Hi friends. I seem to have slipped off the face of the earth for awhile. Yes, lost in the abyss of corporate America. After attending a session at CHI last spring about working in a UX department in a large corporation, I wondered: “Could this be for me?” Much of my consulting time as a User-Centered Business Analyst was spent explaining the value of actually focusing on the user, not just the technology when developing business applications and strategy. I had a pivotal moment. I thought working in a department already dedicated to User Experience, where the buy-in for user-centered design was clearly already in place would be a refreshing change.
So, I’ve been working at Homedepot.com as a senior user experience analyst for the past 10 months. This has been an interesting challenge. It’s been about 13 years since I have worked in a corporation this size and I am again coming to realize the pros and cons of being part of a very large company. Although I have no intention of biting the hand that feeds me (and enabled me to go on an awesome Mediterranean cruise) – there is a certain purposefulness and enthusiasm in Start-Up folks that is noticeably absent in larger companies. I don’t think it is a necessary phenomenon. It just tends to be that way.
So, it’s given me great opportunity to think about what motivates people and how to inject “entrepreneurial spirit” into a business model designed contrary to it’s cultivation.
Here are some of my favorite TED Talks on the subject.
Dan Pink, author of Drive on the Surprising Science of Motivation.
Simon Sinek. How Great Leaders Inspire
Hope you enjoyed them.
Cheers,
Kristin