Creative Capes

Most founders wait for the right idea. Tessa Clarke spent years doing exactly that before realising she'd been looking for the wrong thing, she should have been looking for a problem she cared about.
Since co-founding Olio in 2015 with Saasha Celestial-One, Tessa has grown the food sharing app to more than 10 million users and an estimated £1.1 billion in social impact, alongside a B2B arm that now redistributes surplus for supermarkets, schools and production companies.
Tessa is also a teacher at the Executive Programme at Future London Academy. Learn from her in-person: https://fla.wiki/4wZMcJ5
In this video, you'll learn:
▶ Why a two-week WhatsApp group proved the concept before a single line of code was written
▶ How Olio's most enthusiastic early users turned out to be the ones with nothing to give, and the third audience she built to close the gap
▶ Why Duolingo's streaks would never work for surplus food, and how to test a borrowed mechanic before you copy it
▶ How signing one supermarket outgrew everything the consumer app could achieve on its own
▶ How to answer a prevention-based question with a promotion-based response, and why female founders get asked them in the first place
▶ Why nobody cares about your solution, only whether you understand their problem
Chapters:
00:00 Meet Tessa Clarke Co-Founder of Olio Solving Food Waste at Scale
04:56 Why Tessa Clarke Chose Business Over Charity
09:41 Why Purpose-Driven Business Attracts Gen Z Talent
14:05 How Olio Started as a WhatsApp Experiment
19:05 The Food Waste Heroes Programme That Solved Olio's Supply Problem
21:34 How B Corp Status Helped People Understand Olio's Business Model
28:37 Why Financial Incentives Backfired for Olio
34:44 How Tessa Clarke Raised $50 Million as a Female Founder
43:32 What Is Earth Overshoot Day
47:00 How Olio Measures Its Social Impact Beyond Profit
50:34 Why Olio Pivoted from B2C to B2B
56:30 How to Pitch Purpose to Corporate Buyers
1:00:25 Tessa Clarke Wants to Replace GDP as Our Success Metric

Acts of kindness feel good, but they are rarely profitable. Ivo Gormley has spent nearly twenty years proving it's possible while creating an incredible community around helping people.We sat down with him to find out how.
Since starting GoodGym in 2007 with a single newspaper run, Ivo has built it into a movement of 25,000+ volunteers across 60+ cities. He's been awarded an OBE and made GoodGym the first-ever charity to win the Sky Zero Footprint Fund Grand Prix.
Ivo is also a teacher at the Executive Programme at Future London Academy. Learn from him in-person: https://fla.wiki/3TdVYZlIn this video, you'll learn:▶ How an £8 suggestion made over a pint became a reliable, recurring source of income▶ Why he chose to become a charity, not a business, and doesn't regret it▶ How he built what he needed because no one else did▶ Why a genuine, acknowledged role in delivering something beats a frictionless experience of receiving it▶ Why designing for contribution creates more winners than competition0:00 - Who is Ivo Gormley? GoodGym founder introduction1:41 - Anthropology, comedy & service design: Ivo's career path6:03 - The story behind GoodGym: why Ivo started it9:05 - Quitting his job to go full-time on GoodGym (2013)12:14 - Group runs & community volunteering: the GoodGym model14:34 - GoodGym's donation-based business model explained19:29 - How GoodGym got local councils to invest24:55 - GoodGym during COVID: volunteering through the pandemic35:25 - Charity vs social enterprise: why GoodGym chose nonprofit status44:55 - Design, loneliness & human connection52:45 - How AI is eroding human identity (the Stack Overflow effect)1:04:20 - Building a business with AI without losing human connectionSubscribe to our social media channels:Instagram: @futurelondonacademyLinkedIn: Future London AcademyTwitter: @flondonacademyfuturelondonacademy.co.uk

How can design create impact at a systems level, across business, government and the planet? Cat Drew has spent a large part of her career answering exactly that question.
Chief Design Officer at Design Council, the UK's design body, set up nearly 80 years ago to help rebuild the post-war economy. Cat works at the intersection of design, business, policy and sustainability.
Cat is also faculty member of our Executive Programme for Design Leaders: https://fla.wiki/4vsrYWRAs
In our conversation, we explored how designers can better communicate their value, why sustainability belongs in every designer's toolkit, and what it takes to influence entire systems.

What you'll learn:
► How to build design's influence inside a large organisation, and make the business case for it, from Decathlon to Impossible Foods
► Why sustainability and "skills for the planet" now belong in every designer's toolkit
► How design can shape government policy, not just products

👤 Who this episode is for: Chief Design Officers · Design Leaders · Heads of Design · Policy Makers · Sustainability Leads · and anyone curious about design's role in business, government and the planet

00:00 Meet Cat Drew, Chief Design Officer at Design Council
2:04 80 Years of Design Council: From Post-War Product Awards to Design for Planet
6:45 Why Governments and Businesses Still Misunderstand the Word Design
9:39 Design Speaks a Different Language Than Business
12:10 How to Build Design Influence Inside a Large Organisation
14:33 Five Business Arguments for Design, With Case Studies From Decathlon to Impossible Foods
19:04 What Governments Actually Care About: Design Economy vs Design for Policy
23:54 Measuring Impact in the Public Sector From Vulnerable Families to Mental Health Access
29:54 Salford Wetlands: A Design Solution That Solves Five Problems at Once
32:34 Should Designers Even Use the Word "Design"?36:44 Introducing Skills for the Planet and the Weight of Design's Responsibility
45:58 How Can Designers Advocate for the Planet
49:31 Judging FLA's Executive Programme & What Design Leaders Are Building Next
52:03 Q&A: B Corp Certification vs Measurable Regenerative Impact
53:42 Q&A: Why Designers Need Hands in Soil and Feet in Rivers
56:49 Q&A: Fixing Design Education for the Next Generation
01:03:45 Q&A: Designing for Systems When Work Is Project-Based
01:06:08 Q&A: Building a Business Case for Retainer-Based Sustainability Work
01:10:35 Q&A: Who Kat Thinks We Should Invite Next to the Podcast & Why
01:12:21 Q&A: Bridging a Career Into Purpose-Led Work

More about our Executive Programme for Design Leaders: https://fla.wiki/4vsrYWR

How design leaders build influence, navigate conflict, and lead across cultures. In this episode, Ekaterina sits down with Julia Whitney, executive coach and former General Manager and Executive Creative Director at the BBC, where she led a 150-person UX and design team.Julia spent over 20 years as a design leader across the UK and US before turning her experience into a coaching practice that helps design leaders at companies like Condé Nast, AWS, the Financial Times, and IDEO perform at their best.Julia is also a teacher at our Executive programme for Design Leaders: https://fla.wiki/4fDlOirWhat you'll learn:

► Why self-limiting beliefs about leadership are the hidden barrier for most design leaders
► How to build sponsorship at the next level up — and why empathy is the first step
► How cultural differences shape communication, hierarchy, and trust — and what to do about it
► The four types of workplace conflict and why identifying them early changes everything

👤 Who this episode is for:
Design Leaders · Heads of Design · Creative Directors · UX Leaders · People Managers · Anyone going for a senior or C-level role · Anyone who's been passed over for promotion and wants to understand why

00:00:00 Welcome, Julia Whitney, Executive Coach and former Executive Creative Director at BBC
00:02:05 What design leaders most commonly struggle with
00:04:20 Self-limiting beliefs and the leader you think you have to be
00:07:25 How introverts can build influence without performing extroversion
00:12:00 Levels of zoom: how leadership shifts at every career stage
00:17:25 Why candidates get rejected for senior roles — and what to do instead
00:20:00 How to build sponsorship at C-level using empathy
00:27:25 Generational differences at work: what the research actually says
00:36:20 Multi-hyphenate careers and the future of work
00:40:25 Remote vs in-office: why it's more nuanced than you think
00:46:55 The SCARF Model and why people resist change
00:49:30 Leading multicultural teams and the Culture Map by Erin Meyer
00:54:35 High-context vs low-context cultures and remote communication
00:59:30 How to handle conflict: the broken record technique and four conflict types
01:07:05 Centralising design in a broadcaster organisation
01:13:45 Final thoughts and who Julia recommends we speak to next

By 26, Ivy Ross had jewellery in the permanent collections of 12 international museums, including the Smithsonian and V&A. She went on to hold executive roles at Calvin Klein, Swatch, Mattel, Gap, and Disney before arriving at Google, where her hardware design team has since won over 240 global design awards and helped Fast Company name Google the most important design company in the world in 2018.
Her book Your Brain on Art, co-authored with neuroscientist Susan Magsamen, became a New York Times bestseller. She is one of the most creatively accomplished people working in business today.

Future London Academy spent a day with her in London, during which Ivy has shared And if you are curious about our Executive Programme for Design Leader that Ivy teaches on, you can find more information here: https://fla.wiki/4evyOFI