Designing The Future: How to Be a Good Ancestor with Lisa Kay Solomon

Update: 2025-05-15

Description

What if you could actively shape the future instead of just reacting to it?

In this episode of Humanity at Scale, host Bruce Temkin is joined by Lisa Kay Solomon, Designer in Residence at Stanford’s d.school, for a powerful conversation about leading with imagination in an era of disruption. Together, they explore how leaders can actively shape the future by cultivating foresight, ethical decision-making, and human-centered design. Lisa shares actionable frameworks, like the “Design Criteria” and “Must, Should, Could, Won’t,” to help leaders move beyond reactive strategies and foster possibility thinking. Learn how to become a better ancestor, make values-driven choices, and unlock the human potential needed to navigate complexity and build more meaningful futures.

What you will learn:

How to balance short-term pressures with long-term "good ancestor" thinking
Why imagination is a critical leadership skill and how it can be developed
The "Design Criteria" framework for making values-based decisions
How to practice "futures thinking" through scenario planning and backcasting
Why leaders must create conditions for human agency and possibility thinking
The "Must, Should, Could, Won't" template for clarifying organizational values
How to rehearse potential futures rather than being blindsided by the present
Why empathy and human connection help unleash organizational potential
How to combat attention economy forces that limit creative and strategic thinking
The importance of practicing "outside-in" thinking versus traditional strategic planning

Lisa Kay Solomon is a bestselling author, educator, and speaker dedicated to making design a powerful, everyday leadership practice. As Designer in Residence at Stanford’s d.school, she bridges futures thinking and design to help students and leaders shape more intentional, human-centered futures. A 2020 ixDA Woman of Design honoree, Lisa has led transformational efforts at Singularity University and CCA’s MBA in Design Strategy, and recently launched LinkedIn Learning’s first “Leader as Futurist” course to bring future-ready mindsets to a broader audience.

Episode Resources: