How Design Thinking Can Improve Your Mental Health

Everyone should learn how to use design thinking. It's not just useful for creating a winning business model; it's a proven mindset that can guide you through some of life's toughest challenges. And designers and tech companies aren't the only ones who can harness its value. Jessica shares her research-based experience using design thinking as a roadmap to personal and professional fulfillment in this lightning talk.

The Art & Algorithm of Successful Strategy: Embracing Your Inner Strategist

What makes a genuinely strategic thinker in a world where AI can generate code and data can predict patterns?

This talk explores how technical professionals can harness their analytical mindset and creative intuition to become more effective strategists. Drawing from real-world examples in tech, we'll explore how embracing the tension between empirical thinking and imaginative possibilities leads to breakthrough solutions. It is perfect for engineers, developers, or product managers looking to expand their impact beyond technical execution to strategic leadership.
Through this talk, I hope to inspire others to:
- Understand how to listen to your inner strategist and how it benefits your technical work
- Learn practical tools to apply strategic thinking to technical challenges, from initial problem framing through to solution development
- Be equipped with a framework to develop a strategic process that builds on, rather than competes with, your technical expertise

Tech requirements: projection of slide deck
List of conferences: TEDx Itaewon (South Korea), WTM IWD 2020, Equitas DEI Panel
Target audience: technical professionals (e.g. engineers, developer, product managers, etc.)
Preferred session duration: Long talk (30 min.) but this is flexible