"Watch your language; terms like 'that's so lame' can be exclusionary or offensive."
"Inclusion and accessibility need to be part of every designer's role, even if today it is one person's job."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Embedding design from the system into product code without using system code leads to irregular quality and durability issues."
Nathan CurtisDesign Systems for Us: How Many One-Source(s)-of-Truth Are Enough?
January 17, 2019
"We’re building in the attribution of ideas to authors and speakers, emphasizing the humans behind the expertise."
Peter Van Dijck Louis RosenfeldCoffee with Lou #4: Taking a Peek Under the Rosenbot's Hood
June 14, 2024
"User experience is everyone’s responsibility. It’s not just UXs."
Jemma AhmedTheme 2 Intro
January 8, 2024
"Next year we need to have an accessibility budget. You do what you want, but that's the choice."
Patrizia BertiniThe (r)evolution of designOps: It’s Time to Think (really) BIG
September 11, 2025
"Eye tracking can show you what people see, in what order, for how long, and crucially, what they don't see."
Jeff Ephraim Bander Ariane Rahn Philipp ReiterEye Tracking Gamechanger: Why Smartphone Eye Tracking will Revolutionize Your UX Research
March 11, 2022
"Priorities aren’t priorities until they’ve been prioritized with attributes and values; otherwise they’re just items."
John Cutler Harry MaxPrioritization for designers and product managers (1st of 3 seminars)
June 13, 2024
"There is no better place right now to leverage AI than in the impact sector to close resource gaps."
Dolly ParikhExit Interview #7: Journey of a Social Entrepreneur
May 21, 2026
"If you want to participate in the conference’s general vibe and community, it is essential to join Slack."
Bria AlexanderOpening Remarks
March 29, 2023
"There is no perfect user, and motivations can coexist within a single person."
Emily Williams Nora FioreWhen UX Research and Institutional Racism Collide: A Case Study
March 12, 2021
