About
Paul Bennett is Chief Creative Officer and a Managing Partner at IDEO. As one of the firm’s five senior executives, he works with clients, partners, and colleagues to bring to market human-centered, commercially successful, socially significant new businesses, products, services, and experiences. He is responsible for content excellence across IDEO and actively cultivates and publishes new ideas in the field of human-centered, design-led innovation.
Paul, a Brit who spent his early years in Singapore, is known for his international work. During his tenure at IDEO, he created its largest global practice, Consumer Experience Design; ran the San Francisco office, where he established a robust and enduring creative direction; extended IDEO’s international reach by founding its presence in China; established and led the New York office, extending IDEO’s reach in the US market; and delivered impactful results to clients and new growth to IDEO’s business in Europe. Today, Paul continues to provide creative leadership and to enable the cross-pollination of ideas among colleagues and clients by traveling, learning, and working around the globe.
Paul is also a sought-after public speaker. He has addressed the World Economic Forum; TED Global; TEDx Tohoku, Dubai, and Amazonia; The Economist Redesigning Business Summit; the AOL CEO Conference; American Express Luxury Summit; Tokyo Midtown Opening; and others. Paul also regularly shares his thought leadership via influential national and international media, including The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, BBC, BusinessWeek, Harvard Business Review, The Independent (UK), The Guardian (UK), L’Espresso (Italy), RÚV TV (Iceland), To Vima (Greece), Khaleej Times (Dubai), ABC-TV (Australia), and China Entrepreneur Magazine (China). He appeared in the prime-time BBC documentary Genius of Design, produced by the Oscar-winning production company Wall-to-Wall, and A Meeting of Minds, a documentary coproduced by CNBC and Star Alliance.
A keen educator, Paul has taught and coached students of the Royal College of Art (UK), Stanford University, Columbia Business School, and FIT’s (Fashion Institute of Technology, New York) Executive Beauty and Fragrance Marketing Program and Capstone Project.
Prior to joining IDEO in 2001, Paul cofounded the pioneering brand design business nickandpaul in New York, where his clients included Coca-Cola, Ford, Johnson & Johnson, and Unilever.
Watch Paul in Survival of the Fastest (presented by YouTube in partnership with London Business School, the Daily Telegraph, and Google)
- “The Importance of Asking the Right Questions”
- “What Will Winning Organizations Look Like in 18 Months’ Time?”
- “How Do Business Leaders Prepare for the Upturn?”
Watch Paul on Icelandic TV: Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3
Follow @pbennett101 on Twitter.