17 Career Lessons from IDEO

Published February 23, 2009 @ 09:39AM PT

A foundational napkin describing the David Kelley-led Stanford d. School

IDEO is an international design firm that consistently ranks as one of the most innovative companies in the world. They apply their anthropology-heavy, 'human-centered' design approach to everything from banking campaigns to increase savings to water transportation systems for the developing world.

One of the main creative forces behind IDEO is founder David Kelley. A profile in last month's Fast Company magazine provides a wonderful overview to the company's famous design process, as well as really interesting background about the man himself. Accompanying the piece is a great web-feature about the career lessons we can all learn from David.

In the spirit of this being a great week for all those out there building their futures, some career lessons from IDEO, from Fast Company:

We asked former students, co-workers and friends to share their favorite Kelley life lessons. Here's what they said:

"Success tends to focus your efforts, failure assures me that you try something different and eventually better." -- from Perry Kleban, CEO, Timbuk2

"The greatest responsibility of any leader is to make new leaders. David knew that neither he, himself, nor any one person has all the answers. He empowers others to do stuff." -- from Tom Kelley, IDEO

"'Do not allow hierarchy and status into your teams, and your workplace because it will destroy collaboration." -- PK

"There is no challenge, big or small, in the world that could not benefit from a healthy dose of cavalier creativity." -- CF

"Make the human element as important as the technical and business elements." -- GK

Read the rest here.

To learn more about IDEO, check out their website or read Design and Reach, the blog of Jocelyn Wyatt who heads up social impact programming at the firm.

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Author

Nathaniel is the founding Director of the Center for Global Engagement at Northwestern University, which works annually with hundreds of students in dozens of countries around the world through curricular programs and student project incubation.