I am an innovation strategist who operates at the intersection of business and design to create compelling offerings, envision engaging experiences and develop new processes. My approach to innovation starts by standing in the shoes of the user to create empathy and understanding around the context in which they live, work and play.     

For over a decade I developed and refined my skills in human-centered design at Doblin, where I tackled problems leveraging design methods, while working collaboratively on multidisciplinary teams of design researchers and strategists, engineers and social scientists.

After leaving Doblin, I transitioned to corporate innovation teams helping to establish an innovation practice at Grainger. I led the development of the Grainger Innovation Lab to serve as a collaborative and co-creation space for developing future state products and services.  For the past five years I have worked on the Treasury Management Innovation team at PNC to develop new products and services around payments, financial wellness and consumer financing. I led the team that launched a groundbreaking version of PINACLE® Cash Forecasting utilizing artificial intelligence and machine learning to predict future cash positioning for corporate clients. 


EXPERIENCE

I have experience leveraging the disciplines of design research and strategy to identify and solve business challenges. I work with organizations to identify new opportunities, envision differentiated offerings, and set innovation strategies. I am skilled at synthesizing user insights to generate ideas for new concepts, engaging experiences and novel processes to accelerate the innovation process.
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APPROACH

I function at the front end of innovation strategy employing human-centered design methods to understand change, identify unmet user needs and create compelling experiences. Through empathic research employing methods in ethnography, contextual inquiry and quantitative research, I identify insights leading to new ideas providing stakeholders with a clear trajectory for growth. Working with cross-functional teams, I help to detail prototypes, outline strategies and launch pilot programs through an iterative learning and refining process.

IDENTIFYING OPPORTUNITIES

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I am adept at identifying opportunity through rigorous trend analysis, uncovering unmet needs and leveraging emerging technologies. By
exploring major changes occurring in the world, I can work with teams to create a point of view leading to new innovative ideas. 

SK TELECOM

Identifying opportunity spaces for new ventures
Roles and Responsibilities: trend analysis & user research

 Challenge & Approach
  • Explore potential opportunity spaces for new business ventures for South Korean-based SK Telecom. 
  • Led secondary research to identify and understand emerging trends that are changing everyday life. Mapped behavioral and cultural trends occurring around health, education, travel, food and family. 
Insight & Solution
  • Identified nine opportunity areas as potential platforms: Whole Health, Better-than-Wellness, Pervasive Learning, Re-Placing Work, Accelerating Discovery, Re-Forming Relationships, Restoring Roots, Mastering Food and Home Platform. 
  • Opportunity areas were synthesized into more detailed concepts for further refinement. 
Outcomes
  • Led to three-year engagement with client to further refine identified opportunity areas into forward-thinking concepts.
  • Developed go-to market strategy for “Nest” green space retail platform which was eventually launched to the South Korean market. 

PRECOR

Creating a strategic roadmap for innovative offering
Role & Responsibilities: trend analysis, user research, precursor analysis & product roadmapping


Challenge & Approach
  • Prioritize and develop roadmap for staging new exercise concept. 
  • Conducted in-depth research into fitness trends and understanding changing expectations around incorporating fitness into daily life.
Insight & Solution
  • Tracking fitness through digital platforms were quickly migrating from emerging to baseline expectation.
  • Identified three challenges around creating a differentiated fitness experience, scaling & building relationships, and extending & expanding the fitness experience. 
Outcomes
  • Delivered roadmap highlighting elements which would accelerate adoption in the fitness equipment market.
  • Created detailed outline of staging process for launching specific concept features, along with ideas for leveraging existing networks and partners.​

ENVISIONING NEW OFFERINGS

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I thrive working with collaborative teams to define and envision new products, service offerings and customer experiences. User insights are analyzed to identify unmet needs and values, which are translated into compelling new concepts.  Working with designers and engineers to employ an iterative approach to detail, prototype and refine the concepts with the mantra of fail early, fail fast and learn cheaply. 

FORD

Moving beyond performance to craft a new experience
Role & Responsibilities: trend analysis, user research, new product definition & product roadmapping

Challenge & Approach
  • Ford’s F-150 truck was facing increasing competition from foreign automakers focused almost entirely on performance.
  • Conducted ethnographic study of truck drivers along to capture behaviors and goals, supplemented with secondary research to identify market forces and underlying trends specific to light-duty and medium-duty truck drivers.
Insight & Solution
  • Employed contextual inquiry discovering general contractors leverage their truck as their mobile office, but the current state of truck features lacked the functionality to meet their mobile office needs.
  • Created new platform solution providing truck drivers with an experience maximizing uptime for managing workers, tools, equipment, materials and jobs. 
Outcomes
  • Ford Work Solutions® launched as a business tool platform providing truck drivers with the ability to manage every aspect of their jobs with their truck.
  • Ford Work Solutions® won Best of Innovations in the In-Vehicle Accessories category at the 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show. 

THRIVENT FINANCIAL

Configure a new offering for underserved and growing segment
Role & Responsibilities: trend analysis, user research, new product definition & concept testing

Challenge & Approach
  • Thrivent Financial, the largest non-profit in the Fortune 500, wanted to grow its customer base by creating a suite of product offerings targeting the mass market financial customer.
  • Conducted in-home interviews with consumers, in-depth interviews with financial experts along with internal staff to better understand the characteristics and financial needs of the stable mass market.
Insight & Solution
  • An unexpected life event combined with poor financial planning could impact a person's financial situation dramatically.
  • Created online digital prototype for financial customers to utilize helping them gain a better understand of their financial situation. The financial planning tool provided a layer of stability currently missing from their financial lives.  
Outcomes
  • In 2012, Thrivent launched a new business - Brightpeak Financial www.brightpeakfinancial.com  to address the financial needs of the stable mass market client. 
  • A customer framework developed for the project was highlighted by Thrivent CEO Brad Hewitt in the Minneapolis Star Tribune as a tool the company uses in developing customer strategy.

SETTING INNOVATION STRATEGY

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I help leading businesses navigate the discipline of innovation by challenging orthodoxies and encouraging organizations to accelerate the pace of change in their organization. I work with teams employing rigorous research protocols focused on internal processes, cultural norms and customer experiences to identify areas of the business that can affect change. Equipped with the right tools and support, organizations can excel and increase their overall innovation hit rate.

CHICAGO COMMUNITY TRUST

Shape strategy to focus on customer experience innovation
Role & Responsibilities: trend analysis, user research, competitive analysis & organizational design

Challenge & Approach
  • The Chicago Community Trust lacked a differentiated customer experience and was losing its relevance with the younger generation of donors.
  • Conducted in-depth interviews with Trust employees, donors and grantees to understand the unique philanthropic experience of a community foundation.
Insight & Solution
  • The Trust operated with many inconsistencies around its mission and in its relationships with outside partners. This impeded its ability to adapt to the changing needs of the community and its donors.
  • Developed a set of initiatives focused on creating more engaging experiences across all constituencies of the Trust. 
Outcomes
  • Launched On the Table forum designed to take place at different locations--residences, schools, libraries, restaurants and other spaces--where community members can meet, share ideas and explore ways to improve the Chicago region. 
  • Leaders from both the Trust and Doblin co-presented an overview of the case at the Council on Foundation’s Annual Conference in 2013.  

INNOVATION TOOLS AND METHODS


Innovative thinking is continuously evolving resulting in the development of new tools and methods used for diagnosing conditions, evaluating alternatives and understanding transformative change. I have contributed and led the development of several of these new methods that have helped drive the adoption of innovation as a competitive advantage. I actively participate in opportunities to learn and cultivate new methods to move human-centered design as a core competency for strategic growth.

INDUSTRY ORGANIZATIONS

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Design for America is an idea incubator, a motivated community, and a way of approaching complicated challenges. DFA shapes the next generation of social innovators.

I am actively involved with Design for America at Northwestern University where I have served as a studio coach, workshop facilitator and advisor to critique students design innovation projects tackling social problems. 
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I have been a member of Ethnographic Praxis in Industry Community for the past 2 years. EPIC is dedicated to providing practitioners, businesses, and partner organizations with access to the best practical ethnographic expertise from around the world.
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Contact:
johnjleach45@gmail.com
773.459.2973
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SKILLS
Design Research
Design Strategy
Secondary Research
Competitive Analysis
Innovation Strategy
Trend Analysis
Scenario Planning
Organizational Design
Brand Strategy
SELECT CLIENTS
American Electric Power
Autodesk
Bath & Body Works
Baxter
​Boeing
Bristol-Myers Squibb
Callaway Golf Company
Chicago Community Trust
Condé Nast
Dow Corning
​Emerson Electric
Ford Motor Company
FedEx
Instant Brands
Novo Nordisk
Pfizer Consumer Healthcare
PNC
​Precor
SK Telecom
Thrivent Financial
W.W. Grainger
​Zebra Technologies
Zurich Insurance Group
© COPYRIGHT 2015. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.