Joyfulness and Storytelling
Himanshu Bharadwaj uses joyful design to inspire teams to create scalable, compassionate products.
He is a Joyful Design Thinking Leader, Speaker, Entrepreneur, and Yogi and calls himself a 4/3 πr³ designer.
Himanshu is formerly a VP of Experience Design at Centime, Inc., a B2B SaaS FinTech focused on Cash Management and Banking solutions, which was awarded Commercial Banking Fintech of the Year by AiteNovarica.
“ A Higher perspective.”
I grew up in New Delhi, a big city with pollution, tall buildings, and not enough trees. I craved some fresh air and new scenery.
Several times, I traveled to small towns in the foothills and then went up the mountains where there were hardly any human beings or interference with nature.
intrigued me the most were the clear skies and, at night, many stars. Just like zooming out to a galaxy in the movie Power of 10' by the designer Charles Eames, this context made me humble and small in the larger scheme of things of the universe. When I saw so many stars in the sky, my vision broadened, my aspirations improved, and I could dream big.
Looking at the universe teaches us how parts impact the whole, how systems nest within each other, how to look for connections, context, and meaning, and how to see the familiar in a new way. And then, through meditation, we look at the same vast universe with a nested system within us.
Another aspect of living in the Himalayas was I had no schedule. I followed a process and a goal that the gurus and the monks taught me.
When you live your life by a compass instead of a clock, you open yourself to various experiences that seem like fantasy.
One can learn to bypass the circadian rhythm by living in caves due to darkness.
Circadian rhythms are physical, mental, and behavioral changes that follow a 24-hour cycle influenced by the sun.
We close our eyes during meditation and do not speak, taste, or smell anything.
Thus, the four senses are out of business. The remaining sense of hearing was taken care of by the nearby river. The river sound acts as a white noise that drowns all other sound frequencies and helps in meditation.
My meditation practice has continued in my design profession and life so far.
“ Why storytelling works.”
The storyteller is said to be the most influential person in the world. Leadership's job is to create a story, set vision, values, and agenda that motivates and inspires people in the organization to think of something much more significant than themselves. When we share stories, we invite others to see the world through our eyes, which means the leader must have a vision and ability to unlock others' potential and carry the people on a journey to see the same world.
Human beings are wired for stories. We grew up listening to stories. It is how we became communities, and that is how we invented things. That is how we work together, especially nowadays when everything is cross-disciplinary.
You mentioned OKRs and metrics, but you know facts can only tell things, but stories can sell things.
To sell something, you need stories, not facts. And stories can bypass the mind and speak directly to the heart. Facts cannot do that. Stories can convert apathy to empathy, indifference into action, and resistance to resolve. That is what leadership is all about.
In designing storytelling through visual metaphors, sensory stimuli, nostalgia, wonder, awe, emotions, and interactive simulations, we can facilitate cognitive processing and comprehension to make it easy for people to understand complex concepts and retain information. Joyful storytelling is the secret ingredient that transforms ordinary products into extraordinary experiences.
“ Creativity killers.”
Today's agile process has become a feature factory process to do work ASAP. As a leader, one needs to know how to change the mindset of one's people, and that happens through cognitive flexibility. There are various processes to create cognitive flexibility in an organization from the top and down.
This can only happen when people are receptive to these ideas, and I have, in my experience, found several C-suite leaders who are interested because it helps them be more efficient.
A recent publication by the World Economic Forum, Future of Jobs Report, listed top skills for the future, and creativity was among the top 5. Creativity happens when we are flexible. So, we need to get back to the fundamentals.
I believe in joy becoming the sprint process.
Joy is a better KPI for success…
…and the only measure of well-being.