NCOMMON
Alison Rand
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About This Podcast
Season Two of NCOMMON invites listeners into the heart of Alison Rand’s new book, Sentido: Finding Sense and Purpose in Design Leadership. “Sentido” means sense—to feel, to understand, to make meaning. This season, she’ll be in conversation with guests whose stories echo the themes of Sentido, asking the questions that often go unspoken about leadership, belonging, and change. Together they will reflect, challenge, and imagine new ways forward—finding clarity in complexity and purpose in practice.
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Recent Episodes
S2E6 Season 2 / Ep. 06: Radical
In this episode, Alison is joined by Aimee Meredith Cox and Soeuraya Wilson, teachers at The Class whose work is grounded in embodiment, care, and long-standing practice in collective spaces. Their…
Season 2 / Ep. 05: Lessons from an Individual Contributor
In this episode, Alison is joined by Corina Ocanto, a workplace strategist who has spent her career translating human needs into environments where people can thrive. Their conversation traces the…
S2E4 Season 2 / Ep. 04: Luck as a Superpower
In this episode, Alison sits down with Rachael Dietkus, a social worker and designer whose practice challenges the false divide between care and design. Together, we talk about luck not as chance or…
S2E3 Season 2 / Ep. 03: Sisterhood?
In this episode, Alison sits with her lifelong friends — Norma, Delia, and Vanessa — women who have known her through every version of herself. Together, they trace the arc of friendship that began…
S2E2 Season 2 / Ep. 02: I’m Gonna Win
In this episode, Alison sits with filmmaker and storyteller Elaine Del Valle, whose debut feature Brownsville Bred captures the beauty and brutality of growing up in 1980s Brooklyn. In a conversation…
S2E1 Season 2 / Ep. 01: Explore Test Wander Emerge
In this first episode of season two, Alison explores the edges of uncertainty with Jessie Shefrin, an artist, educator, and former Provost at the Rhode Island School of Design. In this conversation…
S1E12 Episode 12: Hella Justice
In this final episode of season one, Jacqui and Alison reflect on the times with Quinnton Harris, one of the founders of Hella Creative – the team behind the Hella Juneteenth movement. We talk about…
S1E11 Episode 11: The Future is Bright
Episode 11 is part two of the conversation about Design Operations and where we are heading. In this episode, Jacqui and Alison go broad and extensive (and somewhat meandering ) about future…
S1E10 Episode 10: Let’s talk about DesignOps
In episode 10 Jacqui and Alison begin to dig into the current state of Design Operations. Get ready for some more real talk around what is Design Ops anyway, where does it come from, what (and who)…
S1E9 Episode 09: Think Fast Talk Smart
We have a special guest this week! Matt Abrahams, Principal and Co-Founder Company of Bold Echo Communication Solutions, Lecturer in Organizational Behavior at Stanford University Graduate School of…
S1E8 Episode 08: What is up with Organizational Maturity?
In this episode, Jacqui and Alison unpack the different levels of organizational maturity. To Design in general, and the future as Design is embedded in our every day. How do we, as Design leaders,…
S1E7 Episode 07: Human-Centered Operations
Businesses are trying to implement Design Thinking & Human-Centered Design – the struggle is real. In this episode, Jacqui and Alison talk about that struggle as well as why it's not just about a…
S1E6 Episode 06: Pressure Testing the Meritocracy
In episode 6, Jacqui and Alison speak with Connie Liu, founder of Project Invent. Project Invent empowers students with the 21st-century skills to succeed individually and impact globally with the…
S1E5 Episode 05: The Art of Failure
In this episode, Jacqui and Alison share some real talk about failures and learnings. Falling down and getting back up — because we’re gonna fall down a lot. Especially as the trailblazers in the…
S1E4 Episode 04: Flow & Fluidity
In this episode, Jacqui shares her experience of the boiling ocean of Design Operations. Through a memory of her experience as a collegiate athlete, she came upon the concept of Flow. Inspired by…
S1E3 Episode 03: Design for Systems, Not Users
In the third episode of our inaugural season, we welcome our first guest and who better than Alexis Loyd, VP of Design at Medium, Co-Founder of Ethical Futures Lab, and third in line to the throne…
S1E2 Episode 02: Process, by Design
In this episode, Jacqui and Alison discuss Alison’s post on the work she has been doing to connect the dots between her past and her current role, our responsibility as women of color leading in this…
S1E1 Episode 01: Scale is Social Work
In this first episode of ncommon, Alison talks to Jacqui about the successes and failures of scaling design through DesignOps. Amongst other things, Jacqui shares how she learned that true scale is…
Frequently Asked Questions
NCOMMON has published 18 episodes since March 2020, covering topics in Arts, Design.
NCOMMON is currently dormant with new episodes every 2 weeks. Average episode length is 32m.
Sign up on Grep.FM to access contact details for NCOMMON, including email and social media links.
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