Tim Brown

Tim Brown

Tim Brown is CEO and president of IDEO. He frequently speaks about the value of design thinking and innovation to businesspeople and designers around the world. He participates in the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and his talks “Serious Play” and “Change By Design” appear on TED.com.

An industrial designer by training, Tim has earned numerous design awards and has exhibited work at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Axis Gallery in Tokyo, and the Design Museum in London. He takes special interest in the convergence of technology and the arts, as well as the ways in which design can be used to promote the well being of people living in emerging economies.

Tim advises senior executives and boards of Fortune 100 companies and has led strategic client relationships with such organizations as the Mayo Clinic, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble, and Steelcase. He is a board member of the Mayo Innovation Advisory Council and the Advisory Council of Acumen Fund, a not-for-profit global venture fund focused on improving the lives of the poor. Additionally, he writes extensively, with articles in the Harvard Business Review, The Economist, and other prominent publications. His book on how design thinking transforms organizations, Change By Design, was released by HarperBusiness in September 2009.

Tim maintains a blog on the subject of design thinking. 

Topics Tim speaks on:

  • Design for Environmental Impact
  • Design for Social Impact
  • Design Thinking
  • Human-Centered Design
  • Innovation Strategy
  • Systems Design

Speaking engagements:

April 2010, “Design Thinking: Leveraging Ideas,” Global Philanthropy Forum Conference, Redwood City, CA. Watch the video here.

October 2009, “What happens with a design thinking approach to health care?” TEDMED, San Diego, CA. Watch the video here.

July 2009, "Change By Design," TEDGlobal, Oxford, UK, keynote

May 2009, "Redefining Industrial Design and Pioneering Concepts of Service Design," Talking Design series, Victoria and Albert Museum, London

May 2008, Management 2.0: Inventing the Future of Management, MLab

May 2008, Nantucket Conference

May 2008, Serious Play, Art Center Design Conference
Watch the video here.

January 2008, World Economic Forum in Davos

December 2007, “How Design Thinking Builds Opportunities,” Stanford Breakfast Briefing

February 2006, World Economic Forum in Davos

March 2005, “Innovation by Design,” Better by Design 2005

January 2005, "Business Design: The New Competitive Weapon," Rotman, keynote

May 2004, radio interview, Matrix, Radio Austria 1

April 2004, plenary speech, CHI2004

July 2003, Spark:03 conference

Published works:

Change By Design, HarperCollins (September 2009)

Tim's blog on Design Thinking, (August 2008)

“Design Thinking,” Harvard Business Review, (May 2008)

“Innovate or Else: 6 Thinkers’ Ideas,” US News (January 2008)

“Bringing Design to Blue Chips,” Fortune magazine (November 2007)

“A Dark Art No More,” The Economist (October 2007)

“America Needs More Boing Boing Economics,” usnews.com (March 2007)

“Designing a Better World,” Forbes.com (December 2006)

“Acumen’s New Model for Third-World Aid,” businessweek.com (November 2006)

“The Deans of Design,” US News (September 2006)

Interview with GK VanPatter, NextDesign Leadership Institute, nextd.org (August 2006)

“A Laboratory for Insights,” businessweek.com (September 2005)

“Strategy by Design,” Fast Company (May 2005)

“Collaborative Design Process,” businessweek.com (March 2005)

“The Power of Design,” BusinessWeek (May 2004)

“Think outside tech box to make ‘experiences,’” Toronto Globe and Mail (February 2004)

Q&A, MIT Technology Review (June 2003)