John Edson Email & Phone Number

California, United States

I thrive working with great people on important problems at the intersection of design and strategy, market and product. That’s design impact. My demonstrated abilities help clients deliver meaningful growth. With my background in design agencies and years as a partner at McKinsey, I am uniquely positioned to lead teams in delivering design outcomes precisely aligned to their business objectives.My team of world-class experts in design, brand, customer experience, research, engineering, and strategy bring the latest thinking in sustainability and generative AI to identify and build new growth platforms for the businesses we serve.> Deliver growth through insanely great products, services and experiences> Innovate new growth platforms that are informed from the “market back”> Advise executive teams to maximize their investment in design

London, London, Gb

The last two decades have been filled with the promise of how design could be a force multiplier for how companies compete. This has led to new opportunities – and challenges – in M&A for design agencies.I worked with this ambitious billion-dollar global consulting firm to re-imagine a world-class end-to-end innovation organization in a management consulting context. In 2020, PA’s designers, engineers and scientists were separated by distance and mission – a siloed and sometimes competitive collection of uber talented individuals from legacy capabilities, new acquisitions and organic growth.I drove the formation of a NorthStar rallying cry and positioning from and for the whole creative team, instigated a company-wide (and award-winning) brand refresh and website transformation that leveraged these innovation capabilities as the beacons of the brand, and authored a people development model tailored for the makers – rather than the analysts – at the firm.Creating synergies is tough in any acquisition, but it’s at the core of unlocking value. At PA, I stood up the Design for Sustainability working group which brought together creative, business and applied science teams to build multi-disciplinary engagements that tackle the important but complex sustainability challenges of its clients.

Us

In addition to delivering impact for clients, I helped build one of the world’s largest and most reputable design firms inside McKinsey, fully integrated with the firm’s other breadth of offerings. I contributed to establishing McKinsey as the leader in understanding the business value of design.In my first year at the firm, I received formal recognition by my colleagues with the McKinsey Inspirational Leader Award.Led a dozen engagements focused primarily on delivering impact through growth, while contributing as an expert in product design and development to dozens of others. Executed and evolved an approach to innovation garages that integrates analytical and creative approaches to quickly create offerings matched to market opportunities that answer real customer needs, increasing client confidence in innovation while equipping them with new capabilities.Key examples of impact delivered resulting in $1,000M of top line growth for global institutions in CPG, consumer electronics and advanced industries:> New portfolio of smart home products that position a leading hi-fi maker to win in an era of voice agents and smart speakers.> Family of innovative quick-clean products, growing a new category for a leading home products manufacturer.> New offering for a B2B manufacturer to extend their business from commodity components into valuable service solutions.> Re-design and development of a smart home system, resulting in best of category consumer ratings and 10X company growth.> Identification of a distinctive, custom store-branded product line for a leading retailer.

Managed this global leader in creative product design and development, culminating in a sale of the firm to McKinsey & Company and being recognized by the Smithsonian with the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award for significant contributions to society through our body of work. Under my leadership, LUNAR doubled in revenue, moving from a regional “boutique with mystique” to a globally recognized leader with an international footprint serving clients like Apple, HP, Cisco, Sony, Motorola, SC Johnson, Wrigley, Illumina, Philips, Johnson & Johnson, ecobee, Shark|Ninja, and Stanley Black & Decker.

Professionalized our sales process to harness talents of a senior team for hundreds of prospective clients per year. Created and managed forecasting tools to track and close new business. Created marketing and advertising campaigns.

Led the end-to-end engineering and delivery of a dozen products for clients, including Apple, Motorola, Philips, Coherent Medical, InFocus and several startups in consumer electronics, medical devices and enterprise hardware.

Stanford, Ca, Us

Served as an adjunct faculty member for a variety of classes in design, visual thinking, design thinking and creative problem solving.Design Methods. Developed a curriculum and taught this project-based course to give students hands-on education in the design process. Projects helped students understand the designer’s role in creating for others while bringing their own point of view and aesthetic voice to the process.Senior Design Thesis. Taught capstone product design course. Guided students through selecting user need, exploring alternative solutions, prototyping, critiquing and presenting final solutions. Lectured on topics facing real world product designers and developers.Visual Thinking. Taught the design process and creativity methodologies through hands-on exercises and projects.

Project manager, mechanical engineer; developed in-house organizational practices, programs, and software. Led effort to rename company to position for eventual acquisition.

Master'S Of Engineering, Product Design, Art, Engineering, Business

Bsme, Mechanical Engineering