Benedikt Lehnert is former design leader at Microsoft and Chief Design Officer at SAP. He's had a seat at the top table in big tech and brings his own clear-eyed perspective based on that experience.I really enjoyed the conversation with Ben as we discussed the role of the designer in this current moment, the moral responsibilities of building business and technology, the hype cycles and weird incentives at play with the AI hyperscalers, and Ben's view that we should simply focus on adding more than we take.

Chapters

00:00 The Evolution of a Designer

05:38 Navigating the Startup Journey

10:03 Transforming Microsoft: A Design Perspective

14:45 The Role of Chief Design Officer at SAP

20:14 Shifting Focus: From Big Tech to Teaching and Ethics

30:07 The Human Condition in Technology

38:35 AI and Humanistic Considerations

43:17 Learning from Poets and Thinkers

58:37 A Hopeful Vision for the Future

Ben hosts the Poets and Thinkers podcast and you can find out more about him here: https://benediktlehnert.github.io/