John Maeda: A Life of Tech, Design and Computational Thinking

Today’s podcast guest is John Maeda – famed artist, designer, technologist, author, ex MIT Professor, and once President of the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design, among many other accolades - most recently working as CTO at Everbridge.

Listen here.

John completed his bachelors and masters degrees in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at MIT where he would return to become Professor of Design and Computation and Head of Research. He also earned a PhD in Design and a Master’s in Business.

In this wide-ranging conversation, John and I discuss his book?How to Speak Machine: Computational Thinking for the Rest of Us as well as the leadership lessons he has learned throughout his career through good times and more importantly, the bad, how we can create a world of optimism akin to the Obama era and why we should all remain curious creatures.

We look at the importance of an online identity, and how that is different for women, how getting a vote of no confidence from his design school faculty was a low point in his career which he was able to turn around. And how empathy in "makers" is hard to cultivate due to their laser-like focus, such was the case with Steve Jobs.

John is a great all-rounder - a tech and design leader with great values which he shares on a global stage.

I have learned so much from John over the years, and in this conversation, and I am sure you will too.

So here is my conversation with the utterly brilliant John Maeda.

Enjoy!

Danielle

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John Maeda Twitter / website / instagram

John's book -?How to Speak Machine: Computational Thinking for the Rest of Us

PS Let me know what you think of this episode and please rate, review and share - it means the world to me and helps others to find it too.

Thank you.