#2/6 Dr. Frederik Pferdt – “Inspiring people to invent what’s next”

In the last episode of Strat Talks, edition #2, Dr. Frederik Pferdt
explains how he helped to supercharge innovation culture at Google
and shares an early sneak peek into his new book. Frederik explains
what a future optimist is (and why he describes himself as one),
why creativity and innovation are deeply interlinked, and how one’s
mindset can impact the future. We explore Design Thinking as a
methodology and way of living, discuss why the only way to do it is
to “just do it”, and how this mindset can even help in raising your
kids. Last but not least, listeners will learn about the role of
milkshakes as a source of inspiration and how a beginner’s mind can
make teams better. Dr. Frederik Pferdt is Google’s First and Former
Chief Innovation Evangelist. In this role he led the growth of the
company’s innovation culture since 2010, working with tens of
thousands of executives and employees to support innovation across
the organization. From founding “The Google Garage” to launching
Google’s future leadership institute, he has personally trained and
mentored a diverse global community of 600+ Googlers who have
served as innovation evangelists in every corner of the company.
Since 2013, he also serves as an adjunct professor at Stanford
University’s d.school, where he teaches graduate classes to
navigate ambiguity at the intersection of innovation, creativity,
and design.