As designers, how can we make the biggest impact on the world—our community, our economy and our future? As we think about our current challenges and the future, how can we think “big” about design? We’ll explore the difference between “small d” design and “big D” design and the opportunity we have as designers to actually change the world. (For real).

“When you look at all of the industries that have been disrupted, there’s a big one that hasn’t been touched—the baby/toddler industry and the problems around being a first-time parent. But, that’s changing. 30% of the US population (75 million people) are millennials representing over 90% of all first-time parents. With a spending power of $1.2 trillion (1/5 of the US total consumer expenditure)–and that’s just the US. I believe there is a huge opportunity for innovation in this space as more and more millennials become parents.

That’s why I joined Kids II in 2017 as Chief Growth Officer and why I co-founded BE Curious Partners, a venture capital firm focused on reinventing parenthood.

I have over 25 years of experience as an investor, advisor, designer, and brand strategist.

In 2012, I was asked to lead ‘disruptive innovation’ at Coca-Cola. This evolved into leading a seed-stage venturing platform called Coca-Cola Founders where we built a portfolio of 15 companies in 10 countries in less than 3 years generating a 4x return on invested capital.

In 2004, I joined Coca-Cola as its first global head of design. We established a cross-functional, systems-based approach to design across more than 200 countries contributing to 18 consecutive quarters of growth while saving the company over $500M. I was named, ‘Master of Design’ by Fast Company and to Forbes’ ‘Executive Dream Team.’

Prior to Coke, I led brand strategy at Sapient helping Fortune 100 companies transform into digital companies. I started my career designing large-scale brand identity systems and experiences for the Olympics, UPS, Delta, and CNN.

In 2015, I co-authored “Design to Grow: How Coca-Cola Learned to Combine Scale and Agility (and How You Can Too), now publishing in over 25 countries. Daniel Pink called it a ‘master class in problem solving,’ Tim Brown said it caused him to ‘rethink IDEO.”While we all wait on pins and needles for David’s talk next week, check out the recording from his last appearance on the Insighter series, in June 2020.