Communicating Diverse Experiences with Teja Arboleda

I made a huge mistake. That statement is not that uncommon for me to say. Mistakes happen with some frequency despite my best efforts. If to err is human, I’m definitely very human.There is an interview that was done back when Adam was still involved that I just came across and realized was never released. And of course that shames me because, despite the delays that might invariably occur with producing this things, I always try to do right by the guests.And it turns out that the topic of this conversation couldn’t be more timely. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion has been at the top of the headlines. Executive Orders, Lawsuits brought by states, companies either reducing or eliminating their DEI-related programs, with others reaffirming their commitment. For those of us interested or involved in DEI, there is a lot to keep track of. So it is fortuitous that I bring out our conversation with Teja Arboleda right now. Even though we are not talking about the current state of DEI, we are talking about the prelude to this moment. Teja is a producer, director, and actor, using his talents to weave together stories that touch on traditional themes and emergent ones as well. He also has lived across national cultures, growing up in Japan but in an American family. He worked at WGBH, the Boston public television station, where he worked on documentaries related to the Gulf War and the series Frontline. He brings that attention and skillset to the work that he has done in the corporate environment, bringing impactful trainings that are imbued with humor, storytelling, and connecting audiences with the universal experiences behind DEI. And I should also mention he has a degree in sociology as well!Teja Arboleda - https://tejaarboleda.comTeja Arboleda LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tejaarboleda/Ibis Consulting Group - https://www.ibisconsultinggroup.com/

As a person who likes the winter, it can get pretty tiresome listening to people say that they hope there is no snow this winter. In the Northeast and much of the country (if not the world), what is the winter for if not for some snow. A winter without snow is just a brown-infused frigid hellscape. And isn’t there enough hell going around? At least the snow can create a coverage that obscures the ugliness that lies underneath until it is time to emerge once again.And plus, I like to nordic ski. Hard to do that without some snow. At the same time, the snow does present some challenges. While we have been in a bit of a snow rut in New England over the past decade or so, there was the winter of 2015 when I had to get on my roof a number of times to shovel the snow. I also had to extensively use my roof rake to pull the snow from the base of the roof to avoid ice dams. For those who are not familiar with an ice dam, it results from the heat from your house causing snow to start melting, only to freeze once again in the cold temperatures. This repeated process results in a literal dam of ice that leaves no place for additional melting to go, leading to water damage in your roof and house.I have seen houses with these heating coils on their roofs, and that seems cool. Just melts the snow so that you can’t get ice dams.Turns out there is a problem with those well, and that is they can suck up a lot of energy, especially when not in use. It is not as easy as just flipping a light switch either. As a result, you can spend a lot of extra money on powering those things when not needed.Beyond that personal inconvenience, there is the drag that puts on the power grid, which it turns out is not a small problem. As researchers, companies, and people overall look to AI to help with tasks simple and complex, we need more energy. And wasting energy on roof coils that are not being used is a big culprit in our wasted watts.Enter Thomas Clardy and Powder Watts. Powder Watts is a device that helps you monitor and manage your use of roof heating cables. Not only does that help you save money, but it might just be a crucial part of freeing up space on the grid for other reasons, like powering AI. This is not just a matter of convenience and business, but even economic competitiveness and national security. We talk about big impacts from small products, changing behaviors in customers, systems thinking and wicked problems, and how we all have a part to play. 

One of the reasons that I originally went into sociology, and doing ethnographic research, is learning about people’s stories. We are a species that likes stories, and likes hearing about people’s stories. I think this is why “human of New York” is as popular as it is. People have their stories rooted in their lives and experiences. And when it comes to entrepreneurs and business, the ideas they come up with often are closely tied to those lives. This is what makes doing the podcast so much fun. I get to talk with people who have lived fascinating lives and come up with creative and inspired ideas to make people’s lives better. To me, this is the essential part of experience design: making lives better for people using our own experiences, knowledge, and passions as the basis for our designs.Today’s episode is no different. I had the pleasure of speaking with Diamond Drip. One of the chief questions we explore is “what is our authentic self”, and “how do we get in touch with it?” with all of the social distractions and noise filling our head on a regular basis. Those external distractions can be coupled with the internal challenges that we all face.For Diamond, part of this journey involved her dealing with Bipolar II, and using psilocybin as part of a clinical trial. The impacts of this trial lead her to realize her dream and passion for human design. The manner in which she approaches human design is through thinking about what we put out into the world, especially our energy. She was always told that her energy was contagious. She came to learn the importance of energy alignment when we are doing things that we are meant to do. We need to learn to lead from within in order to align our energy and our actions. We also talk about her time in the Air Force, working at a gym, her background in Graphic Design, and getting tired of not being the leading lady in her life. She describes how other leading ladies in her life, like her Aunt, helped to instill a belief in herself and her potential. And believing in ourselves in a message that we can all relate to. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/diamonddrip/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFHTm-gbYJAEhU4qmY44pmQDiamond Drip Website: https://www.diamonddripconsulting.com/

I miss my gas stove. I used to have one in a home I first lived in after moving to Massachusetts. There was something about the click-click-click and then the spark of the flame. Being able to see it and adjust it accordingly based on how much heat I wanted to generate for whatever I was cooking. It felt magically.Come to think about it, my love for a gas stove may extend back to watching my parents light cigarettes from the flame. I would guess it is a lot harder to light a smoke off an electric stove.  To this day, second-hand smoke makes me think of my childhood.But I never really gave much thought to how my home is powered. I was pretty shocked when I moved to Boston that I had an oil tank in my basement. Didn’t know that was a thing. Beyond that, I was pretty ambivalent about what provided heat and warming (and flame) to my house, as long as it worked.That’s why I was so intrigued to talk with Tucker Perkins, who is my guest today on Experience by Design. Tucker is the President and CEO of the Propane Education and Research Council. I didn’t know we even had a Propane Education and Research Council, but it turns out we do. As their website states, “PERC was authorized by the U.S. Congress with the passage of the Propane Education and Research Act (PERA), signed into law on Oct. 11, 1996.” Also, “The Propane Education & Research Council is a nonprofit that provides leading propane safety and training programs and invests in research and development of new propane-powered technologies.”In the energy space, it also turns out that propane is the little kid on the block, and we love an underdog at Experience by Design. But like with everything on the podcast, this story is about more than propane. We dig into the larger systems perspective when it comes to energy, safety, and sustainability. We talk about how fire has a primal appeal, and how appliances are products that create pleasure. And we talk about how education is vital to behavioral change and getting people to buy into a new idea and system. Ultimately, we need to be fostering critical thinking, coupled with effectively communicating research and knowledge, to get people to make changes in their lives.Propane Education and Research Council https://propane.comTucker Perkins https://www.linkedin.com/in/tucker-perkins-8972a510/ Gary David YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@garydavid9535

Being creative ain’t easy. There is something about putting yourself into your work that can be hugely rewarding, but also massively exhausting. Doing something without putting your heart and soul into it can come with its own drawbacks, but at the end of the day the results of your work are not tied directly into how you see yourself. For people who consider themselves to be creative and work in creative roles, the sense of burnout can be real. At the same time, creative work can be invigorating and rewarding in the right context, giving the right leadership, and working for the right clients.This is what Mack Garrison was trying to create when he founded Dash Studio, where they make videos that matter.  Dash is a ‘high-end animation and motion design studio that believes in the power of creativity and community.’ This is one of the lessons that he learned in the 9 plus years that Dash has been doing business. A big part of their success comes from community: communities of creatives, communities of partners, communities of supporters, and frankly communities of communities. In fact, you could say that creativity either comes from, or at least is enhanced, by community. As part of their effort to create community, they have their annual Dash Bash event, June 11-13, 2025. If you are interested in motion design, or just interested in meeting some great people in Raleigh, NC, check it out. Great speakers, workshops, and social events. Dash Studio - https://www.dashstudio.net/Dash Bash - https://www.dashbash.net/Mack Garrison LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mackgarrison/

I never expected the term “branding” or “brand” to be part of my lexicon, but here we are in 2025 where it seems that “branding yourself” and “what is your brand” are common concepts to discuss. Trying to figure out which version of me will “land” or resonate with not just my “audience”, but anyone. Iconic brands are something that seem to last forever in our minds. What are some of the iconic brands? Apple. Coca-Cola. IBM. Lego. McDonalds. Doesn’t mean that we even like or use these products. But we for sure recognize those brands. Another one of those iconic brands is Harley-Davidson. You might not ride a motorcycle, but you know what Harley-Davidson is and what it represents. But it is not as if Harley-Davidson has been one brand throughout its existence. It has gone through some different iterations of what it is, and how it is seen. But within all of those changes has been a constant of what it was trying to represent. To explore the brand known as Harley Davidson, we welcome Ken Schmidt to the ExD Studio. Ken originally wanted to be in advertising, but ended up in public and investor relations. His journey in the profession saw him end up as director of communications for Harley-Davidson, where he was involved in the company’s turnaround.Part of that turnaround involved changing the perception of Harley-Davidson, while also keeping the perception of Harley-Davidson. Harley has been around since 1903. It was doing exclusive production for the military in World War II. When some of those soldiers returned, they wanted to still ride motorcycles. And some of those soldiers had a bit of a hard time re-integrating into polite society. Thus we get groups known as outlaw motorcycle clubs, and movies that imprinted that connection in people’s minds.Now Harley-Davidson is the motorcycle of a very diverse customer base. You can’t characterize the “Harley rider” other than a person who like comfort, aesthetics, reliability, and yes even noise as part of their riding experience. We cover a lot of ground in this chat, including voice of the customer, inclusive design, branding and identity, the psychology of choice, and the challenges of changing how you are seen while trying to keep who you are. We also talk about his book “Make some noise: The unconventional road to dominance.”I will also add that this conversation was before Harley-Davidson publicly announced it would rollback “DEI initiatives,” including partnering with pride festivals and connections with diversity-related groups.  In terms of how it relates to my conversation with Ken, this last paragraph from Harley is definitely relevant: "We believe having both a broad employee and customer base is good for business and that ultimately everybody should experience the joy of riding a Harley-Davidson. We remain committed to listening to all members of our community as we continue on our journey together as the most desirable motorcycle brand in the world."Ken Schmidt: https://kenspeaks.com/Ken Schmidt LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ken-schmidt-5b08115/"Make Some Noise" book Link

The New Year is a great time to reflect on our past, and to think about what we want to accomplish in the upcoming year. After all, it is the season of the Annual Performance Review! Whether in our personal or professional lives, it can be hard to identify what is important in terms of our evaluations. How do we know if we are making progress toward our goals?The same can be true for companies. What are the metrics that indicate our success? What are the expectations we are trying to meet? How do we stack up against others? What are the benchmarks that we think matter, versus the ones that actually matter?To explore this question and more around customer experience, we welcome Michelle Spaul. Michelle is a customer experience management consultant with her company Delta Swan. Michelle has a wealth of experience in CX, with the simple goal of trying to make things better for customers. As many of you listening will know, behind that simple goal lies a complexity that can challenge most organizations. Therefore, it is a good thing that Michelle has a background in manufacturing systems engineering. We talk about how that education prepared her for working as an experience engineer. She describes how her work on the price of oil informs her systems approach to CX. We discuss the importance of a shareholder mindset that creates value for not just customers, but all who are impacted by the business. We explore how her first job with Phillips around preventing customer returns turned into listening to what customers said, and how that is the foundation of any CX work.Finally, we talk about how there are a lot of different areas of feedback that we can find if we only look. And that if you get defensive about the feedback, you are missing an opportunity to grow.Michelle Spaul LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-spaul-customerexperience/Customer Experience Management Consultant - https://customerexperienceconsultant.co.uk/"The Price of Oil" - https://www.amazon.com/VFUU-Price-Oil-Michelle-Spaul-ebook/dp/B01D7CTTEK

One of the ways that I describe experience design, and more specifically for the purposes of this episode customer experience, is by asking people to imagine the worst customer experience that they have had. And unfortunately for all of us, there are a lot of them.It is probably easy to remember the bad experiences. But what about our best experiences. The times that we felt cared for, appreciated, thought of, where someone did something that made us feel valued.The job of the experience design and CX profession is, in part, to make the positive experiences common and make the negative experiences exceedingly rare. There is a lesson in Buddhism "that life is inherently full of suffering and that it's impossible to live without it.” But even though life is full of suffering, that doesn’t mean that our customer experiences have to be. To talk us through these points, we welcome Valerie Peck to the Experience by Design studios. For those in customer experience, Valerie Peck is a well known thought leader. And for sure Valerie has some thoughts about the state of CX and whether companies really care about customers despite their vocal assurances. We talk about creating experiences versus pushing products, and how being solely about profit can lead to cutting experiential corners. We discuss whether companies really want to have a relationship with their customers, or just perhaps a passing acquaintance. When companies give customers surveys, do they really want to know what customers think? Or is a survey the best way of doing nothing? Valerie has thoughts on CX consulting and the challenge of working with clients that don’t get it, and frankly don’t want to. We explore companies like Southwest and Boeing who “got it”, only to lose it in the pursuit of profit at the expense of experience rather than because of it. Finally, Valerie describes applied customer intelligence, the upcoming CX reckoning, why companies should be more like minor league baseball, and how she helps companies stop abusing their customers so that they come back Valerie Peck LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/valerie-peck-4b143/

Many months ago now, I had the chance to go to the WNDR Museum in Boston. If you google that, it will come categorized as a “tourist attraction.” but it is a lot more than that, especially considering that I wouldn’t classify myself as a “tourist” since I live outside of Boston. More specifically, and even importantly, WNDR is an interactive art museum with immersive art installations. And it was very interactive and immersive. There were a lot of great exhibits that invited you to engage and become surrounded by the creations that were provided there. Whether you are a tourist or not, it is definitely worth a visit.So it was a very pleasant surprise to find that my guest today actually had an installation at the WNDR Museum. It was this very cool outdoor-type of building where you could be with others and experience an audio and visual immersion of rain and lightning. One of the fun things about it was that you were there with strangers, basically arranged in a way that you were experiencing it together. I didn’t know that when I first met Leigh Sachwitz to discuss being on the show. But it was one of the, dare I say, “wonderful” things I found out about Leigh and her work with her Berlin-based company flora&faunavisions (FFV). I got to learn about their award-winning work on projects like the Ring Cycle, a digital opera that creates an immersive experience of the work by Richard Wagner. I also learned about her work on the Utopian Garden, described as a story-based immersive, interactive show where participants can tour the world. She described their Flying Up Sparrows event in China, where Buddhist paintings were brought to life.Finally, she explains their work behind the Genius DaVinci Show that just opened up in Florida this past November. “This exhibition invites you to step into Renaissance Italy to explore Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpieces and inventions up close.” And the great thing about this is the way that educational and entertainment come together to form what Hip Hop artist KRS-One described as “Educatinment.” Or, in Leigh’s words, how do you create experiences that draw people into the moment and produce, empathy, emotional connection, and curiosity. We covered a lot of other ground, including the science of immersive experiences, how we can co-create our futures together using these kinds of experiences as a prompt, how we can inspire our imaginations to unlock the possibilities of ourselves, and the intersection of Detroit and Berlin as hubs of techno music.  Leigh Sachwitz - http://leighsachwitz.com/flora&faunavisions - https://www.florafaunavisions.de/

The original goal of those in the field of usability was pretty simple: to make products and environments that were more usable for those who were interacting with them. By looking at how to make better products, there was the potential to make life better as well. If greater profitability could be gained through these efforts, then great. At the same time, this was not necessarily the primary goal. Profit was not to be done over people. Rather, profit would happen when people were happier with their products. There has been a shift in usability, however. Part of that shift lies in the name itself, which is now known as user experience (or UX). Coined by Don Norman during his time at Apple, UX went beyond just how ‘usable’ a product was. Rather, it referred to the totality of the experience that a user had with the product (which could include usability but was not limited to it). Still, though, the goal was to make things better, if just in a larger scope. Some things have changed when it comes to UX. Don Norman has criticized contemporary UX as not being ‘real’ ux in the traditional sense. There have been other critiques as well, especially around what is known as ‘dark patterns.’ This kind of UX work uses social science and design to create environments that are manipulative and aimed primarily (or solely) on profit. Or, what might be considered to be the antithesis of UX. Karen T. Lin also has some thoughts on the direction of UX today, and what might need to be done to fix it. Karen has worked as a Chief Experience Officer and Head of UX for startups and financial institutions. More importantly, in my opinion,  she initiated the #StopUXErasure effort which is aimed at restoring UX, as well as reducing the tech supremacy which impacts our lives in negative ways. We talk about a range of issues related to experience design and user experience, including:Product dictatorships – uphill battle in UX in terms of advocating for human-centered design in a company. A lot of the battle is with the power in the company (IT or development). Trying to convince them, if you give up some of your control or power, does that allow us to find out what people actually want Profiting because of positive experience rather than at the expense of experienceWhat does it mean to have a human and user centered ethosThe power and politics inherent in design processes, and why it is important to act on behalf of those who are at risk from negative intent