John Maeda — On Data and Privacy, Design, and How to Speak Machine

Customer Obsessed

About the Episode

John Maeda is the CXO of Publicis Sapient, a six-time author, and TED speaker. In our wide-ranging interview, we discuss the power and purpose of asynchronous work; data, AI, and privacy; his latest book “How to Speak Machine: Computational Thinking for the Rest of Us”; and how different generations think about work and finding purpose.
About John Maeda
John Maeda is an American technologist, designer, engineer, artist, investor, author, and teacher. He is Chief Experience Officer at Publicis Sapient, the technology consulting and delivery arm of communications and marketing conglomerate Publicis. Prior to Publicis Sapient, he spent three years working all-remote at the largest all-distributed tech company in the world — in preparation for what is now the new norm. Maeda serves on the Board of Sonos and the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum. He has held positions with Automattic, the parent company of WordPress.com; the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins; served as president of the Rhode Island School of Design; and began his early career at the MIT Media Lab at the intersection of computer science and visual art. Named as one of the “75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century” by Esquire, Maeda draws on his diverse background as an MIT-trained engineer, award-winning designer, and MBA-community translator to bring people and ideas together at scale. He is the author of several celebrated books, including How To Speak Machine, The Laws of Simplicity, and Redesigning Leadership. He has appeared as a speaker all over the world, from Davos to Beijing to São Paulo to New York, and his talks for TED have received millions of views.

John's book: How to Speak Machine: Computational Thinking for the Rest of Us

John's Customer Obsessed Pick: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

Don't miss out on updates and exclusive content—subscribe to the Customer Obsessed newsletter.