For more than 40 years, Sage has helped businesses of all sizes navigate complex business environments. While many of its larger customers have the means and the structure to support climate initiatives, many of its smaller customers do not.

Sage wanted to help its SMB customers get ahead of future climate regulations and meet consumer expectations. And building carbon-footprint evaluation and mitigation tools would also dovetail nicely with Sage’s own climate aspirations: cutting its own emissions in half by 2030. Together, Sage and IDEO investigated how the company could leverage the data in its platform to calculate its customers’ emissions, both direct and indirect, and how that information could spur action as they aim to hit net zero.

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To get started, the design team went deep with customers running all kinds of businesses—from a taxi company to a champagne bar to a falconry center. Business owners shared that their focus often has to be on the day-to-day, a series of small decisions that, when added together, lead to business success. For many, tackling a problem as complex as climate change felt overwhelming. IDEO and Sage synthesized those insights and began working across verticals and products, bringing together experts from marketing, technology, sustainability, and operations to build out new concepts. With the help of two carbon accountants, the team worked to figure out how existing data could inform customers about both their direct and indirect emissions, which can be harder to track. Given how tight SMBs’ margins are, they focused on how that knowledge could fuel emissions-cutting changes that also save money, giving businesses extra incentive to take action. Together, the team created a roadmap of customer outcomes and experience guidelines to help shape future products.

Sage has taken that work forward, launching Sage Earth, a platform that aims to help businesses measure, manage, and mitigate emissions—even across supply chains. With carbon accounting now built directly into all Sage Accounting and Sage for Accountants products in the UK, Sage has made climate action practical and accessible for millions of SMBs. By automating emissions measurement and reporting, Sage Earth removes barriers of cost and complexity, empowering business owners and their accountants to stay competitive in supply chains where up to 95 percent of emissions occur. 

From co-developing the UK Voluntary SME Carbon Reporting Standard to launching a Carbon Accounting API, which gives banks, fintechs, and other platforms access to Sage’s Carbon Engine, Sage is embedding sustainability into the systems people already trust—helping hundreds of thousands (and rapidly increasing) small businesses turn climate ambition into everyday action.

Small- and medium-sized businesses—companies with fewer than 500 employees—make up about 90% of the world’s businesses, according to U.N.-backed SME Climate Hub.

Two thirds of small businesses don’t know how they’re going to reach net zero, and lack the resources to do so, according to a recent survey by SME Climate Hub. Still, the majority reported they want to act on climate, recognizing it can help them become a more resilient business.

Large companies may be the biggest emitters of greenhouse gasses, but an estimated 80% of those emissions come from supply chains—often made up of smaller enterprises.

Scaling rapidly

in the three years since the launch of Sage Earth, which is now being used by hundreds of thousands of businesses

World's 1st

open-source hybrid emissions factors dataset, Carbon Commons, led by Sage, helps SMBs calculate carbon footprints using existing data

Menopause is much more than a biological transition—it is a profound shift that often arrives just when people experiencing it start to feel invisible. Because it has long been shrouded in darkness as an unmentionable female affliction, those going through menopause often feel unprepared and alone.

Recognizing that its customer demographic makes QVC uniquely positioned to surface conversations and provide support to those dealing with menopause, the video commerce retailer partnered with IDEO to figure out how it could not only meet customer needs, but also flip the conversation on midlife. To learn more, a team of female design researchers held in-depth interviews with folks experiencing it firsthand. The people they spoke to had limited information about what was going on with their bodies, and in some cases, it took years before they understood that symptoms they were experiencing were related to menopause. Respondents also reported that midlife brought a change in social status and the feeling of being boxed in by stereotypes.

QVC and IDEO worked together to design an integrated suite of offerings that could give customers a safe space to discover and share more about menopause. That included an on-air programming series called “Menopause Your Way,” where QVC could support those going through menopause in the privacy of their own homes, a digital landing page with useful solutions, and social media campaigns to help women share and learn more about each others’ experiences. Because people experience menopause and choose to manage it in many different ways, the team wanted to create an integrated ecosystem of content that women could access according to their unique journeys. The new offering helped QVC  reach its core audience with solutions and relevant products, and created a space where menopause is out in the open and part of an ongoing conversation. And in the process, QVC evolved to become a more customer-centric company, putting its audience and their needs at the heart of its offerings.

9/10 of British menopausal women say society and brands overlook them.

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1 in 2 women in the UK admitted they didn’t know what was happening to them during perimenopause.

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Nearly 40% of menopausal women are being prescribed antidepressants to help manage their symptoms, despite 4 out of 5 describing the treatment as “inappropriate.”

Season 2

a series focused on menopause is now in its second season

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Healthcare is a complex web of institutions, interaction, relationships, and services. In England, the National Health Service consists of thousands of separate organizations spread across the country. This fragmented structure means that rolling out digital tools and using them to their full potential can be difficult.

NHSX approached IDEO and Public Digital, IDEO’s sister company, for help designing user-centered resources that would empower Children and Young People’s Mental Health (CYPMH) practitioners to use digital tools more effectively, shifting service design from a reactive to a proactive process, and allowing each regional organization to create the best digital services for their children and young people.

The team took a human-centered approach, tapping into the perspectives, challenges and needs of NHS practitioners and leaders across the system over months of research. They then designed a set of accessible, straightforward online resources, courses, and templates that would enable a practitioner to start their own local service transformations. These included everything from practical advice on improving users’ experiences of CYPMH, to teaching methods for service design, to content focused on achieving digital transformation at scale.

The resources were easy to implement and replicate, allowing mental health practitioners across the country to seamlessly integrate physical and digital, create firebreaks in the system, and better bridge the gap between seeking care and receiving it. They were designed to evolve over time, and the work is replicable across the NHS, with the potential to touch millions of lives.

By empowering practitioners to utilize these digital tools to ease the burden of care, NHSX plans to create a positive ripple effect across the entire NHS, its partner organizations, and the country at large.

In a study undertaken in July 2020, the first summer of the COVID pandemic, the NHS found that clinically significant mental health conditions amongst children had risen by 50% compared to three years earlier.

More options, more access

digital resources are helping children and young people access more options for their mental health care

It’s not easy to shift the paradigm for an entire industry. But when a company comes along that promises to reinvent air travel, it opens up a blue sky of opportunities. That’s the flight path for Boom Supersonic, which is thinking big about how passengers arrive at their destination not only faster, but also with a greater sense of wellbeing.

To really comprehend the experience of flying in the unique contoured profile of this ultrafast jet, and to help Boom make key decisions about the design of the plane, the IDEO team believed that you had to go beyond algorithms and schematics—you needed to actually board it.

Using a “build-first” approach, the team quickly constructed a full-scale mockup of the fuselage from plywood and foam core. That became a prototyping platform to test multiple seating configurations, galley and lavatory size and placement, luggage storage solutions, and other concepts that would differentiate and add value to the passenger experience. For the first time, the Boom team was able to set foot in its own aircraft and truly understand the experience from the perspective of its clientele. The exercise allowed the Boom team to confidently make decisions by comparing multiple cabin configurations and options in full-scale.

Throughout the project, Boom and IDEO invited future travelers aboard to interact with the prototype and offer feedback. That input culminated in a more refined model, with augmented windows, moonroof, in-flight entertainment screens, and sound design—all further augmented by a Virtual Reality component to allow our future travelers to fully immerse in this new experience.

Together, Boom and IDEO brought a sneak peak to the Farnborough International Airshow, a biannual exhibition for the aerospace, aviation, and defense industries. The event was an opportunity to give the industry and potential customers a preview of Boom’s innovative new jet. In collaboration with the client, an exhibition architect, and a digital production agency, the team created an immersive environment designed to make the Overture experience feel tangible, eliciting the wonder of this revolutionary plane.

Boom’s presence at Farnborough not only underscored the Overture’s progress but provided an inspiring glimpse into the future of air travel. During the air show the company announced the production Overture design, a market-expanding alliance with Northrop Grumman, and agreements with tier one suppliers Collins Aerospace, Safran, and Eaton. Not long after, Boom received its largest order to date, this one from American Airlines. 

The prospect of getting to London in time for dinner just got a little closer.

Boom plans for Overture to get from New York to Frankfurt in just over four hours instead of the eight hours spent on a commercial jet today.

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The Overture supersonic jet has a cruising speed of Mach 1.7, about twice as fast as today’s commercial planes. Overture is built to fly on 100% sustainable aviation fuels (SAF).

20 Overture deposits

made by American Airlines, joining current customers United Airlines and Japan Airlines

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My main objective is to influence a user’s mood through automatic customization of virtual worlds—a tool that could, for example, help improve existing VR treatments for problems like phobias and anxiety disorders by automatizing the intensity of the experience. If the system were able to gauge an emotional reaction, it could ease participants into facing their fears. The same capability could be used to test different environments for mindfulness exercises, or even as a design tool, to help determine which designs elicit desired reactions.

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So far, most of the innovation we’ve seen in this space has come via proprietary systems like the HTC Vive controllers. But those kind of systems are very standardized and don’t allow users to experiment much with sensors. With that in mind, I built a platform with Unity and Arduino that would enable me to explore new interactions within VR environments, and allow other makers to test their ideas, too. I’m a big believer that as hardware and other tools become more accessible, makers will dig in and uncover even more immersive VR experiences.

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Using Unity and open source development hardware, I created an atmospheric space that can change depending on the user’s biosignals, as well as the amount of pressure they apply to sensors. To build it, I used Arduino and the eHealth platform, which can process the signal from a user’s heart rate, electrodermal activity, or breathing. In this case, I used the ECG sensor reader and developed a little piece of code that would translate the voltage signals into beats per minute, which were then sent directly to Unity via Serial. In Unity, I wrote a script based on Dyadica’s open code that constantly reads the input from the sensors and updates the scenario in each frame. For example, when the heartbeat goes up, the light in the virtual reality world changes to a more soothing blue; when it goes down, the illumination flashes and changes to red. The idea behind this particular interaction is to test whether changing color or lighting patterns will affect the user’s mood, either calming him down, or further agitating him.

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The results from these experiments were not completely satisfactory. Our users did acknowledge that changing the colors in the virtual world influenced their state of mind, but the changes in their biorhythms were small. One of the limitations of the system is the fact that heart rate is not an ideal indicator for mild changes in physiological activity. Electrodermal activity could provide a more accurate measure of comfort or distress, and we may turn to that in in future iterations.

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In another set of experiments, we used light and pressure sensors to change environments. In one virtual environment set on the coast, the light changes based on the light detected by a sensor set in the real world. Meanwhile, the size of the virtual space changes depending on the amount of pressure a participant applies to a sensor that is set in the same place on a wall in both the real and virtual worlds. The harder the user presses the wall, the smaller and more claustrophobic the virtual space will become.

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We’ve also been playing around with creating uncanny experiences. I started by 3D-scanning Rich Cahill, our newest interaction designer, then placed his 3D persona inside a virtual world. We then used a Leap Motion attached to the Vive headset to increase the immersive experience by allowing users to see their own hands in the virtual world. Then, we had Rich stand in the same place as his 3D model. When Rich raised his hand to touch his (virtual) face, he felt the warmth of his (real) skin under his fingers. Every single person who agreed to do the experiment found it unsettling. It was also really fun to make, and I learned a lot about how to replicate real objects and people in the virtual environment.

Right now, these enhanced interactions are just small steps towards a richer, and more immersive virtual experience. But I’m hoping this platform can be a template for other people to build their own interactive VR experiences. As more and more people dig into the technology, I'm sure we’ll see an explosion of creativity mixing the real and the virtual worlds—and maybe even creating new valuable hardware and platforms. Soon, instead of being passive characters in a prescribed world, we will be able to change our virtual environments to fit the state of mind that we would like to be in, and help ourselves relax, or even find inspiration. That’s when things will really start to become mind-blowing.

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As a designer, I am fascinated by exploring new ways to interact with virtual reality. Technology is able to trick our senses like never before, and we’re starting to see VR hardware like HoloLens and the HTC Vive really push things forward by allowing meaningful interaction between the real and the virtual worlds. One possibility I’ve been experimenting with is how we can create environments that can adapt to our emotional and psychological state.

1. Myths & Legends

“This podcast tells original stories that have become myths, in cultures ranging from the Romans and Greeks through to Disney princesses. Understanding how common themes have turned up in stories through the ages helps me think about fundamental human needs and behaviors that stay unchanged over time.” Listen here.

2. On Being

“This podcast considers the ‘big questions of life’ through interviews with creatives like Yo-Yo Ma, Paulo Coelho, and Sarah Kay. It reminds me that our human condition is so much more vast than we could ever fathom, and that the answers to the secrets of our existence are mere approximations, at best.” Listen here.

3. a16z

“This is an in-house podcast from the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, which is famous for the phrase ‘software is eating the world.’ It’s not a ‘creative’ podcast per se, but it covers bleeding edge technology and indicates emerging fields and mediums for creative expression, new experiences, and potential effects on society at large.” Listen here.

4. Meet the Composer

“I find this podcast incredibly inspiring because it asks the listener to really engage with contemporary classical music. It's both exploration and art criticism, a prompt to get out there and listen more deeply, and a glimpse into a small and vibrant world that really only exists in New York and LA.” Listen here.

5. The Moment with Brian Koppelman

“Koppelman talks to creative folks about their creative process, how they do what they do, and the ‘moment’ that changed things for them. He's able to be very vulnerable, so his guests open up as well. This podcast always makes me feel more sane. Or at least like I belong to some really awesome club of weirdos.” Listen here.

6. Radiolab

“I’m inspired by the fascinating science and the polished stories, but most of all by the sound design. The way the show experiments with sound to tell better stories inspires me to think about how to make the experiences I create more engaging.” Listen here.

7. The Allusionist

“Linguistic adventures with the very funny Helen Zaltzman. This show reminds me that language is so mutable and fungible. And that when we humans talk with each other, it is a miracle that we know what the other person is saying.” Listen here.

8. Death, Sex and Money

“This is a podcast about the big questions in life. It reminds me of how to talk to people about sensitive topics and get deep insights from individual stories that speak to both the commonality and the variety of the human experience.” Listen here.

9. Magic Lessons

“Elizabeth Gilbert's creativity podcast features her interviewing people about how they overcome the fears that are inherent in the creative process, and calling up famous creatives to get their input. I like the fact that she actually provides advice to her guests, and acknowledges the challenges we all face in being creative.” Listen here.

10. Song Exploder

“Musicians and artists break down a track and talk about their process. A lovely parallel to any designer’s process. We hosted the creator of the podcast at IDEO earlier this year and he talked about his background as a graphic designer and how that’s influenced his approach to the show.” Listen here.

11. Becoming SuperHuman

“This show interviews people who have achieved ‘superhuman’ performance in their field in order to understand their strategies. The podcast provides insights into the lives of people who live at extremes, which provides inspiration for designing ways to meet more conventional human needs.” Listen here.

12. Imaginary Worlds

“This a is podcast about science fiction and fantasy worlds, both about how they are created and why audiences are able to suspend their disbelief. Of all forms of creativity, I figure that creating a fictional universe is the most expansive, and get inspired by such a broad-brush imaginative exercise.” Listen here.

13. 99 Percent Invisible

“This podcast reminds me that pretty much everything in the world has been designed, and that there are so many opportunities to improve things. I also love to hear the backstories behind things that have been designed and are now part of our everyday existence. It reminds me that so many things could easily have turned out differently.” Listen here.

14. Sampler

“Like the name suggests, this show features samples of other podcasts. I love it because it introduces me to other podcasts that I would never have known about or thought to try. And it's the unexpected or different stuff that turns out to be most inspiring.” Listen here.

15. TED Radio Hour

“This podcast repackages TED Talks into an accessible radio format. The way the show focuses on shared human themes, such as ‘growing up’ and ‘becoming wise,’ helps me zoom out my perspective and realize how the things I look at in life and in my work can be connected.” Listen here.

Honorable mentions: Surprisingly Awesome, The Memory Palace, Invisibilia, The Moth, WTF, Theory Of Everything, Planet Money, This American Life.

Check out the Creative Confidence podcast by IDEO U, our school to empower creative problem solving, here.

Thanks to Chris, Magen, Andrea, Grace, Maggie, Geoff, Jayant, Deirdre, Piper and everyone else who suggested podcasts.

Header illustration by Jane Ha.

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We're living in a golden age of audio. Whatever your interest, passion, or taste, there's a podcast out there that will cater to it, available free of charge. These podcasts don't just provide entertainment while commuting or walking the dog, they also provide fuel for creativity, by opening doors into unfamiliar cultures or scenarios. We asked IDEO designers to nominate the podcasts that they find most inspiring.

Alex was a self-described gaming addict in his college days, but hadn’t touched his console in years. He knew his old habit would be the strongest incentive for working out. At the same time, he recognized that a simple post-workout reward wasn't gonna cut it, not to mention the temptation to skip the workout altogether with a perfectly functioning Xbox so close at hand.

Time to wield his ninja hacking skills.

Alex adjusting duration and intensity on his new (addictive) weight-loss machine.

The result is Cykill, a simple tweak that connects your gaming console’s power source to an exercise bike. The only way to start the console is by riding the bike. Fail to pedal fast enough and Cykill will cut the power using a “kill switch”—a disaster for serious gamers—which not only erases game progress, but can also corrupt the console’s hard drive. “After a big scene in the game you will see the Cykill LED meter appear," he said. It gets dangerously close to power-off, which forces you to pedal like mad in order to stabilize it. "What a silly but effective invention this is!”

Alex on the Cykill, an exercise-bike-gaming-console that interrupts your game if you stop pedaling.

After using his invention for three months to impressive results, Alex was ready to share it with the world. He made the project open source and submitted it to Hackaday. “I never intended this to be shared online. But then I realized, there are millions of Americans who are challenged with excessive gaming and weight gain—many of them kids and teens." Is Cykill is the answer to obesity for game-obsessed kids of America? "I feel it is definitely worth a shot,” he said.

Learn more about how Alex made Cykill here, at his website Fuzzy Wobble, and on his project page at Hackaday.

The Cykill dashboard.

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When interaction designer Alex S. finally decided to get serious about exercise, he knew exactly what to do. He bought a cheap stationary bike on Amazon and dusted off his old Xbox.

1. Inferno, by Louis-Philippe Demers, Bill Vorn

How does it feel to have an exoskeleton move your arms and make you dance? Pretty weird. Inferno, one of the single most talked-about pieces at Ars, offered visitors the curious sensation of being remote-controlled by a machine.

2. RoBoHoN, by Tomotaka Takahashi with Sharp

Half robot, half smartphone, RoBoHoN runs, dances, talks, takes pictures and projects them. Plus, it’s cute. Like a mini butler. We came away asking: Will future smart devices be gadgety, or sleek and designy a la Apple?

3. Rhizome Animation, by Boris Labbé

A hypnotising story about life on earth, and a good reminder of the power of mixing handdrawn images with computer-generated visuals. Designer Boris Labbé’s short film Rhizome is worth a watch.

4. Radical Atoms Exhibition

If the MIT Media Lab has its way, we’ll control the physical world of atoms in the same way that we control the digital world of pixels. This exhibit hewed closest to the theme of the Ars festival: “Radical Atoms: the alchemists of our time,” including provocations around biology as a responsive, “second skin” interface; a physical shape display that can be manipulated from near or far; and wearable miniature robots that rove around your body. Take a trip down the rabbit hole.

5. ASSISI, by Thomas Schmickl, Professor of Zoology at University of Graz

Tiny robots, placed among a society of fish and of bees, enabled the two to communicate and influence the actions of the other. Begged the question: how might we use robots to design and evolve swarm behavior in natural ecosystems?

6. Artificial Skins and Bones, by Weißensee Kunsthochschule Berlin

We loved the variety of thinking from this group of students, who are exploring the design of artificial bodies. Ideas included everything from regaining physical ability through smart prosthetics; to enhancing an experience through haptic feedback; to the inevitable evolution toward augmentation, like color- and pattern-changing skin (above), inspired by the octopus.

7. Innovation and Creativity on a Very Large Scale, by Ivan Poupyrev, Google ATAP

Poupyrev, head of Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects group, argued that constantly introducing new gadgets does not scale. What does scale is creating technologies enabling industries that manufacture basic goods, like jeans, to transform themselves. For Project Jacquard, ATAP invented a new type of conductive thread that can be woven into clothing (like a Levi’s jean jacket—the project was a collaboration between the two companies) giving it an invisible interface. These kinds of mutations are unpredictable, Poupyrev said, and driven by serendipity, emphasising the role of the artist in technological research.

For more about Ars Electronica, or to watch all the talks and presentations mentioned, check out their website: http://www.aec.at/

Header image by Martin Hieslmair. All images sourced from the official Ars Electronica Flickr.

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We went to Ars Electronica, Linz's annual celebration of art and tech, and here’s what we saw: Exoskeletons. Dancing robots. Shape-shifting materials. Swarms of fish and bees. Skin. Just your average day in the surrealverse. Here are seven projects to watch:

I help organizations cut through complexity by shaping how they show up, through brand strategy, identity, and storytelling.

Working at the intersection of brand and business, I bring an editorial eye and a bias toward making—turning ideas into tangible experiences that people can understand, trust, and believe in.

My work spans government, healthcare, financial services, media, and consumer goods, from launching Gen Z-focused ventures to building innovation labs and reimagining legacy brands. I relish moments of ambiguity and enjoy translating across teams, perspectives, and priorities to move ideas forward.

I started my career in editorial and digital design, shaping cross-platform experiences and identity systems in publishing and agency environments. That foundation still shapes how I work today: I’m detail-oriented, collaborative, and overreliant on the Oxford comma. I hold a BFA in Visual Communication from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

For 25 years, I've asked the same question: Who does this design exclude—and what are we going to do about it?

My work spans human-centered strategy, inclusive design, and qualitative research, with clients ranging from Microsoft, Google, and Verizon to the National Science Foundation, and San Francisco Unified School District.

Before IDEO, I taught elementary school in East Palo Alto and spent a decade doing design work with social service organizations—where I learned firsthand what it costs people when systems are built without them in mind.

I am currently writing User Error, a nonfiction book about digital access and the design decisions behind it. I live in Oakland, California.

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My expertise spans brand, communication, and product design across tech, education, the arts, and social impact.

I believe great work demands both high-level vision and obsessive attention to detail, and only happens through collaboration.

I bring an inclusive, hands-on approach and a deep understanding of business, which enables me to consistently deliver excellence while always asking why.

Before joining IDEO, I worked at the brand firms Pentagram and VSA Partners. I began my career as a designer, leading teams at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Milwaukee Art Museum. I hold an MFA in graphic design from Maryland Institute College of Art and a BFA in communication design from the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design, and have taught at some of the best design schools in the US.

I am responsible for IDEO’s long-term success in China and working with clients to use design as a tool to enable growth. Specifically, I have helped Chinese companies design holistic brand solutions through the development of their products, communication, services, and innovation teams, and I have helped multinationals expand their presence and influence in China.

I advise global leaders on developing China-led innovation and capabilities.

In over 15 years in IDEO Shanghai, I have worked on projects that use design to elevate the quality of the experience of healthcare products and services, streamline processes that increase productivity, create spaces and programs that promote and enable inclusive communities, and build next generation mobility solutions that are planet-positive.

Before joining IDEO, I worked at Philips Electronics and the Electrolux Group in Italy, the Netherlands, and Singapore on a number of breakthrough commercial products. I am a member of the Young President Organization in Shanghai.

Most AI products today are built for work—a space with clear problems and established systems. One founder noticed a gap: personal life is messier, harder to systematize, and mostly left behind by the AI boom. So she built Cue, a personal AI that lives inside iMessage and group chats, to go where the other tools haven't.

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In this episode, Becca Carroll, IDEO's Chief Strategy Officer, talks with Sida Li, co-founder and CEO of Shared Context Lab, about staying anchored to a human need while the technology around her keeps changing shape, why she treats her business model with the same rigor she'd bring to a product, and what it feels like to build a company at this particular, disorienting moment in AI.

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The conversation also gets into how Sida makes design decisions: the language Cue uses to describe itself, the tradeoffs behind building inside iMessage instead of a new app, and a real story about a business idea that didn’t pan out.

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This is the second in a two-part series profiling founders from IDEO's Startups-in-Residence program. The first conversation is with Johannes Seemann, founder of Sooner, on designing GenAI for the emotional side of money.

Most personal financial tools are built to run the numbers and optimize towards a budget. While that works for some, most people experience money as a lived relationship that does not neatly fit into a spreadsheet. Johannes Seemann and Becca Carroll discuss why money is emotional before it is mathematical, and what a human-centered approach to building a generative AI financial product looks like in practice.

Mina Seetharaman talks with Scott Shigeoka, author of Seek and Head of Curiosity Cultivation at the Eames Institute, about what distinguishes genuinely curious leadership from performative curiosity, how power dynamics shape curiosity, and why practicing curiosity can restore energy rather than drain it.

Mina Seetharaman talks with David Epstein, author of Inside the Box and Range, about why total freedom often produces average work, how leaders can design useful limits on purpose, and what organizations such as General Magic and Pixar reveal about the relationship between boundaries and creativity.