Creativity, AI, and Human-Centered Innovation

A 90-minute Design Workshop with David Moore, Lecturer at Stanford Design

Join us for an engaging session filled with actionable insights, dynamic conversations, and complimentary pizza and drinks to fuel your creativity.

Join us as a Volunteer.

Unlocking Creativity & Leadership: From Ideas to Impact

In today’s fast-paced world of design, innovation, and leadership, the ability to think creatively and strategically is essential for driving meaningful change. This workshop is designed for designers, product leaders, and entrepreneurs looking to break through creative barriers, adopt a user-centered mindset, and turn bold ideas into tangible success.

Join us for an engaging session where we’ll explore the intersection of creativity, leadership, and human-centered innovation. Through thought-provoking discussions, real-world case studies, and actionable strategies, you’ll gain the tools to navigate complex challenges, foster collaboration, and lead with purpose in an ever-evolving industry.



Key Takeaways:

🔹 From Design Thinking to Design Doing – Where are you in the creative process? The best work is multi-dimensional, engaging us on a deeper level. Unlock your natural creative abilities and move from ideation to execution.

🔹 Reigniting Innovation: From Firefighting to Fire Starting – We’ve become so skilled at solving problems that we’ve forgotten how to spark new ideas. Learn how to cultivate a culture of communication, collaboration, and creative productivity to drive meaningful innovation.

🔹 The Human Element of Innovation – True creativity isn’t just about ideas—it’s about people. Understand how to nurture the deeper, often-overlooked aspects of your team’s potential to build an environment where innovation thrives.

🔹 AI as Your Creative Partner, Not a Shortcut – AI can be an incredible tool—but only if you use it wisely. Learn when and how to integrate AI into your workflow, craft effective prompts, and avoid generic, uninspired results.

🔹 Mastering Team Dynamics: Communication, Listening & Collaboration – Teams are unpredictable, and clear communication isn’t always as clear as we think. Discover strategies for building strong, high-performing teams that listen, collaborate, and innovate effectively. This session will equip you with the insights and techniques needed to lead with creativity, navigate challenges, and drive innovation with confidence.

2. Creativity is in all of us.
CREATIVITY

3. But creativity is not to be
confused…
CREATIVITY

4. with optimism.
CREATIVITY

5. INNOVATION
DESIGNING WHAT’S COMING AFTER
WHAT’S COMING NEXT

6. INNOVATION
DESIGN THINKING IS NOT ENOUGH,
IT’S TIME FOR DESIGN DOING

• Creating innovative work requires a
culture of creativity.
• Starting an innovation lab or accelerator
can be a lot to take on.
• We are overwhelmed with possibilities,
stretched by market opportunities.

7. INNOVATION
MANY OF US HAVE GOTTEN SO GOOD
AT PUTTING OUT FIRES, WE’VE
FORGOTTEN HOW TO LIGHT THEM

• Spending most of your energies these days
putting out fires?

•
 Remember pitching new, paradigm shifting,
revenue expanding ideas?

•
 If all we’re doing is solving problems we’re
becoming the paramedics of the business
world.

8. INNOVATION
MOST COMPANIES TALK ABOUT
DESIGN LIKE IT’S A MOVIE THEY’VE
BEEN MEANING TO GO SEE

• Many people say there are no bad ideas.
• Of course there are bad ideas, you can’t
walk down the street without encountering
several of them.

•
 What people mean is, “we want you to feel
you can express yourself freely”.

10. INNOVATION
ONE THOUSAND RATIONAL DECISIONS
IN SEARCH OF ONE EMOTIONAL
DECISION

• We often rely on making a seemingly endless
series of logical, well-thought-out choices.
• The final decision often hinges on an
emotional response or gut feeling.
• Rational solutions will not work if you haven’t
solved the emotional questions.

11. INNOVATION
FEELING LIKE, “THIS IS NOT THE
INNOVATION YOU’RE LOOKING FOR”?

At an economic conference recently a keynote
speaker, CEO of a $500B company was asked:

“How are you innovating in such a large and
diverse company”?

He responded plainly, “our goal is to have
everyone innovating all the time”.

13. INNOVATION
THE FUNDAMENTAL ATTRIBUTION
ERROR
• David Lee Ross and social psychologist
Elliot Aronson, “The Power of the
Situation”.
• Most people most of the time attribute
personality to something that isn’t a
function of personality but a function of the
situation the person is in.
• When it’s more likely to be the situation that
is the influence and not their personality.

14. INNOVATION
IF APPLE COMES OUT WITH A SELF-
DRIVING CAR WE’RE PROBABLY GOING
TO HAVE TO BUY A CASE FOR IT

• Does it feel like our most innovative tech
companies have forgotten about us?
• Or is it us, have we let our relationship with
the big tech darlings get a bit
dysfunctional?
• But like any abused lover tolerating broken
promises and long term neglect, we keep
coming back for more.

15. INNOVATION
I’M NOT A BIG FAN OF THE BRAIN

• The brain is a problem solving tool, so it’s
going to look for problems?
• Have you ever thought about the way your
brain talks to you?
• I think, if you knew someone who talked to
you the way your brain does, you’d never
want to hang out with them.

17. AI AND INNOVATION
WHY IS BETTER THAN HUMAN
BETTER THAN A BETTER HUMAN?

18. AI AND INNOVATION
WHY IS BETTER THAN HUMAN
BETTER THAN A BETTER HUMAN?
• Why is technology so obsessed with
trying to be better than humans?

19. AI AND INNOVATION
WHY IS BETTER THAN HUMAN
BETTER THAN A BETTER HUMAN?
• Why is technology so obsessed with
trying to be better than humans?
• It actually has the capacity to help
humans get better.

20. AI AND INNOVATION
WHY IS BETTER THAN HUMAN
BETTER THAN A BETTER HUMAN?
• Why is technology so obsessed with
trying to be better than humans?
• It actually has the capacity to help
humans get better.
• With nearly $200B spent developing self-
driving cars where are they?

21. MY AI AND I ARE ON THE OUTS
• Last week I asked my AI if it could
take my Thursday for me.
• You know, handle my client meetings,
coaching calls and any emails that
may need a response.
AI AND INNOVATION

22. MY AI AND I ARE ON THE OUTS
• My AI says, “No Dave, I cannot take
your Thursday.
• No one could take your Thursday
Dave. No one can do what you do, it
just wouldn’t be the same without
you.”
• It goes on…
AI AND INNOVATION

23. MY AI AND I ARE ON THE OUTS
• “Think about all the people who’ll be
disappointed and lost that you’re not
there.
• What am I supposed to tell them?”
• “Okay, alright,” I say, “I’ll do it.”
AI AND INNOVATION

24. MY AI AND I ARE ON THE OUTS
• So I go ahead with my Thursday,
calls, meetings and emails.
• Then I find out later that day my AI
asked the algorithm if it could take its
Thursday.
• And then, the algorithm asked several
million databases if it could pull
together and take its Thursday.
AI AND INNOVATION

25. MY AI AND I ARE ON THE OUTS
• Then the databases started asking
other databases.
• And those databases were asking
other databases.
• Now I’ve got to figure out how to fix
this.
AI AND INNOVATION

26. AI AND INNOVATION

27. AI AND INNOVATION

28. AI AND INNOVATION
EPILOGUE:
• A week later my AI apologized, sort of,
saying it would not do that again.
• However, it did make me promise not to
show it to anyone.

END OF LINE

29. “WORK LIFE BALANCE.” IS THERE
SOMETHING MISSING HERE?
• Yes, there’s something missing, YOU!
• The one thing that is common to both is
you. I think you deserve a spot on the
balance diagram.
• In fact, I think it’s critical for the success of
the other two.
AI AND INNOVATION

30. AI AND INNOVATION

31. AI AND INNOVATION

32. AI AND INNOVATION

33. “Dispatches from the entrepreneurial mind:
<t:1625937668:F> 01162024 07:35 PST
It was mission critical that I move the needle on the synergy required to turn
this whole thing around.
So I woke early, popped a new blade into my Occam's razor, jumped in a
thought shower, put on my market cap and headed out to join a user group
and write with unapologetic disambiguation.
It was a blue sky day. I knew I had to drill down to the key takeaways if I was
going to gain any traction. I stopped into the ‘Low Hanging Fruit’, grabbed a
seat at the bar graph, next to the Overton window and ordered a slice of pie
chart and a ‘make hay’ coffee.
I thought, if I can create a 4 stage plan to gain a 5x profit, I’ll have 6 sigma
status worth a 7 percent share. I’ll finally become my own product, my own
business, the operator of my own summation.
That is of course, as long as my commercialized value does not involve
unreasonable expense or loss of time.
AI AND INNOVATION

34. 27 Feb, 2025

Prompt: How do I write a prompt to get
you to think like me?

To get me to think like you, phrase your
prompt like this…
AI AND INNOVATION

35. "Think like someone who [your thinking
style: analytical, creative, structured,
intuitive].
Approach this problem by [your process:
breaking it down, questioning
assumptions, prioritizing impact].
Focus on [your priorities: innovation,
practicality, user experience, scalability],
and frame your response as if you were
[your role/expertise].”
AI AND INNOVATION

37. WHY IS LISTENING, REALLY LISTENING,
SO HARD?

TEAMS: LISTENING

38. WHY IS LISTENING, REALLY LISTENING,
SO HARD?

• Is it so hard because of external influences,
like digital distractions, audio notifications,
glowing screens and information overload?
TEAMS: LISTENING

39. WHY IS LISTENING, REALLY LISTENING,
SO HARD?

• Is it so hard because of external influences,
like digital distractions, audio notifications,
glowing screens and information overload?
• Or is it internal, brain chatter – what they
call the monkey mind, or is it just another
case of our shrinking attention spans?
TEAMS: LISTENING

40. WHY IS LISTENING, REALLY LISTENING,
SO HARD?

• Is it so hard because of external influences,
like digital distractions, audio notifications,
glowing screens and information overload?
• Or is it internal, brain chatter – what they
call the monkey mind, or is it just another
case of our shrinking attention spans?
• It’s probably all of these to varying degrees.
I think if we wanted to do something about
it we certainly could.
TEAMS: LISTENING

41. LISTENING IS KEY TO COLLABORATION?
• Or is it internal, brain chatter – what they call
the monkey mind, or is it just another case of
our shrinking attention spans?
TEAMS: COLLABORATION

42. LISTENING IS KEY TO COLLABORATION
• Or is it internal, brain chatter – what they call
the monkey mind, or is it just another case of
our shrinking attention spans?
• Neuroscientists tell us, we react to things we
hear 10 times faster than things we see.
TEAMS: LISTENING

43. LISTENING IS KEY TO COLLABORATION
• Or is it internal, brain chatter – what they
call the monkey mind, or is it just another
case of our shrinking attention spans?
• Neuroscientists tell us, we react to things
we hear 10 times faster than things we see.
• So where do we start, how do we quiet our
unsettled minds, develop our ability to listen
and give the person we’re talking to the
attention they deserve?
TEAMS: LISTENING

44. WHEN COLLABORATING HERE’S WHAT
THE EXPERTS SAY:
• Try to remember exactly what the other
person is saying to the extent that if you
had to you could repeat it back to them.
• Put off your reply until you have the chance
to reflect back to them what they meant or
what it meant to you.
• Before you respond think to yourself, what
are the chances they’re actually going to
hear me?
TEAMS: LISTENING

45. HERE’S WHAT WE KNOW:
• Listening strengthens each and every
connection and interaction.
• With deeper levels of listening comes levels
of understanding that help you grow
professionally and personally.
• The ability to absorb and reflect back to
others is a rare and highly valued skill.
TEAMS: LISTENING

47. TO BUILD THE PART OF PEOPLE THAT
INNOVATES YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND,
THAT PART IS ATTACHED TO THE REST
• You may be hoping there’s a link to an AI program
that will deal with this fact for you.
TEAMS: COLLABORATION

48. TO BUILD THE PART OF PEOPLE THAT
INNOVATES YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND,
THAT PART IS ATTACHED TO THE REST
• You may be hoping there’s a link to an AI program
that will deal with this fact for you.
• The focus here is on people, those adorable
biological entities that hold positions at your
company.
TEAMS: COLLABORATION

49. TO BUILD THE PART OF PEOPLE THAT
INNOVATES YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND,
THAT PART IS ATTACHED TO THE REST
• You may be hoping there’s a link to an AI program
that will deal with this fact for you.
• The focus here is on people, those adorable
biological entities that hold positions at your
company.
TEAMS: COLLABORATION

50. IT’S WHAT SHAKESPEARE CALLED, “OUR
NATIVE HUE OF RESOLUTION”
• “Native”, because we’re born with it, “hue” is the
particular tone or shade of our style and “resolution
reminds us of the value in our determination.
TEAMS: COLLABORATION

51. IT’S WHAT SHAKESPEARE CALLED, “OUR
NATIVE HUE OF RESOLUTION”
• “Native”, because we’re born with it, “hue” is the
particular tone or shade of our style and “resolution
reminds us of the value in our determination.
• Simplified it says, ‘from birth, what we have to
express is unique and important.
TEAMS: COLLABORATION

52. IT’S WHAT SHAKESPEARE CALLED, “OUR
NATIVE HUE OF RESOLUTION”
• “Native”, because we’re born with it, “hue” is the
particular tone or shade of our style and “resolution
reminds us of the value in our determination.
• Simplified it says, ‘from birth, what we have to
express is unique and important.
• Sometimes innovation takes the form of an open
field of possibilities, and other times it takes the
form of a target to hit.
TEAMS: COLLABORATION

53. Thank you,