Return on Experience

Inspiration and innovation are difficult to process from a purely logical perspective and require a broader view into the way we think and feel. In some cases, they are deeply personal and at the same time shared at a social level. In this sense, we naturally view design as possessing enormous value and as an essential part of culture, with a broad application.

Design is a dialogue. This book is not a treatise on the do's and don'ts of design or business. It is a reflection on the nature of how to see design. To understand the things we create.

Design is and always has been part of a conversation. As such, this book captures a dialogue I have been engaged in for over 30 years at Eight Inc. This conversation is more than a single path but reflects the dialogue and practice of business leaders, designers, colleagues, and collaborators.

This book would not exist without those on the other side of the conversation and is more than a lens of a single or individual point of view. We have been incredibly fortunate to design with some incredibly sensitive and intelligent people, and to work with some of the world's most successful people and companies. We have been fortunate to create transformational work, and much of our approach I can attribute to a different way of thinking and doing. I think Steve Jobs would agree.
Tim Kobe is a design leader, author, and founder of the globally recognized strategic and experience design firm Eight Inc. For over 30 years in design and a leader in Innovation and Branded Experience, Eight Inc. has worked with companies such as Apple, Virgin Atlantic Airways, Nike, Lincoln, and Citibank. The firm takes on an interdisciplinary and holistic approach, working across traditional disciplines including strategy, architecture, exhibition, interior design, product, communications, and branding. Many of his projects have received international design awards and has been published across Asia, Europe, and the United States. Kobe has been featured and recognized for his work in prominent publications like Harvard Business Review, Bloomberg, the Economist, Dezeen, and Fast Company.
Roger Lehman has devoted the past 40 years to applying psychological concepts to leadership and organizational dynamics. He is the co-founder and director of the executive master in change program at INSEAD and a senior lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management. His executive programs focus on leadership, innovation, personal and professional development, change management and building high-performance teams. Roger has advanced degrees in psychiatry and religion, clinical social work, clinical psychology, and psychoanalytic training. He spent 25 years as a practicing psychotherapist and psychoanalyst and he brings a variety of lenses to individual and organizational development. Born in the United States, Roger has also lived in Germany and Singapore, and currently resides in the south of France with his wife Tessa, their dog Murphy, and their three cats. Living between the sea and the mountains, he enjoys hiking, swimming and skiing, a good olive harvest, and practicing speaking French with an American accent.