My first jobs were in restaurants washing dishes and busing tables. I would go on to do other jobs in restaurants, including cooking, waiting on tables, hosting on occasion. I think working in restaurants is a great first job because it teaches you to deal with people, and work in collaboration with different functions. So no matter what you do in a restaurant, it is a great experience to prepare for life.

While I for sure was ‘cooking,’ I wouldn’t call myself a “cook.” And definitely wouldn’t consider myself being a “chef.” I was just a person following instructions and performing it in a way that was consistent with expectations. I was told how to prepare something, and I followed those instructions. I know that not everyone can accomplish that, but I don’t consider it a great mark of distinction.

Being able to successfully combine ingredients in a way that is proscribed is another one of those life lessons that can be applied in a lot of areas. Including organizational leadership.

Organizations after all are just assemblies of ingredients. There are proscribed ways of putting these organizational ingredients together. Accountants go in the accounting department. Sales people in sales. Marketers in marketing. Etc. And these people sit in the same areas as each other, and they do the work that is related to their areas. And on it goes. That doesn’t take a lot of visionary ability. It typically is the way it goes in all organizations.

Now if you think of the ingredients right now in your kitchen, there are the staples that you typically rely on and use. You are comfortable with them and know how to deploy them. There are also those things that are seldom used, and you even forget you have. I’m thinking here of the spices I have that I forgot I have and never get included. There also is the stuff in the shelves and freezer that got buried, or maybe I got to use once. So lots of ingredients with no clear idea of what to do with them. There used to be a show with Chef Alton Brown where he would just go into someone’s house and make a meal with what was there. That’s talent.

On today’s episode, we welcome someone who knows about putting things together, something about how leaders use ingredients, and something about food. Dr. James Shin got his PhD from Penn State in Industrial Engineering, writing a dissertation that looks at (in part) simplicity versus complexity in the design process. Part of what he learned is that if we minimize the problems from the start, they can become more manageable, allowing us to make more progress.

Rather than go the academic route, he went into industry given his interest in applying knowledge to practical problems. Working in a global organization, he also learned how approaches used by different cultures may work in that particular culture, but may not work as well in other cultures and contexts. Another thing he learned from his global work is that middle management is typically overstressed and underappreciated no matter where in the world they are located.

We talk about his new book “The Leader’s Soul: 52 Reflections for Unlocking Your Inner Leader.” In it, he looks at his own upbringing in South Korea, moving to the US as part of his PhD completion, his journey through corporate America, and his return to Asia in capacities that included speaking at universities.

We also talk about his company Blue Koi, and how the koi fish symbolizes growth. However, as he shares, the best kind of sustainable growth occurs not necessarily through focusing on rapid achievement, but through pacing ourselves in our efforts and life. He also reflects on the importance of nuance, and how he had to break from the black and white thinking that can be more prominent in engineering and how humans need to be factored into design.

And there was some conversation about preparing food, and the importance of not just using the right ingredients, but using the ingredients you have in creative ways.

Blue Koi: https://www.bluekoiglobal.com/

James Shin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-j-shin/

"The Leader's Soul": https://www.amazon.com/Leaders-Soul-James-Shin/dp/1963701534

One bit of news that caught my attention was the declining trust that the American public has in higher education over the last decade. In good news, Gallup found that trust did increase from 2024 to 2025. However, it is still markedly down from 2015. Not surprisingly, those levels of trust differ by political affiliation, as most things seem to different by political affiliation nowadays.

Another study by Pew states that young adults are increasingly questioning the value of a four-year college degree, especially when looking at the cost of it. This is coupled with smaller four-year liberal arts institutions because of declining enrollment. There are a number of factors for this, but a main one is whether such an education adequately prepares one for a successful future, or whether it is really necessary at all.

But if not higher education, then what? Where are 18 year olds supposed to go after they graduate high school?

It is true that skilled tradespeople are in demand and can lead to a career. In fact, there is an increase in the number of people entering trade school and vocational programs. That for sure is great news.

Another pathway for young adults is joining the military. Those numbers have been increasing as well, reversing a long-term trend of declining enlistments. However, less than 1% of Americans are on active duty. The current overall veteran population is only 7.4%. The larger question still remains of whether being in the military can adequately prepare a person for life and a career after serving?

My guest today on Experience by Design podcast thinks so. Lee Pepper has served in the military, and he also has worked in business. He sees a lot of connections between the two, which he wrote in his book “Never Outmatched: Military Strategies to Lead, Innovate, and Win in the Modern Marketing Battlefield,” which I will say I have read and is pretty great.

We talk about how innovation doesn’t mean throwing everything out, but new applications in current environments given emergent tools. He describes how he seeks to mentor soldiers who are struggling after the military to help them apply what they learned in the service to life outside of it. He translates how military speak can be translated into corporate speak to help increase those connections.

Lee also talks about how these lessons can be applicable to everyone looking to improve innovation, strategy, and leadership. He also relates his marketing work for a recovery and treatment facility, and what he learned from that environment and how lifetime relationships can help for long-term recovery.

Finally, he shares his experience about being a docent in an art museum, and how his wife’s art work relates to his own creativity, risk taking, and innovative inspiration.

Lee Pepper LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leepepper/

Never Outmatch Book: https://www.neveroutmatched.com/

I don’t think I am alone in finding art very intimidating, but yet like all of us being I am inextricably drawn to it.

I had the chance to go to a concert last night with the band Queens of the Stone Age. I have seen them three times before, but never quite like this. For this tour, they were playing beautiful smaller venues, like the Boch Theater in Boston where I saw them. The tour was in support of their “Alive in the Catacombs” movie and album, which was recorded in the catacombs under Paris.

One of the things about this concert was the band’s request to get dressed up in your best attire for an experience unlike any other concert you’ve been to. And reading the reviews provided by attendees online, you can see that the concert produced such an effect. Like any good drama, the concert used a three-act structure put into parts that started very paired down into an orchestra of light, symphony, rock music, and drama. It was pretty remarkable, and as I watched it I couldn’t help but wonder about the creative and artistic minds that put this together. Not just the music, but all of it. Who are the minds that conceived it, and where does that come from? And as I sat there wishing I had taken more music lessons so I could produce such an experience for the world, I have to admit that I was both in awe and uplifted, and feeling diminished because of my lack of ability.

I’m sure if I would talk to the artists involved, and if you’re listening let me know, they would say that is not the point of artistic creation. It is not to make those non-creators feel insignificant, but rather to allow them to share in the potential of creation. We all have the potential for artistic expression and creation on whatever scale we can manage. What typically stands in our way is our own feelings of self-doubt and inadequacy. Those feelings get magnified when our initial attempts don’t meet with our own expectations. We are truly our own worst critics, and that art critic can be pretty unforgiving.

To help us with finding our inner artist and creative voice is Laura Patac. Laura grew up in Romania as a very shy and introverted child. One outlet she found was poetry. But she didn’t see this as a legitimate professional outlet. Rather, she studied mathematics in university, which led to a career in Western Union, culminating in being the VP and Head of Global Retail Product. But she retained her passion for and practice of poetry and story-telling, which she has turned into her book “Stories with Purpose.”

I talk with Laura about the importance of the arts, and with the arts and story telling there is no right nor wrong. She talks about the connection between poetry and mathematics. Both provided her with structure, self-expression, and a way to connect not just with others but herself.

We talk about the prevalence of imposter syndrome in women, and the importance of resilience when managing corporate environments. We explore the ways that we measure success and impact, and how story telling can help us define both. More importantly we talk about how to connect narrative with purpose to create a positive impact. She describes how she helps her clients tell their story and identify their purpose so they can have that positive impact on organizations and more.

Finally, she talks about how in between birth and death is choice, and we need to choose the version of ourselves that we create and present to the world.

Laura G. Patac LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-g-patac/

Empower Quest: https://empower-quest.com/

Stories with Purpose Book: https://www.storiesholdpurpose.com/book

Stories with Purpose Workbook: https://www.storiesholdpurpose.com/workbook-optin