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Tuesday, May 13, 2025
How can we innovate today with effectiveness, calm, and humanity in an unpredictable world?
That’s the question guiding this article. To explore it, we delve into the unique journey of Blaise Bertrand, a widely respected global expert in applied innovation. This French-American designer, now based in California, has held leadership roles at IDEO, Google, and Meta, and currently heads strategic design at Wells Fargo Bank. Blaise champions a philosophy of continuous innovation, shaped not just by design methodologies, but by over twenty years of hands-on practice and critical thinking about the human and systemic impact of innovation.
His impressive path is deeply rooted in a family legacy of care and service. His grandfather, a baker, taught him the importance of detail and dedication; his parents, lifelong social workers, passed on values of solidarity and meaningful impact. These influences guide Blaise’s work at the intersection of design, humanity, and business—with a clear ambition: to create a positive impact on society and the planet.
Blaise has led major initiatives, including the complete redesign of the Los Angeles voting system to enable broader participation among communities historically excluded from democratic processes. At Google and Meta, he helped pioneer consumer-ready hardware-software systems that reimagined how people engage with technology. His approach consistently centers on the human—favoring meaningful one-on-one interactions over impersonal mass communication.
Before we even talk about innovation—a term that’s become increasingly overused—it’s worth rediscovering its core meaning. The word stems from the Latin innovare, meaning “to renew” or “to return to,” composed of novus (“new”) and in (“within”). Innovation is, at its heart, an internal movement toward transformation—a process of renewal.
Design Thinking aligns perfectly with this philosophy, offering an iterative, non-linear approach that helps teams better understand user needs, challenge assumptions, redefine problems, and rapidly explore concrete solutions. It’s especially powerful when dealing with complex, ambiguous, or fast-changing issues—in other words, the exact challenges businesses face today. As Blaise puts it, innovation now means learning to navigate a constantly shifting world where change is exponential and the ability to test fast, pivot fast, and learn fast is key to success.
Design and innovation are natural responses to change. But today’s change isn’t linear—it’s accelerating, expanding, and becoming more complex. Just look at a few signs: ChatGPT hit 100 million users in just two months; our attention span has dropped from 12 seconds in 2000 to just 8 in 2023; and we’re facing mounting geopolitical tension, climate disruption, and economic upheaval.
In this ever-changing context, design thinking becomes a compass—turning uncertainty into action by putting humans, experimentation, and collaboration at the heart of the process. Businesses need to develop a new kind of strategic agility while integrating the cultural and social shifts that are redefining expectations. AI is everywhere—but with it comes a paradox: the more advanced technology gets, the greater our need for authentic human connection.
So, innovation can no longer be purely technological. Brands must now engage with ethical, emotional, and identity-based dimensions to remain relevant and build long-term trust.
In a world of rapid transformation, how do we bring meaning back to innovation?
Design Thinking offers a path: human-centered innovation that balances technological progress with social purpose and a deeper sense of meaning. It’s less about invention for its own sake, and more about building practical, impactful solutions in an age of uncertainty.
True innovation can only thrive in an environment of psychological safety, where failure is seen not as defeat but as a natural part of the learning process. Blaise emphasizes building company cultures where people feel free to suggest, try, fail—and grow.
At Google, this ethos inspired the famous "20% time" policy, allowing employees to dedicate part of their week to passion projects. IDEO, founded by David Kelley, was based on the idea of “working with friends on exciting projects.” This fostered a culture where collaboration, trust, and experimentation drive creativity.
But it’s not easy. Many corporate structures, focused on KPIs and short-term targets, struggle to embrace trial and error. Yet in today’s ever-shifting markets, innovation means knowing how to course-correct, listen to weak signals, and change direction.
To truly innovate, companies must become learning organizations, where every employee is treated as an explorer. And exploration sometimes means getting lost—the point is to learn, adjust, and move forward with more clarity.
Blaise advocates for systemic innovation—deeply embedded in society and guided by a clear mission. The most meaningful innovations solve deep human challenges and help transform how we live, work, and relate to one another and the natural world.
Take Patagonia. In 2022, founder Yvon Chouinard transferred company ownership to two entities: the Patagonia Purpose Trust, which holds voting power to uphold environmental commitments, and the Holdfast Collective, a nonprofit that receives all profits not reinvested in the business—roughly $100 million annually—to fight climate change. That strategy matters, especially when 64% of consumers say they’d boycott brands that don’t align with their values.
In another space, mobile financial company Branch exemplifies mission-driven innovation. By providing microloans and savings tools to unbanked populations in Africa, it empowers local communities and fuels economic independence.
As tech dazzles us more and more, dystopian futures like those in Black Mirror become easy to imagine. But as Blaise reminds us, “If you can imagine a dystopian future, it means it’s already been imagined.” He calls on innovators to build positive visions—futures worth striving for, grounded in collaboration, experimentation, and the courage to reinvent how we live together.
Lastly, Blaise champions a pragmatic, iterative approach inspired by Design Thinking. Don’t wait for the perfect solution—start small, test fast, and learn along the way. This open, humble mindset is essential for tackling today’s complex social, environmental, and tech challenges.
Branch again offers a case in point. Their team invested deeply in understanding the daily habits, pain points, and aspirations of local users excluded from traditional banking systems. That groundwork led to simple, accessible tech solutions that enabled people to save, access microcredit, and strengthen their financial autonomy.
This type of innovation—grounded in real life, shaped by user listening—is the new way forward: more empathic, more agile, and more impact-driven.
In an increasingly uncertain world, approaches like design thinking, continuous innovation, and collective intelligence serve as powerful tools for reimagining how we act. Rooted in both structured methodology and deep listening to human realities, they help teams co-create solutions that are impactful, sustainable, and future-ready.
Whether through remote coaching sessions, multi-month innovation programs, or immersive learning expeditions in the heart of Silicon Valley, these formats offer more than inspiration—they provide a true transformation. Far from technocentric models, they reintroduce a joyful, meaningful, and deeply human dimension to innovation.
“A thoughtfully planned experience of inspiration, motivation, and perspective that jumpstarts the ideation and innovation process. Thank you for an incredible program, the impact of which will last through my career.”
— Dawn Baker, CTO, Back Market
These workshops aren’t just inspirational breaks—they represent a new way to innovate: more agile, more strategic, and more attuned to human dynamics. They rapidly unlock tangible opportunities while strengthening team alignment.
Whether you're a startup seeking direction, a large organization navigating change, or a leader ready to rethink your approach, these experiences mark a turning point. Innovation becomes a shared journey—grounded, meaningful, and deeply inspiring.
