RMV 20 Barbara Knickerbocker Beskind: You Can Design Aging

Barbara has been designing her life for almost a century, with a stint at global design firm IDEO starting when she was just 93-years-old. After seeing founder David Kelley featured on an episode of 60 Minutes, Barbara wrote to the company offering to help design for aging and low-vision populations. Hailing from the field of occupational therapy, after training through the U.S. Army’s War Emergency Course, and serving for 20 years before retiring as a major in 1966, Barbara’s own experience with macular degeneration led her to design glasses to help her and others with the condition. 

In this episode of Results May Vary, Barbara shares her fascinating story of personal reinvention, and how rather than allowing her illnesses and advanced age to hold her back, she simply used them as new constraints to redesign her life around.

RMV 19 Kristen Berman: You Can Design Your Behavior

Kristen Berman spends a lot of time thinking about human behavior. As a behavioral economist, she helps people make the changes that they want in the long term, but are hard to implement in the short term.

On this episode of Results May Vary, Kristen talks with Chris and Tracy about the ways our environment can alter our behavior and how incorporating small changes can yield giant results. Kristen shares strategies and tips on how to approach life from a behavioral economist’s perspective in order to “hack back” our lives and design the lifestyle changes we want.

In 2013, Kristen co-founded behavioral product design company Irrational Labs, with Dan Ariley. She also founded Common Cents Lab at Duke University, which aims to increase the financial well-being for low-to moderate-income people in the U.S. and abroad.

Read full episode transcript

RMV 17 Sandra Kulli: You Can Design Community

In our newest episode, we introduce you to Sandra Kulli, a community architect, dedicated to creating extraordinary places that focus on fostering human connection.

As she practices the business and art of placemaking, Sandra is an advocate of thoughtful design and innovative problem-solving.

Starting her career as a teacher in a rich and vibrant inner city school system, over the years, Sandra has learned that community is local. And personal. So in her work, and her daily life, she is always looking to connect with others in a more meaningful way.

Today she shares her story and experience with us, including her 5 steps for building community well-being.

Show Notes:

Tres Santos in Todo Santos, Baja California Sur
Happy Planet Index
Daybreak, Salt Lake City, UT
The Pinehills, Plymouth, MA
MIT Age Lab
M Train by Patty Smith
Little City Gardens, San Francisco, CA
Ron Finley, Gangsta Gardener
Alone Together by Sherry Turkle
Ride-Arc, Los Angeles, CA
CicLAvia, Los Angeles, CA
Summers Corner, Charleston, SC
Inventing Desire by Karen Stabiner
XPrize
Orbiting the Giant Hairball by Gordon MacKenzie

RMV 15 Jenny Jin: You Can Design For College (and Beyond)

In our newest episode, we introduce you to designer, Jenny Jin, whose motto is “always be learning!” A graduate of Stanford and MIT, she recently worked at the Alicia Foundation, founded by world renowned chef of El Bulli, Ferran Adria, to promote healthy eating for everyone.

Jenny is an entrepreneurial learner and doer, and is here to inspire us with her a sense of optimism, and roll-up-your-sleeves, kick-open-your-own-door attitude. Living up to her motto, we recently caught up with Jenny as she was preparing to lead a class at MIT’s Edgerton Center for Experiential Learning to teach undergrads how to apply design thinking to their lives.

Always the collaborator, Jenny wanted us to let everyone know that she is grateful for her amazing graduate TA's for the class - Lea (background in education), Nila (background working in oil rigs), and Prerna Sekhi (background in social enterprises) - who all dropped other classes to make helping facilitate this class a priority.

RMV 13 Story Musgrave: Should You Really Try To Design Your Life?

What CAN'T you say about Story Musgrave? He holds 7 graduate degrees in math, computers, chemistry, medicine, physiology, literature and psychology, and has been awarded 20 honorary doctorates. He was a part-time trauma surgeon during his 30 year career as an astronaut, AND has had a cameo on Home Improvement.

Today, in his 80s, he operates a palm farm in Florida, among other things, including giving amazing talks about human performance, and raising his youngest daughter, also named Story.

We asked him how he designed such an incredible life and he told us he’s not sure you can, or should. However he does it, his perspective, and life story is absolutely fascinating.