I grew up in Chicago, where winters were cold, dark, and long—and we had to get creative to entertain ourselves after school. In 1974, when I was in 7th grade, my good friend and I—partners in curiosity—discovered a library book titled 50 Experiments to Do at Home with Found Materials. It was the perfect source for our next project. Naturally, we chose the most dangerous-sounding one: “The Carbon Arc Furnace.”

AI will fundamentally shift how we all live and work. The combination of AI with Human-Centered Design is opening the era of augmented user experience (aUX). It is the role of designers to use this powerful technology to create meaningful experiences to impact people's lives in a positive manner.

While I was at IDEO, David Kelley’s focus was on building an innovative culture that was creative, collaborative and fun. The interview process for new employees was lengthy and circuitous since our primary objective was to assess cultural fit. When the company could no longer fit on a bus, we would go through organizational mitosis and divide into smaller groups with enough DNA to sustain the culture.

The New York Times Magazine recently published a provocative article about the dire unintended consequences of innovation. The article titled “The Brilliant Inventor Who Made Two of History’s Biggest Mistakes” recounts the fascinating story of inventor Thomas Midgley Jr who worked in Thomas Kettering’s research lab at General Motors in the 1920s.

Now, more than ever, our world is full of uncertainty. From a global pandemic, economic peril, racial injustice and political strife to a host of environmental issues that threaten life on earth, we are faced with a growing number of challenges (and opportunities for innovation) in a rapidly changing world. As the fog of the uncertainty builds, many leaders find it difficult to navigate the future due to a heightened fear of the unknown.