The Tim Ferriss Show
#214: How to Design a Life - Debbie Millman
Episode guests
Podcast summary created with Snipd AI
Quick takeaways
- Personal growth and advocacy through overcoming childhood trauma.
- Turning rejection into unexpected opportunities in design industry.
- Choosing personal fulfillment over financial security in career decisions.
- Resilience in facing public criticism and navigating career challenges.
Deep dives
Personal Struggles and Transformative Work with the Joyful Heart Foundation
Growing up in a challenging environment marked by divorce, abuse, and a turbulent relationship with her father, the speaker found solace and recovery through extensive therapy. The work with the Joyful Heart Foundation, focused on eradicating domestic violence and sexual assault, became a cornerstone of her healing journey. By integrating her personal experiences and empathy into branding work for the foundation, she found purpose and fulfillment in helping others.
Rejection and Redemption within AIGA
Despite facing rejection from AIGA's special interest group and not being reappointed to the board, the speaker's disappointment turned into a unique opportunity. Invited by AIGA's executive director to judge a prestigious design competition, her experience as a juror took an unexpected turn when she clashed with another juror over design preferences. Despite the challenging judging process, her notable brand design projects ultimately made it into the competition journal, leaving her uncertain about future collaborations.
Profound Impact of Early Childhood Experiences
The speaker shares deep insights into her formative years marked by divorce, abuse, and complex family dynamics, leading to a lifelong pursuit of self-sufficiency and stability. These early experiences fueled her dedication to personal and professional growth, steering her towards therapeutic self-discovery and meaningful advocacy work with organizations like the Joyful Heart Foundation.
Navigating Career Success and Artistic Longing
Balancing career success in marketing and branding with a longing for artistic fulfillment, the speaker delves into her journey at Sterling Brands, exploring a pivotal moment joining AIGA's brand experience group. Despite initial setbacks, such as being excluded from the group's board, her journey led to unexpected opportunities, including serving as a judge for a significant design competition, highlighting her unique career trajectory and confrontational design judging experience.
Facing Online Bullying and Professional Challenges
Facing severe online criticism, Deby Milman describes the impact of being publicly attacked for her professional work. The harsh comments, including being labeled a 'she devil,' led to a sense of shame and overwhelming distress, nearly causing her to quit her design career. Despite feeling defensive, Deby eventually engaged in the conversation, showcasing resilience in the face of adversity.
Navigating Career Decisions and Personal Growth
Deby recounts a pivotal career moment where she had to decide between accepting a CEO position or pursuing a more creative path aligned with her aspirations. Opting for personal fulfillment over financial security, she shares the importance of making hard decisions and the subsequent positive impact on her life and professional journey.
Inspiring Creativity Through Podcasting and Teaching
Deby reflects on establishing 'Design Matters,' a podcast focusing on creative individuals' life stories, showcasing their journey and choices. Through sharing personal stories and facilitating student exercises, she emphasizes the value of courage over confidence, encouraging listeners to envision and pursue their dreams with passion and resilience.
For some of you, this may be most important podcast episode you ever listen to. I don't say that lightly. It has nothing to do with me and everything to do with my guest, who walks us through gripping stories, tactical details, humor, pain, and emotional redemption. We cover some sensitive and extremely important ground. Thank you, Debbie. Graphic Design USA has named Debbie Millman (@debbiemillman) "one of the most influential designers working today." She is also the founder and host of Design Matters, the world's first and longest-running podcast about design, where she's interviewed nearly 300 design luminaries and cultural commentators including Massimo Vignelli and Milton Glaser. Debbie's done it all. Her artwork has been exhibited around the world. She's designed everything from wrapping paper to beach towels, greeting cards to playing cards, notebooks to t-shirts, and Star Wars merchandise to global Burger King rebrands. Debbie is the President Emeritus of AIGA (one of only five women to hold the position in the organization's one-hundred-year history), the editorial and creative director of Print magazine, and the author of six books. In 2009, Debbie co-founded (with Steven Heller) the world's first masters program in branding at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, which has received international acclaim. We cover a lot in this discussion: how to recover from rejection, how to overcome personal crises of faith, class exercises from her most impactful mentors, and much more. Please enjoy (and reflect on) this wide-ranging conversation with Debbie Millman... Show notes and links for this episode can be found at www.fourhourworkweek.com/podcast. This podcast is brought to you by FreshBooks. FreshBooks is the #1 cloud bookkeeping software, which is used by a ton of the start-ups I advise and many of the contractors I work with. It is the easiest way to send invoices, get paid, track your time, and track your clients. FreshBooks tells you when your clients have viewed your invoices, helps you customize your invoices, track your hours, automatically organize your receipts, have late payment reminders sent automatically and much more. Right now you can get a free month of complete and unrestricted use. You do not need a credit card for the trial. To claim your free month and see how the brand new Freshbooks can change your business, go to FreshBooks.com/Tim and enter "Tim" in the "how did you hear about us" section. This podcast is also brought to you by Wealthfront. Wealthfront is a massively disruptive (in a good way) set-it-and-forget-it investing service, led by technologists from places like Apple and world-famous investors. It has exploded in popularity in the last two years and now has more than $2.5B under management. In fact, some of my good investor friends in Silicon Valley have millions of their own money in Wealthfront. Why? Because you can get services previously limited to the ultra-wealthy and only pay pennies on the dollar for them, and it's all through smarter software instead of retail locations and bloated sales teams. Check out wealthfront.com/tim, take their risk assessment quiz, which only takes 2-5 minutes, and they'll show you -- for free -- exactly the portfolio they'd put you in. If you want to just take their advice and do it yourself, you can. Or, as I would, you can set it and forget it. Well worth a few minutes: wealthfront.com/tim.
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