AKQA Co-Founder on the Lessons Behind a $550 Million Agency | James Hilton

How to use Play as your Business Strategy | Michelle Lee, IDEO Partner

How IDEO uses play to solve real business problems. In this interview, Ekaterina sits down with Michelle Lee, IDEO Partner and Executive Managing Director of IDEO San Francisco. Michelle Lee began her career as an aerospace engineer, working on satellites, wondering why it took so long to launch one. A friend's room full of toys changed everything. What followed was a winding path through the toy industry: an internship at IDEO in 2004, a startup she spun out and left, and a return to lead the Play Lab. Over two decades, she brought over 250 products to market with Hasbro, Mattel, and Sesame Workshop, and today, she is Partner and Executive Managing Director of IDEO's San Francisco studio.In a recent conversation with Future London Academy, Michelle shared what she's learned about creativity, leadership, ambiguity, and why play is one of the most underestimated tools in business. What you'll learn: ► Why play is a serious business tool, not a frivolous one ► How to design a non-linear career by following curiosity rather than chasing titles ► How to move from individual contributor into leadership without losing the craft ► Why clients are partners, not customers, and how generosity builds trust ► How to prove the ROI of design, play, and creativity using IDEO's POWER framework ► How to use AI as a sparring partner without losing your creativity 👤 Who this episode is for: Design Leaders · Product Designers · Heads of Design · Service Designers · Experience Designers · Creative Directors · Agency Founders · Innovation Leads · and anyone curious about creativity, leadership, and business Chapters: 00:00 Welcome and why play matters in business 05:30 How to design a non-linear career by following curiosity 10:30 From individual contributor to leader without losing the craft 17:00 Heart vs dollar sign: balancing creativity and business as a senior professional 20:30 Why clients are partners, not customers 24:30 How to step into senior leadership without going it alone 29:30 The IDEO IQ framework and the ROI of play 41:30 How to sit in ambiguity and why good friction matters 48:30 How to convince business leaders that play drives results 53:30 Cultivating IDEO's culture: concrete floors and rough prototypes 01:01:30 AI at IDEO: rough, rapid, right prototyping in the AI era 01:10:30 Earning design a seat at the table and more curiosity in the world

AKQA Co-Founder on the Lessons Behind a $550 Million Agency | James Hilton

Nearly 30 years ago, James Hilton answered an ad in Creative Review, met a stranger named Ajaz Ahmed, and they signed Virgin as their first client. That was the beginning of AKQA. AKQA went on to win Grand Prix Cannes Lions, James was named the UK's number one digital creative director three times, and they were acquired by WPP for around $550 million. He also made the Creativity 50 alongside Jonathan Ive and Lady Gaga. What followed was a design studio, a custom motorcycle brand featured by Netflix and Top Gear, a Chief Creative Officer role at Native, and now a position inside Abbott, helping a 100,000-person healthcare company grow. James invited Future London Academy to his home outside London to chat about his journey. And if you are curious about our Executive Programme for Design Leader that James teaches on, you can find more information here: https://fla.wiki/42jCun4 00:00:00 — Meet James Hilton — The Design Leader Who Built AKQA Into a 6,000-Person Agency 00:01:00 — Selling AKQA for £340M 00:04:00 — What made AKQA succeed: obsession, craft & hiring people smarter than you 00:09:00 — The founder's paradox: staying in the work vs. scaling a creative business 00:11:00 — Building a Culture of Honest Feedback as a Creative Leadership Strategy 00:16:00 — Over-delivering as a growth strategy: how AKQA became a trusted advisor 00:28:00 — Life after AKQA: leaving, fear, and starting over from scratch 00:37:00 — Imposter syndrome, catastrophic thinking & using data to fight anxiety 00:44:00 — Stoicism as a leadership practice: the philosophy that changed everything 00:49:00 — Design with a capital D: transforming organisations at scale (Abbott case study) 00:53:00 — Why design leaders are a business value lever, not a visual service 01:00:00 — AI as a design tool, post-scarcity futures & final advice for design leaders #designleadership #agencyfounder #

Sam Bompass, Co-Founder of Bompass & Parr, on Creative Risks, Inspiration and the Business of Wonder

How Bompas & Parr built a creative agency that stands out.In this interview, Ekaterina sits down Sam Bompass. Nearly 20 years ago, Sam Bompas quit his job in property PR to make jelly. Since then, as co-founder of Bompas & Parr, Sam has cooked on molten lava, built a breathable cloud of gin and tonic, and founded the British Museum of Food. His studio works with governments, global brands like Coca-Cola, Johnnie Walker, and Mercedes, and major cultural institutions including the V&A, the Design Museum, and The Met. In a recent conversation with Future London Academy, he shared his remarkable hard-won wisdom about creativity, leadership, and what it really takes to build something lasting.What you’ll learn► How to turn a creative experiment into a scalable experiential agency► Why systemising ideas strengthens creativity rather than limiting it► How to pitch bold concepts while protecting budgets, feasibility, and client trust► What it takes to lead multidisciplinary teams across food, design, strategy, and making► How to use history and culture as a source of commercially powerful innovation► Why AI will not replace human creativity, and what founders should focus on instead👤 Who this episode is for:Design Leaders · Product Designers · Head of Design · Service Designers · Experience Designers · Brand Designers · Agency founders · Creatives · Creative Directors · and anyone interested in creativity and business Chapters: 00:00 Welcome introduction and the origin of Bompas and Parr06:37 From jelly experiments to building a global experiential agency13:01 Creative risk safety lessons and scaling ambitious ideas18:48 Finding inspiration in London and using history as creative fuel30:22 Systematising ideas from studio archives to client-ready concepts35:43 What makes a strong idea clarity impact, feasibility and business value42:32 Pitching bold work, presenting multiple routes, and winning client trust49:43 Leading multidisciplinary teams culture rituals and hybrid working56:41 Co-founder dynamics long-term partnership, and complementary strengths01:03:51 PR visibility and rescuing projects under pressure01:09:54 Food, drink, design inspiration and the power of service01:13:57 AI: The future of creativity and discovering new cultural possibilities

Cal Thompson, VP of Design on how they use AI at Headspace and why they hire interns

With so many AI tools flying around, it’s easy for creative teams to feel overwhelmed. Which tools actually matter? And more importantly, what stays uniquely human in design leadership as technology evolves? In this episode of Design Leadership in the Boardroom,Ekaterina sits down with Cal Thompson, VP Design at Headspace and curator of Future London Academy’s Product Design Strategy course. Cal shares how AI is changing the strategic power of design (not replacing it), where these tools genuinely help guiding roadmaps, measuring product signals, prototyping visions, and where they don’t belong at all, especially when it comes to anchoring human stories. Joining as a special guest, Rachel Arredondo , Senior Product Designer at Headspace, offers a practical, grounded view of AI as a thought collaborator. She shows how she uses Claude to expand her reach without outsourcing judgment, and why designers must shape tools just as much as tools shape us. Expect a conversation rooted in empathy, culture, and creative responsibility, plus a clear, usable framework for deciding where AI fits in your design process. What you’ll learn  * Why design’s strategic influence can grow in an AI-enabled world * Where AI helps most across the process of guiding roadmap, synthesising measurement signals, prototyping future visions, navigating crowded markets * Why human observation and interviews can’t be replaced by synthesis tools * How to build a design culture that fuels collaboration, trust, and imagination * What AI means for junior talent, and how leaders should rethink career pathways * Why the next “design movement” will be collective, not solo-AI driven Who this episode is for Design Leaders · Product Designers · Head of Design · Head of UX / UX Director · Product Design Lead · UX Design Lead / Design Lead · Design Managers & Senior ICs navigating AI adoption · Solo/In-house designers · Creatives and cross-functional partners (PMs, researchers, engineers) shaping AI-enabled products

Apple’s former design executive on tools, purpose of design and creativity in the age of AI | Charles Migos, intangible.ai

With so many AI tools flying around, it feels overwhelming for any creative team to choose the ones that will make a difference.  This is why last week, we decided to have a conversation with Charles Migos, Chief Product Officer, Founder of Intangible.ai [http://intangible.ai], Design Leaders faculty member and one of the most exciting voices in design today. He is a design executive who has spent 30 years building tools for creatives, working alongside the industry’s brightest minds like Steve Jobs and in companies like Apple, Microsoft, and Unity. What we got is a powerful conversation with Charles about how designers play an important role in the age of AI, from problem-solving and aligning teams to improving collaboration. Timecodes:00:00 Introduction to design and AI with Charles Moberly (ex Apple, Microsoft, Unity)03:04 How the AI shift compares to the internet, Photoshop, and touchscreens06:12 The fundamentals of design that stay the same in the AI era08:23 How to choose AI tools for designers without feeling overwhelmed14:07 How to test and adopt AI tools in a design team16:36 Why creativity still works best as a team sport19:49 What design leaders should focus on in the AI era25:51 Balancing design and engineering cultures at scale32:20 Building Intangible AI and rethinking generative 3D workflows38:46 Copyright, IP, and ethical risks in generative AI45:08 Trust, privacy, and data choices when using AI tools45:26 A realistic look at the future of AI for creatives46:42 How designers can actively shape the future with AI50:19 New opportunities for designers using AI tools well54:09 Practical Figma Make tips for faster high fidelity prototyping01:02:04 Gender bias in AI and what design leaders can do01:22:22 Empathy and pragmatism as core design leadership skills54:09 Practical Figma Make tips Prototyping faster in high fidelity01:02:04 Gender bias in AI How design leaders respond01:22:22 Empathy and pragmatism in design leadership