Love at first idea? Embrace complexity in innovation journey

We tend to fall in love with our first idea. But just as our first love doesn't always lead us to a lifelong partner, the first idea is seldom the…

How to make empathy your strategic asset

"Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment. Cleverness is mere opinion. Bewilderment brings intuitive knowledge." - Rumi Empathy is the ability…

Make it lovable. Love simplifies.

Hierarchy of 'users' needs As Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory describes, we human beings have different levels of needs. Our most basic needs…

The Aesthetics of Simplicity

Source: Tea Room http://www.tearoom.us/Way_of_Tea.html Picture yourself a Japanese tea room. There are windows and a sliding door made of Japanese…

FOMO and Simplicity

Do you have FOMO? Fear of missing out (FOMO) refers to the anxiety that other people are having rewarding experiences from which one is absent. We…

Designing for Trust

‘Trust’ is an elusive concept.  Trust can be perhaps likened to the air. When it’s there, we don’t notice it, but its absence is certainly palpable.…

Design thinking and failure

Ever since Singapore’s prime minister’s speech earlier this year positioned design thinking as a critical in country’s future national building,…

On simplifying modern women’s lives

Stephanie is a woman of enchantment. When I visited her cozy studio of Eden and Elie, it was a wonderland. As I entered the corridor, tiny sparkling…

Keep calm and simplify

Recently I had a conversation with a CEO of a European private bank. One of the interesting questions he posed was how should companies 'innovate' in…

Thoughts on Millennials and the role of design

This is a 3 minute interview with the Institute of Service Excellence (ISE) at the  Financial & Health Care Industry Forum. As part of the…

How to make ‘design’ really work

You might have attended a design thinking workshop for a few days or half a day. You might have mapped a customer’s journey, and learned interesting…

Why human-centred design matters (even more today)

As part of Singapore’s SkillsFuture initiative, I had the pleasure of talking about Human-Centered Design through the story of my seven and a…

Anders Buchmann on Intrapreneurship

When innovation is imperative, what kind of mindset and people do organizations need in order to relentlessly push the boundaries of what a product…