Gaming and consulting

Diapason Consulting is actually my second experience as a consultant. My first paid gig after my PhD was indeed in this capacity. Not for a consulting group - but as an "internal consultant" for a small French engineering firm, developing and deploying advanced engineering solutions for the nuclear and large-scale research industries (contributing to the Laser Mega Joule for instance). A fascinating scientific and technical environment. A brutal reality check after 4 years of academic theorizing and model/map making. And a total value misalignment. It didn't last.

My second career, as a tech leader with medical device startups and SMEs, was much more sustainable and gave me a very enriching experience across NZ, AUS, and the USA. This experience allowed me to create Diapason and somehow be—again—a consultant.

Even if it is the second time, I still haven't figured out what it really means and each time I'm asked to explain I improvise a different blurb. I'm sometimes tempted to even avoid the word altogether (Video1 or Video2). I start to have some clarity on a few points though:

• On one hand, being a consultant is putting my expertise to the service of my clients and their mission/vision, with humility yet with confidence, to maximise the impact of this vision. I'm grateful to work in a field where it is not hard to find value alignment; finding meaning in developing technology to fight disease and promote health and artistic creation is not "rocket science". So the only challenge left is to align expertise with needs. Not always easy - but much easier for sure.
• On the other hand, being a consultant is also having a platform that can support advocacy and education, and the flexibility to do this in many ways. And this comes with a level of responsibility to also achieve a more personal mission/impact. Whilst I have been teaching and mentoring through several institutions and presenting at several conferences and symposiums, I haven't so far delivered any workshop-type content "on my own". This is now happening! This Friday, 17/05, at Sydney Knowledge Hub. Tickets are still available, sign up here: https://www.dhirubhai.net/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7195649082495840257/

Since I started in this game, many consultants and educators have inspired me. In the past few months, particularly, I have been lucky to participate in a couple of very dynamic, playful / play-based, and change-triggering workshops that convinced me that this format was an amazing way to create impact.

• Back in December during their workshop "Igniting a Humane AI Business Culture", Justin Tauber , Mathew Mytka , Ruth Marshall , Nathan (Nate) Kinch and Lorenn Ruster creatively used the Aristotelian elements to introduce new perspectives on the complex system formed by humans and technology, and to reflect collectively on our rights and responsibilities in the face of the fast evolution of this dynamic system. It was a fascinating and entertaining evening and one of several deeply edifying discussions with Lorenn and Nate.

• In April I had the opportunity to join a gaming workshop hosted by Bernard Yannou and Fran?ois Cluzel at CentraleSupélec to accompany the release of the book Radical Innovation Design and illustrate the methodology it introduces, informed by and based on the work done within countless French industrial organisations during the decades that Prof Yannou and his team have dedicated to "research intervention". It was quite symbolic for me to catch up with Prof. Yannou after 20 years, almost to the day, as he was one of the two readers of my PhD thesis. It was also quite entertaining to identify innovation opportunities to address the challenges of urban transportation by identifying value pockets in a multidimensional model of the design space.

• My friend and mentor Dr Leila Alem is always a source of inspiration. Luckily you can see it for yourself by signing up for the event she is co-hosting tomorrow Thursday 16/05 https://events.humanitix.com/climate-action-week-fishburners as part of the Climate Action Week Sydney .
• Cuauhtemoc Moreno is a talented game designer as well as a tech leader who is putting his creativity to the service of children's hearing health with the whole team at Sound Scouts . Thanks Cuauh for beta testing some of the ideas that will go into the Diapason Workshop Friday!