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
"Agents do work outside the user's attention, freeing up their limited time for other activities."
Christopher NoesselAI of the now: Designing for Agents
July 31, 2024
"It’s important to create space outside work for people to connect to meaningful activities and communities."
Allison SandersOperating with Purpose
January 8, 2024
"Eggs are the binder — humility and trauma-informed practices that keep relationships and research together."
Deirdre Hirschtritt Cesar Paredes Marie PerrotResearch is Only as Good as the Relationships You Build
November 17, 2022
"If you don’t understand the why, what, and how of change, don’t communicate it — you’ll only cause more stress."
Alla WeinbergWorkers Are Sick of Change: The Cure is Psychological Safety
June 6, 2023
"White savior mentality is something very humbling to experience and work through."
Dolly ParikhExit Interview #7: Journey of a Social Entrepreneur
May 21, 2026
"Sharing is actually the end—it’s basically the last step that means you’ve completed your study or analysis."
Etienne FangPower of Insights: Why sharing is better than silos with Uber’s Insights Platform
December 16, 2019
"Sending team members on quests, like visiting a bank branch to understand immigrant experiences, makes research approachable."
Crystal YanBuilding a Customer-Centric Culture
March 30, 2020
"We act as the connective tissue that runs in our teams and help them run more efficiently."
Jilanna WilsonDistributed DesignOps Management
February 26, 2019
"We need to bring the same growth mindset we have for design iterations to evolving research operations strategy."
Fatimah RichmondThe Future of ReOps as a Strategic Function: A Roadmap for Getting There
March 25, 2024
