When it comes to food, we often have to choose between health, convenience, and taste. Parents struggle to get their kids to eat veggies. The same daily salad can become boring or bland over time. Produce often withers in the crisper drawer.

Betterer Foods set out to make one of the world's favorite foods healthier. Rice is a beloved food across many cultures, but many people now avoid simple carbohydrates due to diet restrictions or health concerns. Innovations and alternative options have mostly been limited to products in the freezer section, like riced cauliflower.

Betterer Foods created RightRice: a dry, shelf-stable grain made from rice and vegetables, including lentils, chickpeas, and green peas. RightRice has more than double the protein, five times the fiber, and 40 percent fewer net carbs than traditional rice. But the product still tastes and looks like rice, and is faster and easier to cook.

RightRice founder Keith Belling, the founder and former CEO of popchips, asked IDEO to design a brand that would communicate the product’s benefits. The start-up needed everything from a defined target consumer and brand story to a stand-out package design, website, and go-to-market materials.

The team listened to people's challenges with rice and eating healthfully: home cooks find it difficult to store fresh foods without them going bad, busy professionals are strapped for time when preparing balanced meals, and parents sneak vegetables into dishes like casseroles or mac and cheese. Some consumers say they avoid rice because it’s a carbohydrate, which is forbidden in so many of today’s diets. People describe themselves as “carb phobic” or say they consider rice a “guilty pleasure.” Others don’t eat rice because it makes them feel sluggish or bloated, or is too difficult or time-consuming to prepare. Overall, people wished rice could be healthier, simpler to cook, and still taste delicious.

IDEO translated these insights into a brand foundation that helped RightRice come to life on shelves, online, and in the world. The package messaging emphasizes the vegetable ingredients, and the cut-out window lets consumers see that the product looks like rice. The shape of the window simultaneously forms a bowl of rice and a smile.

Rice is a household staple around the world. The RightRice brand makes it easier for consumers to have health, convenience, and good taste in one accessible product. RightRice launched nationwide in Whole Foods and Amazon in February 2019.

Since this launch, the company has expanded both its reach and product line. RightRice is now available in nearly 5,000 retailers nationwide in addition to Whole Foods and Amazon, including Sprouts, Wegmans, and approximately 1,800 Kroger stores. Over one million bags have been sold.

The company has received numerous awards and acclaim, including being named “Best Plant-Based” by People’s 2019 Food Awards. Building on the success of RightRice, Belling and his team launched RightRice Medley, a blend of RightRice, ancient grains, and vegetables, in 2020. This new product, which features the same branding the company created with IDEO, has doubled the company’s shelf presence at Whole Foods.

After 40 years of rapid development, China's economic growth has reached a critical turning point.

However, looking at the world, today is also the most complex and uncertain era in human history. The traditional engine of economic development is slowing down, while innovation and other emerging ideas are helping the economy burst into dynamism. To ride this trend, China has already put in place comprehensive policies to ensure that the country can achieve this magnificent transformation—not only to maintain economic growth, but also to achieve high-quality development. To this end, what China needs most is a group of new business leaders with a sense of cooperation and innovation to lead and realize this change as a pioneering force.

People of insight can often see the situation clearly with a forward-looking eye. China's society and economy are undergoing transformation and upgrading, and market demands are constantly changing driven by technology. While seeking business development, many mature entrepreneurs with successful experience have realized that they need to explore some of the most essential issues inwardly, including: The original intention and mission of the enterprise and the role that enterprise leaders should play. However, without a systematic approach, transformation and upgrading, strategic decision-making, management mode and cultural construction cannot truly serve the enterprise

As a top institution of higher learning in China, Tsinghua University has always placed an important strategic position on cultivating innovative talents for China. IDEO is the world's leading design and innovation consulting firm. As a pioneer of design thinking, IDEO has always been committed to applying design and innovation capabilities to solve the world's most complex problems. After discovering the need for China's economic and social transformation and the need for innovative leadership by Chinese entrepreneurs, Tsinghua University and IDEO jointly launched the "Leading China" program in 2018. This program is aimed at senior management of Chinese enterprises, and aims to train entrepreneur trainees to use new perspectives and ideas through a one-year innovative leadership course to seek solutions for the systemic changes that need to be achieved in the process of social transformation in China.

The students of the first "Leading China" program came from more than 30 entrepreneurs from 20 different industries. The teachers who participated in the lecture included 73 Chinese and foreign experts including Shan Jixiang, the former dean of the Forbidden City, Masahiro Kuroyama, the father of Japanese industrial design, and Jake Knapp, the inventor of "Design Sprint". As China's first innovative leadership course with design thinking as the core, the project is equipped with "design to open enterprise creativity", "reshape enterprise competitive advantage", "forge innovative business system", "innovate with the help of finance", "embracing Industrial Revolution 4.0" and "Win-win China Created 2030" six modules. The trainees traveled to nine cities in one year, and completed the courses in the interactive teaching of inspiration and the exchange and sharing of practical experience. Many students said that the course not only helped them find the direction and path of enterprise reform, but also improved their way of thinking, strategic planning and leadership models.

Liu Feng, the founder of Top Intelligence, gave an example of the inspiration brought by the six pillars of "vision-led" enterprise reform. Through "vision leadership", he not only sorted out the original intention and values ​​of the company, but also launched a series of measures based on this starting point, which improved the company's various aspects from the telephone customer service process to the organization of the annual meeting, and mobilized the enthusiasm of employees. This greatly improves the company's efficiency and flexibility. Ting Zhihong, chairman of Hongtu Logistics Co., for example, said that the biggest change brought by the course is her awareness of the importance of empowering the team. The company has now built many platforms to give employees more room to play, to create markets, to put decision-making on the front line, and to let employees play the role of company operators. Her company doubled its profits in 2018. Hu Chao, founder and CEO of Leyou Pregnancy and Baby, introduced that what most executive courses learn is knowledge, and what this course learns is people-oriented values ​​and ways of thinking.

The students of the first class of "Leading China" graduated in December 2018. Regarding the course of this year, Wang Jingwei, former assistant dean of the PBC School of Finance, Tsinghua University, commented: "Since the project was launched, we have not only witnessed the true value of design in a business context, but also experienced first-hand the use of people-oriented The difference between the designed executive courses is that the entrepreneurs who participated in the courses quickly entered a state of immersive learning, and many students quickly began to practice the methods they learned in the enterprise.”

On April 8, 2019, the list of winners of the 3rd "Changing the World Innovation Award" was announced, and the "Leading China" project was shortlisted for case nomination, becoming the only Chinese innovation case in the education category. The "Change the World Innovation Award" was announced by Fast Company, one of the world's three major financial and business media organizations.

As one of the world’s leading smartphone manufacturers, the Chinese brand vivo is widely known for its exceptional technological innovation and top-of-the-line photography and gaming hardware. But in an increasingly saturated phone market, vivo understood that it wasn’t enough to lead the pack based solely on technological excellence. To win the hearts of young Chinese consumers, they needed to become a beloved brand.

China consumes roughly 30 percent of the world’s smartphones, presenting a tremendous market opportunity to brands who wish to capture young consumers’ loyalty. In order to achieve that, vivo wanted to design a complete brand experience beyond the devices themselves—one that would express the joyful vivo brand spirit through services and retail experiences. One of their first key initiatives was to build its first concept store in an iconic building in Shenzhen, China.

Before building the concept store, vivo approached IDEO to explore what kind of in-store experience would resonate with young Chinese people. The concept store needed to convey joy in a meaningful, tangible way, while also setting the stage for vivo’s future brand systems. With this in mind, IDEO set out to explore how vivo’s young consumers experience fun.

After conducting research in four different cities, IDEO shared the stories of young Chinese consumers back with the vivo team. Their interviews revealed that young people value experiences that enrich their lives and create a feeling of positive personal transformation. They seek opportunities to expose themselves to new experiences, express themselves in different ways, expand and deepen their social connections, and build knowledge and skills.

Through this understanding of how young Chinese define “enjoyment,” IDEO helped vivo identify the value proposition of the concept store as expressing oneself in new and different ways. The store would allow every visitor to see something unique and find a fresh perspective. The vivo team took that value proposition into a design brief and later built out the space and interactive experiences.

The concept store launched at Shenzhen on March 22, 2019, featuring an upper level dedicated entirely to interactive experiences with photo booths, sound recording, and lighting technology. The engaging, lively and positive atmosphere of the store represents a major milestone in vivo’s transformation from a smartphone maker to a consumer brand.

WATCH: Official launch video provided by vivo.

As China's agriculture moves towards scale and sustainability, helping farmers grow healthier food with resilience is a matter of national economic security and individual livelihoods.

Bayer Crop Science—with its mission to accelerate China's agricultural modernization and benefit Chinese farmers and consumers—has provided high-quality products for millions of growers in China over 18 years. Yet its service relies heavily on multi-layered distributors and retailers across the country. The last mile of Bayer’s product delivery spreads across tens of thousands of highly fragmented retail stores, making the quality of service difficult to monitor and control.

Together with IDEO, Bayer Crop Science aimed to uncover new ways to engage with local farmers and retailers, and develop design concepts for its diverse set of retailers—establishing local relevance as well as the potential to scale nationwide.

With this ambition in mind, a team formed by Bayer Crop Science and IDEO launched into a design sprint in the rice fields of China’s Anhui province. Field research uncovered multiple challenges facing Bayer Crop Science’s retailers. First, each store needed to serve more than one hundred farmers, many of whom rely solely on the store owner to understand how to use the products. Retailers struggled to meet a high daily demand for direct support in a way that provided a positive customer experience.

In turn, farmers felt they had insufficient access to expert advice. While many farmers shared similar needs, there was no system for aggregating requests or arranging group instruction. Given that many rice farmers are illiterate, pre-printed educational pamphlets had limited impact, and retailers lacked tools for providing targeted support. And because the retail stores were also used for storage, little space remained for educational or community programming.

With these constraints in mind, the team needed to come up with ideas and design concepts that could be easily integrated into the daily lives of the retail store owners. The team brainstormed hundreds of concepts and quickly prototyped a select few. One retail store in Dangtu was transformed entirely into a live prototype set. Over three days, more than 50 farmers and retailers came through and provided feedback. From there, the team was able to make daily iterations of the concept, evolving the experience in real-time.

The Bayer team was energized by the potential of these prototypes to enable more customer-centered retail experiences. An exhibition of the concepts was set up during the National Annual Sales Conference of Bayer Crop Science in China, during which a much wider audience from Bayer experienced not only the concepts, but also the immediate feedback from farmers.

One year after the project’s completion, more than half of the design concepts have been included in Bayer's support kit for dealers. In 2019, these concepts will be rolled out in more than 1,000 flagship stores across China.

The work has also accelerated Bayer Crop Science’s efforts to build an ongoing engagement mechanism with its retailers and growers. Its online platform, Bayer Joy Grower, now has more than 10,000 retailers and will be expanded to growers soon.

Leaders dream of teams working together seamlessly, like a dragon boat crew rowing in unison. But in big companies, people often struggle to understand one another because of differences in roles, expertise, and motivations. This lack of mutual understanding can hinder consensus-building and make collaboration difficult.

Because navigating these internal dynamics is challenging, organizations often default to one of two extremes: either ignoring the disconnect and continuing with business as usual, or opting for drastic, disruptive change. We believe there’s a middle ground—a more thoughtful, human approach that can enable better communication and collaboration across teams.

Over the years, our work with large organizations has reinforced the value of applying human-centered design not only to uncover consumer behaviors but also to enhance ways of working within companies.

Here's one story of how we applied design thinking methodologies to find the middle ground and bridge the gap between leadership and product design departments in a prominent consumer products company.

“The design feels soulless”

Initially, our project appeared to be a straightforward product development assignment.

Our client, a well-known consumer productscompany, wanted to upgrade its high-end product line. The goal was to unify the aesthetic and experience, ultimately encouraging consumers to buy a complete set rather than individual pieces.

With the launch date set, it seemed to be a typical race against the clock to complete development and production.

But an initial round of internal interviews revealed a deeper layer of complexity.

Two separate teams managed the product suite, each overseeing its own independent product line while juggling daily responsibilities. Before IDEO came on board, the teams had tried to collaborate but fell short of meeting the expectations of Mr. Zhang, the project sponsor. His verdict: “The design feels soulless.”

Mr. Zhang wanted the teams to align and deliver a truly cohesive experience. But even with these directives, the teams interpreted his expectations differently, resulting in misaligned efforts.

By the time the IDEO team joined the project, it had stalled.

‍The soul-searching “why”

Mr. Zhang was a well-respected senior executive. His strategic oversight spanned multiple core product lines, leaving him far removed from day-to-day design details. While his teams admired him, an inevitable gap had formed between management levels.

To move past his “soulless” critique, we needed to get to the root of Mr. Zhang’s expectations.

What did he mean by “soul,” and why was it missing?

Instead of reliving the same conversation, we invited him to adopt a designer’s perspective. By stepping into a different role, we hoped to spark fresh insights and unlock honest dialogue.

We brought a designer’s favorite tool into his office: an oversized mood board filled with product details, material samples, and structural diagrams.

“Today, we’d like you to think like a designer,” we said. “Take a look at this board and choose the materials, textures, and structures you feel best represent the future of this product suite. Go with your gut—you don’t need to overthink it.”

The visual prompts quickly shifted his mindset, transforming a strategic discussion into a candid conversation. He shared his doubts about some concepts, his curiosity about others, and his alignment with certain ideas.

Breaking the ice in this way facilitated a sincere dialogue—one between people, not job titles.

As the session drew to a close, he asked pointedly: “Did the product leads also do this exercise? Let me guess—they probably each pushed you to prioritize designs that would make their own product line shine, didn’t they?” he said, laughing.

His intuition was spot on. They were each focused on their own wish lists for their product lines, rather than working together to create a cohesive narrative that would make the product suite appeal to customers, the “soul” he was looking for. That narrative was not only critical to the product suite’s success but also to the company’s broader strategic goals.

At that moment, we felt the shift from external consultants to trusted collaborators.

Mr. Zhang also shared more about why it mattered to him. With the market shifting from growth to saturation and consumer demand waning, the stakes were high. A compelling product suite could sustain growth in a challenging landscape, while fostering cross-functional collaboration would strengthen the organization for future innovation.

Connecting strategy and products through real consumer needs

In many large organizations, concerns and perspectives often fail to connect across roles.

In this project, Mr. Zhang was focused on long-term survival strategies, while the individual product teams were consumed by immediate development pressures. Swapping perspectives wasn’t realistic, but the shifting macroeconomic landscape demanded a solution.

Our immediate question became: How can we anchor the project in shared goals to propel it forward?

The answer: Focus on the product and its users.

We visited potential consumers in their homes to observe their interior design preferences and see how they combined various products.

One clear insight emerged: consumers see their homes as extensions of their identity. Coordinated home collections help them express themselves and create signature moments they’re proud of when hosting guests.

They weren’t just looking for beautiful, functional objects. They wanted a cohesive narrative—a product suite that would harmonize with their space, align with their lifestyle, and reflect their individuality.

When a collection comes together to create something more than the sum of its parts, we discovered, consumers are far more likely to buy into the entire suite.

These consumer insights resonated with the executive’s strategic vision and served as a unifying force for the teams. Quickly,  “1+1>2.”

Finally, the formerly stalled project had new momentum.

Innovating beyond the traditional “Made in China” model  

In an increasingly competitive landscape, many business leaders recognize the need to break out of existing frameworks to drive innovation. Yet the organizations they lead are often large and rigid, with complex hierarchies and functions that were originally structured around single-category production and sales goals under the ‘Made in China’ model. These very structures have now become major obstacles to innovation.

Design, by nature, is inclusive, open, and egalitarian. It has the power to transcend organizational silos and hierarchies, communicating effectively through a shared language that everyone can understand. By doing so, it creates a more open, collaborative platform for all participants in the innovation process—enabling tangible results and carving out new space for innovation within even the most entrenched organizational systems.

“The Making of...” is a series of behind-the-scenes articles written by IDEO Shanghai designers about our innovation methods and work with major clients across industries in China.

As businesses scale and grow, the emergence of internal silos often seems inevitable.

“If you look at TikTok and Insta, it’s fluffy ‘me’ content…that’s what people are watching,” he said. That tension—between commercial pressure and editorial purpose—was palpable. The organization needed to evolve without losing the very principles that make news valuable.

The news industry isn’t just undergoing a crisis—it’s grappling with existential freefall. News is increasingly commodified and polarized, with rampant misinformation and blunt-force efforts to blur the boundaries between propaganda and fact. Technology—and AI specifically—are cracking open how we experience news and how content is created. Algorithms are growing ever more ambitious in their quest to deliver information tailored to our every whim. At the same time, the zeitgeist pulls the strings, pushing news consumption toward shorter, snappier, more visual experiences, leaving readers with less incentive to pay for it. All while subscription fatigue deepens.

But it’s not all catastrophe! News organizations can rebuild trust and resilience by leading with core differentiators and using technology to deepen impact rather than chase trends. IDEO has worked with many outlets—from national newspapers to niche publications—and we’ve come away with some hard-won lessons for designing for what matters: trusted, viable publications that support the craft of journalism and the readers and listeners they serve.

Trust is earned, not engineered

The more crowded the landscape, the greater the demand for reliable information, and the more critical the integrity of those who deliver it. Successful brands build trust by owning what makes them unique, whether that’s a stalwart reputation for journalistic excellence or a tailored offer to a niche audience. That clarity builds loyalty. News outlets need to avoid trying to be everything to everyone and anchor in what only they can offer: trust, delivered with integrity and intention.

Humanity matters, too. Readers are more likely to engage with content when they feel a sense of connection—when it’s clear there’s a real person behind the words. That’s part of the appeal of platforms like Substack and Medium, which offer personalized, niche content alongside direct access to individual writers. In our work with a national news outlet, one reader shared that he often reached out to journalists, not expecting a response, but just wanting to connect. When he did hear back, the unexpected thrill deepened his loyalty to the publication. News organizations looking to build trust can design for those connections by creating new elements like newsletters from particular reporters or live digital events where readers can engage directly with their favorite writers.

AI is not a strategy

Despite the doomsday proclamations about AI becoming the death of journalism, it may be one of the most promising tools for keeping it alive. Deployed correctly, it’s an accelerant rather than a replacement—a powerful means to help journalists offset menial tasks like transcriptions and copyediting. It brings additional data-driven objectivity to content without adding to reporter workloads. The technology that supposedly threatens to replace us may free us to do the work only humans can do: investigate the facts and elevate what matters.

On a recent project, we were exploring how AI could unlock deeper, more layered storytelling by mining the client’s vast content archive. We imagined a digital experience where a story doesn’t just relay the facts of an event, but also shows how it unfolded over time, maps where it happened, surfaces the key players, and connects the dots to similar stories from the past. Some folks in the newsroom were admittedly skeptical, both in terms of maintaining editorial integrity and fear of overburdening busy reporters with new tasks. So we built a custom ChatGPT-based prototype: no third-party data, just their own archives, stitched together into a dynamic proof-of-concept. We won over our client by showing that the technology could augment their excellent reporting while streamlining the editorial review process.

But AI isn’t the solution to every problem. As we were prototyping, we created a custom chatbot that allowed readers to “talk to” an article, riffing on the rise of voice-to-text interfaces and conversational AI. It seemed promising, but it fell flat. Users found the interaction awkward and unnatural—even those comfortable with Siri or Alexa said it felt off in a news setting. On the editorial side, it felt like a poor replacement for journalist Q&As. Readers made it clear that even if a ChatGPT-powered AI can synthesize articles with dazzling coherence, it doesn’t beat a feeling of connection with real human reporters.

Don't shrink perspectives—expand them.

Everyone talks about personalization like it’s the panacea for all things digital. But personalization is often just an exercise in subtraction—editing things out until only the familiar remains. The result is a tighter feed, but usually a narrower perspective. In our many projects with news organizations, we heard again and again from readers and listeners that they come to the news because they want to learn something new, to broaden their horizons, and to have smart things to say to their friends and colleagues.

On a project with a U.S.-based media organization, readers told us that editorial curation was key; if they were only fed news that catered to their own interests, they were afraid they’d miss out on important stories. This sentiment was especially true for readers paying for news. They were willing to invest money because they trusted the outlet to tell them what they needed to know, not just what they wanted to know. One research participant told us that one of his favorite series chronicled the drama behind the acquisition of an elevator company. And yet, “if they’d asked me if that’s one of my topics of interest, I’d have said ‘no.’” Another noted they would generally choose to skip sports coverage, but didn’t want to miss big moments like Simone Biles performing at the Olympics. Many readers are wary of filter bubbles and want to be aware of what’s happening in the world.

Less feed, more focus.

Personalization isn’t just about which stories you get, but also about how you access them. News products must offer flexibility in format, shifting seamlessly from mobile to desktop, from text to audio, from immersive deep dives to quick AI-powered summaries. For a UK-based client, we identified three user modes—Skimming & Dipping, Exploring, and Chilling—and designed different ways to engage with different formats at key moments in the day. The goal was thoughtful curation that feels like discovery, not a narrowing of options.

Volume is also important. A few years ago, we worked with The Times of London as it struggled to stay relevant in a 24/7 news cycle. Our research revealed readers didn’t want more breaking news—they wanted perspective. They wanted The Times to be the adult in the room, not another endless feed. So we designed a product anchored in four daily drops—carefully curated digital editions that refreshed throughout the day. This decision freed up tremendous resources, allowing the newsroom to focus on big stories. By moving away from the churn and toward intentionality, The Times saw a 19 percent year-over-year increase in digital subscriptions.

The approach also fulfilled a need we heard about across these projects. People don’t want to doom scroll; they want to get informed, then get to the end of the news. Unlike social media, where personalization means serving more of what users already like, news algorithms need a different intention.

Silos are the enemy of innovation

Creating a great digital news experience requires untangling the messy process of how that news is made and delivered.

That starts with creating an ownable product vision that teams can rally around, and a strategy that’s authentic to the current organization and aspirational for the future. When we worked with a PBS member station, we developed a vision anchored in a shared sense of place that centered local voices, reflected the region’s cultural richness, and positioned the organization as a neighborhood pillar and a global voice. Their CEO called the work “a vision we can achieve,” noting that it was both inspirational and actionable, designed to galvanize the entire organization, not just leadership, toward renewed purpose, greater trust, and lasting impact.

It’s also essential to break down the silos that separate editorial, product, and tech teams, making it easier to communicate across departments, so people feel invited to bring their unique lens to major product updates. This is not an invitation to design by committee! Creating space for people to surface ideas and red flags early helps with product innovation (the best ideas can come from unexpected places) and organizational buy-in (as people are more inclined to support what they help create). One of our clients started a cross-functional design council to bring new voices to the table. As we worked with another client to build a new editorial product, IDEO led critiques with teams across its newsroom, subscriptions, advertising, and brand departments, and also hosted demo hours to let a larger group of stakeholders in on the creative process.

Once teams are united around a shared vision and working cross-functionally, they need a place to de-risk ideas. In such an evolving industry, it’s critical to learn what works (and what doesn’t) fast, putting ideas in front of the end user early and often. An experimentation sandbox allows teams to test new ideas in the wild. One of our clients built a beta app to test feature updates and rolled it out to the entire newsroom and a small panel of subscribers. By shipping and iterating quickly, the team got the app into the hands of readers fast and updated it in real time, building confidence in useful features and avoiding investment in the ones that weren’t working.

A more human future for journalism

The promise of news has always been to teach us something new—to expand our sense of the world and how we fit into it. At its best, it challenges our assumptions, sharpens our thinking, and gives us new reasons to engage with one another.

But that promise only works if we trust the process and the organizations behind it. If we believe the stories are the product of care, curiosity, and intention. That’s why how the news is delivered matters just as much as what it says. The best digital experiences don’t just inform; they reflect an understanding of who we are—our needs, our frustrations, and our desire for something that feels both technologically sophisticated and unmistakably human.

In one of our first workshops with a veteran public media organization, an editor told us they needed ways to bring in new viewers while maintaining their credibility.

For businesses navigating these turbulent conditions, the traditional linear “take-make-dispose” model isn’t just environmentally unsustainable—it’s becoming a competitive disadvantage.

At IDEO, we’re seeing this anxiety reflected in the briefs landing on our desks. Leaders from multinational organizations are no longer just asking us to help them optimize existing systems—they’re seeking fundamental resilience against mounting global pressures. They sense, correctly, that future success demands a shift toward systems that can weather disruption by design.

This shift isn’t just about “being green;” it’s about strategic necessity. It’s time to embrace the circular economy—not merely as an environmental initiative, but as a core strategy for building resource independence and business resilience in volatile times.

Closing the loop

By prioritizing strategies like reuse, repair, refurbishment, and remanufacturing (restoring products to their factory settings), businesses keep resources cycling within their control, dramatically reducing dependence on virgin raw materials and volatile global commodity markets.

Recent analysis from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation reveals something telling: companies with higher circularity performance exhibit lower financial risk profiles and superior risk-adjusted returns. The numbers tell a compelling story—circular businesses are simply more resilient.

Furthermore, substituting imported virgin materials with secondary resources recovered closer to home directly reduces exposure to international trade disputes and supply chain disruptions. As the EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act demonstrates, policy is increasingly focused on boosting domestic recycling and processing, creating new market opportunities for businesses ready to capitalize on this shift.

Embedding advantage by design

This isn’t just an operational pivot—companies must embed circularity into the very design of their products and services. As a European Parliament report highlights, design choices determine more than 80 percent of a product’s lifecycle impact and, crucially, its potential for profitable circularity.

On a recent client project exploring circularity in healthcare, we discovered a steep shift to single-use everything. Everything, everything. Not just the obvious, but complex items like endoscopes, which combine plastics and electronics, and often rely on imported components. Disposable tools may be convenient, but it’s easy to see how incinerating tens of millions of endoscopes leads to waste generation and supply chain vulnerabilities.

By redesigning these devices differently—creating a single-use-like experience that is hygienic and maintains practitioner confidence while enabling refurbishment and reuse—we discovered a path to cut dependency on virgin materials and volatile overseas electronics supply lines. Thoughtful designs like these can directly support business models resilient to external shocks.

The most effective circular strategies focus on:

• Designing for durability, repairability, and modularity: Creating longer-lasting, easily fixable products with interchangeable parts extends asset life, enables component harvesting for remanufacturing, and reduces total cost of ownership.
  
  
• Designing for disassembly and material selection: Ensuring products can be easily taken apart into constituent materials chosen for safe reuse or high-quality upcycling becomes fundamental for efficient recovery processes.
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‍New business models

Even the most circular design requires innovative business models to unlock its economic potential. As identified by the World Economic Forum and others, key models driving this shift include:

Product-as-a-service (PaaS): Retaining asset ownership incentivizes providers to maximize product lifespans and facilitates efficient takebacks for high-value recovery. PaaS shifts the profit focus from unit sales to lifetime asset value—a profound transformation in how businesses create and capture value.

Reverse logistics systems: Building efficient capabilities to collect, sort, and reintegrate used products and materials is the operational backbone of circularity. Innovation here involves interconnected software platforms, Internet of Things (IoT) tracking, and collaborative partnerships to manage complexity and cost.

Data management and collaboration: Successfully managing circular flows demands advanced data systems for tracking and traceability across multiple use cycles and partners. Digital product passports are becoming essential tools for managing these complex material networks.

Strengthening operational stability

The strategic logic of circularity aligns powerfully with the growing trend toward nearshoring and onshoring. Bringing production closer to end markets makes circular models like take-back and local refurbishment far more economically viable, reducing logistical complexity and cost. These localized material loops are inherently more resilient to global disruptions by mitigating exposure to geopolitical hotspots, international shipping crises, and tariffs. Building shorter, more adaptable value chains is a key priority for forward-thinking organizations, and we’ve been seeing it more and more with our clients.  

However, effective local loops require more than just relocation. They demand a fundamental rethinking of product design, supply chain infrastructure, and consumer engagement. To achieve this, organizations should consider:

• Evolving product ownership into a seamless user journey: What if user experience could be a continuous flow of value, with products that adapt to a consumer’s changing needs, can be effortlessly upgraded locally, and seamlessly returned for responsible renewal, creating a sense of ongoing connection and trust?
  
  
• Making reverse logistics effortless and rewarding: What if, instead of a chore, returning used products was as easy and satisfying as receiving new ones, integrated into local community hubs with engaging digital interfaces and personalized incentives, fostering a sense of participation and satisfaction?
  
  
• Creating thriving ecosystems of shared value with local collaboration: What if businesses, local artisans, and communities co-created circular products tailored to their unique context, with local makerspaces, repair cafes, and material marketplaces empowering people, generating local wealth, reigniting a strong sense of place and belonging, and attracting new forms of tourism?

By embracing design and innovation, businesses can create resilient and circular local economies, mitigating the increasing risks of long supply chains and unlocking local growth and innovation opportunities.

The new competitive edge: resource independence

Shifting a company’s focus to circularity does require investment in new capabilities, particularly in design, reverse logistics, and data management. It requires cultivating new collaborative ecosystems and partnerships.

But the rewards are substantial. Businesses that successfully integrate circular strategies build operational resilience by reducing reliance on volatile inputs, mitigating geopolitical and tariff risks through greater resource independence, ensuring greater supply security, and forging stronger long-term customer relationships.

As we navigate this uncertain landscape, one thing becomes clear: building circular capacity isn’t just adaptation; it’s the deliberate choice to forge a competitive edge in an unpredictable world. The future belongs to those organizations bold enough to design it.

The waters of global trade are choppier than ever. Tariff storms gather and break unpredictably, geopolitical currents shift constantly, and the very resources our supply chains depend on face increasing pressure.

Many companies are withdrawing financial guidance, and stock markets are whipsawing against tariff talks and social media speculation. Global uncertainty is now on par with—or even higher than—the peaks of the COVID-19 era, according to indices like the Economic Policy Uncertainty Index. Even trade experts can’t confidently answer pretty simple questions like: How many units will we sell? What will it cost to deliver our service in the next three months?

Every leadership team we talk to is operating in a fog. Whether they admit it or not, that fog is affecting their risk appetite: They are delaying projects, sitting on approvals, and slashing budgets. With tariffs swinging wildly, it’s tough to plan ahead. A once-profitable offer can turn into a loss overnight. Even companies with limited exposure to physical goods can feel the ripple effects through disrupted supply chains, spooked investors, or sudden stock price drops.

It’s no wonder leaders feel paralyzed. But resilient organizations don’t wait for certainty. They aren’t afraid to rethink how they lead, focus, and design for the future. In times like these, fear can’t be your compass. It’s time to step out of preservation mode and chart a course toward where your organization needs to go.

So, how do you lead through uncertainty and regain momentum? Here are four methods we’ve been using with our clients:

1. Focus beats forecasts

When everything feels urgent, nothing gets done. Leaders must help teams focus their energy on what truly matters—starting with the courage to say no to outdated initiatives, pet projects, or business-as-usual efforts that no longer serve your strategy. Focus isn’t just about doing less, it’s about freeing up capacity and renewing energy to go bolder on the bets that will shape your future. A global retailer navigating supply chain turmoil and changing consumer habits might choose to pause low-impact projects to focus on one priority: last-mile delivery. That kind of clarity can boost fulfillment speed, earn customer trust, and drive revenue. Achieving this kind of focus means aligning across functions, reaching beyond silos, and creating momentum—even without perfect clarity. Because in moments of uncertainty, focus is the fuel that keeps progress alive.

2. Rethink where to play

Whether we’re designing a product, service, strategy, or experience, we also have to design for where, how, and at what cost it gets delivered. It’s no longer just about customer segments; it’s about navigating geopolitical risk, regulatory change, and supply constraints with agility. That requires a new playbook—one that views the landscape like a moving chessboard—where your next move depends on which pieces are in motion and how the board is evolving. Imagine a toy company facing price uncertainty, choosing to prioritize growth in regional markets closer to where they produce, and then amplifying their sustainability efforts and local stories in their marketing. Routing the right products to the right markets still matters. But so does staying light on your feet. Embracing flexibility—and even a playful mindset—can help your teams move forward with confidence, not fear, as the environment continues to shift.

3. Momentum > perfection: redesign for rapid experimentation

When the future feels uncertain, the instinct is often to pause. But pausing comes at a cost. The businesses that thrive now are those that experiment faster, not because they know exactly what will work, but because they’re willing to learn their way forward. You may not have enough certainty to build a multi-year roadmap. But you do have the tools to test, iterate, and adapt in real time. A beauty brand facing increased production costs on all of its packaging might rapidly pilot makeup refillables via mobile pop-ups to prove out a new customer behavior that is both more sustainable and lower cost for the brand to deliver. This also shifts how your teams work: embedding lightweight prototyping, faster feedback loops with customers, and an emphasis on small bets that unlock new opportunities into the day-to-day. These small wins build resilience. And resilience builds momentum. In this climate, progress—even if it’s imperfect—is the boldest move you can make.

4. Digital products can offer a beacon of hope

With physical goods and global delivery models under pressure, we’re seeing renewed interest in digital experiences and revenue streams. For many, digital feels like the one domain where they can move faster and iterate more freely. Consider re-imagining the digital experience not just as a supporting channel or companion app, but as a core engine of new customer acquisition, brand loyalty, and resilience. Let’s say a health-insurance provider is facing rising service costs: launching an AI-assisted care-navigation app where members could check symptoms, book telehealth visits, and file claims all in one place could help the company cut support call volume, improve the customer experience, and help people catch health issues early, avoiding costlier medical interventions later. To unlock the full potential of digital, invest in product-led growth strategies across customer touchpoints—where value is delivered through the experience itself, and innovation is driven by real-time data and user feedback.

Where we’re going, there are no roads.

There’s no map for what comes next—but that doesn’t mean the answer is to stand still. Regaining momentum is less about knowing the final destination and more about having the right compass to guide you through the fog. At IDEO, we’re working with leaders across industries to shift out of survival mode and design for the clarity, confidence, and energy their organizations need right now. If you’re ready to move through the uncertainty, we’re here to help you chart your course.

The business world runs on planning: forecasts, earnings calls, revenue projections. But right now, that’s mostly guesswork.

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.