April 28th / 52 MIN
NASA’s Steve Rader: Redefining the moonshot with diverse teams
Listen to PodcastFeaturing

Steve Rader
Deputy Director for the Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation, NASA
About The Episode
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There’s a lot of talk in the tech world about moonshots, and what it takes to build a team capable of achieving them. We thought it might be helpful to speak with someone at an organization that has achieved actual moonshots, and so we were thrilled to get a chance to chat with Steve Rader, who is Deputy Director for the Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation at NASA.
We chat with Steve about how he communicates across teams where expertise and vernacular might be very different, and the importance of having teams that are diverse on an array of different levels, from personal background to expertise. We also learn how vision gets communicated by leadership at NASA, and the lessons he’s learned in his career about leading people.
You’ll hear:
- How to counteract fear of change in an organization by setting the right vision.
- How an innovative solution for potato chip manufacturers (delicious!) was brought about by crowdsourcing input from a diverse set of skilled people.
- Why it’s important to define the problem before jumping to a solution, to lead people effectively.
Podcast
Uncover insights from the world’s top designers and creatives
With all of the immense challenges facing the world right now, in Season 5 of the Design Better Podcast we wanted to bring on guests who can share their wisdom—not only about how to build better products—but also how to navigate challenges in your career, and discover opportunities in the face of adversity.