Industry Coach

When approaching design problems Adam draws as heavily on his experiences as a class V river guide, substance abuse counselor, yacht builder, and mountaineer as he does on his technical training in mechanical engineering and design. These threads, woven together, are the fabric that is Adam's approach to identifying worthwhile pursuits, leading successful teams, strategically navigating risk and uncertainty, and generating new ideas. Given the choice between more and less, and same and different, he'll usually choose more and different, often on the path to less and same.

New to the world of academia, Adam hasn't given up on the idea that it's possible to radically change the world. He often thinks back to his days working in boatyards, where given the right tools a small team could accomplish wonderful things. One of his favorite jobs was working on the crane crew. There's a strong connection and interdependence between members of the crew - trust born of shared responsibility. Their language of hand signals allows communication across large distances with minimal effort. An index finger points skyward and describes small circles in the air. As a result tons of precious cargo describe beautiful arcs through the sky. In Adam's mind, the d.school is a crane, with roots in academia and a boom that is extending itself farther and farther out into the world.

As Adam sees it, the inspiring things about members of the d.school team is their commitment to constructive disagreement, their propensity to form strong opinions, and their willingness to change. Adam relishes the freedom that comes from working in an environment where professors actively experiment with course content, and where he and his teaching colleagues have taken to starting a dialogue with students that begins with "The thing that Adam and I currently disagree about is..." It sharpens his game. It sharpens the students' game. Design thinking isn't a spectator sport, and he likes it that way.