New Skills for Professional Work
Learn the mindsets, principles and skills to transform your professional work. Be more creative, engaged and effective no matter your role or industry.
This is a five-week live cohort-based course with 6 months of ongoing inspiration & support in a private community.
with Chris Conley
UPCOMING
Fall 2021
COURSE PERIOD
Oct 18th - Nov 19th, 2021
REGISTRATION DEADLINE
Oct 15, 2021
$749 USD
Here's a sample lesson - extended cut!
Note: In the course, all lessons are live in an interactive format and will be recorded.
A 5-week live, workshop-style course for professionals looking to transform their professional work, taught by a pioneer in human-centered design thinking and creative business.
Topics we'll cover
We’ll go in-depth on the following concepts:
- Reframing professional work: Rejecting the industrial model of work to embrace personal growth at the center.
- Learning fast: How to understand your project's context in a way that makes a successful solution more obvious.
- Being a people person: Learn simple techniques for engaging others that makes your work better and more meaningful.
- Being visual & tangible: Learn how to go beyond emails and bullet points and use drawing and prototyping to bring your ideas alive.
Who this course is for
Business & Entrepreneurship
You run projects in innovation, business development or start-ups and want to do it better.
Non-profits
With few resources, you are responsible for growing the number and serving clients in new, more cost-effective ways.
Design & Marketing
You're responsible for having customer insights and executing creative campaigns & projects.
Meet your instructor
Chris Conley
Founder, Abundant Professional & gravitytank. Former tenured professor, Institute of Design, IIT, Chicago.
Chris was a pioneer in the application of human-centered-design and creativity in business. He helped build the first graduate program in human-centered design and continues to teach the core mindsets, principles and methods in an accessible and easy-to-understand way so that you can begin applying them to your own work immediately.
Chris founded and built the innovation firm, gravitytank, known for its unique way of working and internal culture. Before gravitytank was acquired by Salesforce, Chris advised Fortune 500 and philanthropic leaders looking to make their own organization's more effective through collaboration, creative methods and innovative strategies.
He has worked with teams and leaders from companies such as Samsung, Apple, Motorola, Google, FedEx, The Gates Foundation and the W. K. Kellogg Foundation.
What is a Cohort-Based Course?
Learn with me in a highly interactive format
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Active Learning, not Passive Watching
Workshop sessions aren't lectures. In the live sessions, Chris will engage you and the class, facilitate breakout discussions, and leave plenty of time for Q&A. Think interactive seminar vs watching videos of me at home.
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Learn with a Cohort of Peers
Through peer learning and collaboration, you will meet like-minded professionals who are building new mindsets and skills just like you. You will learn as much from colleagues in your cohort as you do from Chris.
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Accountability and Feedback
Taking the course with others drives your own participation and motivation. Knowing this, accountability and feedback will be major factors in your success. If you struggle holding yourself accountable, we’re there for you!
Plan for the Course
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People!
Professional work is a social endeavor. Your ability to relate to, learn from, collaborate with and help others is core to success. In this module we will explore a number of powerful mindsets and skills to up your people game.
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Being tangible
Emails, bullet points & conversations. Far too much business only uses language to try and figure things out. In this module you will learn the power of making things more tangible through images, diagrams and prototypes.
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Learning fast
Your ability to run great projects or solve tough challenges is dependent on your ability to understand how things really are. What is involved? What matters? Why? In this module you will learn how to learn fast.
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Framing
Framing is about creating a simple model and narrative that distills what you learned into a focused statement of the issues. In this module, you will learn how to get at the essence of your problem and represent it in a way that helps the team address it.
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Solutions
Are you still trying to have the right "idea?" In this module we will focus on the nature of solutions, the combination of ideas that work together to address the challenge or opportunity. We will also address how to test and shape solutions.
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Value
Don't fight the question of ROI. Every challenge and solution has an economic context. Learn how to easily understand and communicate the money side of your work.
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Ongoing support
Your learning doesn't end with the last live session. You will receive 6 months of access to AP Studio, a private membership community that provides ongoing support from Chris and other like-minded members.
Feedback or questions?
I'd love to hear any suggestions
or questions you have!
Join the beta cohort!
UPCOMING
Fall 2021
COURSE PERIOD
Oct 18th - Nov 19th, 2021
REGISTRATION DEADLINE
Oct 15, 2021