Nick Dawson

CREATIVE STRATEGY

by design

 
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I believe…

strategy must be creative, bold, and human centered, and I bet you do too!

I guide mission-driven leaders and teams through hard challenges without obvious answers.

I understand the weight and personal investment that comes with leading change.

Modern challenges don’t have a playbook. Navigating them requires empathy, creativity, and new ways of working. I call it creative design for impact.

I bring a deep experience in human centered design, creative problem solving, and coaching people to work differently.

Together, we can solve intractable challenges or create new solutions which are human centered, impactful, and viable.

 

Let’s Talk

Let’s find some time for a quick chat. I’d love to hear what you are excited about.

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What I can help with


 

Strategic Design Guidance

Maybe you’ve got a hard challenge without an obvious answer, or maybe you’ve got a plan that feels risky. I help mission driven leaders run towards those challenges using design methods and creativity.

 

EG: Employee Engagement

Today, employee engagement means a lot more than providing snacks in a break room. How we think about work is fundamentally changing. That is as true for leaders and managers as it is for front line staff. How are you thinking about your culture, processes, norms, and values to create a vibrant, engaged, inspired team?

EG: Hard Problems, without obvious answers

What’s the difference between innovation and implementation? Implementation can absolutely be hard, but at least there is a plan and known end state. Innovation is the art of addressing the unknown, hard problems without obvious answers. A design-based approach to innovation is all about getting messy, at first, to get polished in the end. And it requires embracing the unknown, curiosity, and creativity.

 

Speaking

I enjoy sharing the good, bad, and ugly of decades of leading change. I’m available to speak on topics including:

  • Leading change through design

  • The transformation from sick care to well care through community engagement

  • Empowering front line innovation

  • Planning, building, launching, and maintaining an internal innovation program

  • Emerging technology (including AI) and its impact on innovation

Leader and Team Coaching

I coach leaders and teams in areas including:

  • Cultivating a Culture of Innovation: Together, we can explore strategies to foster a culture of innovation within your organization, empowering your team to generate and implement new ideas.

  • Leading Change through Human-Centered Design: I'll coach you on applying human-centered design principles to drive meaningful change, ensuring that your initiatives are rooted in empathy and designed with the end-users in mind.

  • Navigating Digital Transformation: I can help you navigate the complexities of digital transformation and guide you in adopting innovative digital strategies that align with your purpose-driven goals.

Facilitation

A great meeting or workshop is a thing of art. Bringing people together, keeping them engaged, and reaching a valuable outcome takes planning, creativity, and a lot of energy. I’ve led workshops for boards, leadership teams, customer groups, and more. The goal is always the same - bring people together and get stuff done in creative ways.

 Brainstorming

The old joke is that a brainstorm is a meeting without an agenda. But, in design, that’s not the case. Our brainstorms are highly researched, structured, and guided. As a result, they lead to real, clear outcomes where everyone is on the same page.

 


About
Nick

I’ve led design innovation at some of the leading healthcare delivery organizations. I’ve advised the highest levels of government, states, and localities on more human centered responses. And I’ve helped major organizations launch their own innovation programs.