David Whited Email & Phone Number

Many years ago,I was asked to design a research approach for assessing whether or not the university I worked at was accomplishing its mission of “transforming students to transform the world”. At the time, I could think solid thoughts and communicate compellingly about student formation, but I had no idea how to learn if we were actually doing what we, organizationally, had committed to do.I threw all of my curiosity into that question and figured out an approach that lifted my team’s confidence in our ability to assess whether the programs we were pouring ourselves into were working. I knew we had landed on something effective and important when leaders at other universities started asking for our toolset. From then on, I’ve been hooked on research as an organizational imperative for strategy and program/product design. I can’t fathom how organizations commit to big strategic or product design decisions without focused learning in a structured, human-centered way from the people they aim to serve. Today, as a design researcher and strategist, I get to come up with efficient, effective ways to answer important questions every day. Here are some I’ve worked on in the last couple of years…"How might Make-A-Wish understand and increase the impact of a Wish thought building the health and resilience of the Wish Child?""How do Gen Z kids learn about money from their parents? How do those parents transfer their financial wisdom to their kids between the ages of 0-18?""How do lead chemists make a new paint to meet the shifting demands of consumers?""What are the forces that motivate a parent with a depressed or anxious child to seek counseling services for their kid?""How do you design an experience that will motivate and support the “end-of-life” and wealth transfer conversations between retirees and their kids?" (Especially when you realize that both parties are very uncomfortable with starting that conversation)I am obsessed with these kinds of questions because I have witnessed first-hand the powerful results of answering them. And I love leading a team that helps business and product leaders who have never engaged in research dive in and get the deep understanding they need to mitigate risk, focus their efforts on what really matters, and design powerful experiences

Listed skills include Agile Methodologies, Agile Coaching, Workshop Facilitation, Product Discovery, and 10 others.

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  Trinity International University

  Master Of Divinity - Mdiv