During the last decade, we’ve developed our own secret sauce. (Okay, maybe it’s not so secret anymore.)

It’s composed of ten special ingredients that—when craftily mixed together—work like a charm.

Empathy in Action

We really like humans. We’re actually a bit obsessed with them. Luckily, we’re also human. So we leverage our innate powers of empathy and compassion in order to serve others. Our end goal? To help humans lead healthier, more productive, and meaningful lives.

Bias Towards Action

Deep learning happens in perpetual motion, where the mind, body, and spirit are triggered simultaneously. We learn by doing, prototype our way to growth, avoid analysis paralysis, and spare students the overly complex theories which are oh-too-common in traditional training.

Psychological Safety

Psychological safety is a shared belief held by a team where interpersonal risk-taking is the norm. It’s the organizational fairy dust that enables the magic of innovation to blossom. This is not a soft, touchy-feely concept (despite the fairy). It is transformationally powerful.

Process Focused

Sparking lasting change and creativity in organizations ain’t easy. Enter processes like design thinking and sprints. They give trailblazing teams a semblance of direction, serving as a trusty roadmap along the way. So when the going gets tough, the tough trust the process.

Humor & Play

When used wisely, humor and play can be powerfully unifying and equalizing. They enable people to find joy, develop perspective, and create meaning together—all while getting shit done. So go on, be a bit foolish, and let your hair down (unless you’re a bald emoji).

Being Mindful

No, we’re not hippies. We don’t burn incense, sing kumbaya or do peyote (wait, maybe one of us does). We do, however, have tremendous respect for metacognition: the uniquely human ability to be intentional in the way we use our attention, i.e., being aware of our awareness.

Childlike Curiosity

Kids love to ask why. And why. And why… Which begs the question: Why do we stop asking multiple whys when we grow older? Why do we start taking things for granted? Why do we focus on coming up with the right answers instead of asking the right questions? You get the picture.

Crossing the Podium

The podium serves as a brick wall between teacher and student. It induces a one-way conversation. In the most fruitful innovation learning ecosystems, the facilitator blends herself into the environment, making it hard to tell the difference between facilitator and learner.

Dancing with Ambiguity

The world is a messy place. Exploring innovation’s unknown unknowns is a fuzzy process. It’s full of wrong turns and dead-ends, requiring constant agility and readjustments. We embrace this exciting, uncertain journey and thrive in its unpredictability.

Cross-Pollination

Great ideas are like babies: they’re the result of two diverse individuals sweating it out while bumping against each other. If this analogy is too racy for you, then think of cross-pollination as an idea experiment where just the right combination of different chemicals spurs radical invention.

As educators, we stand on the shoulders of giants & honor our Silicon Valley & Norwegian academic roots.

Co-creating practical knowledge & sharing it with the world is our sport. We’re lucky to play it every day.

Stanford University

Norwegian University of Science & Technology (NTNU)

Norwegian School of Economics (NHH)