Jan: Hello, Vincent. Thank you for making the time. It's been a wild and challenging year so far for many. How are you these days?
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Vincent: Hello, Jan. Happy to be here! I am focused these days on being intentional and impactful with things on my plate. And I'm not just talking about work, but life in general. My wife and I just recently moved into our new home here in Hawaii, so we are getting ourselves acclimated to this new neighbourhood and doing some light renovations, which is a nice learning experience.

At the same time, I am keen on getting connected to the local design and tech community and meeting with some folks to learn more about what's happening in Hawaii and how I can get more involved because previously, I haven't been as involved when I first moved here.

Work-wise I am making sure that I prioritize everything accordingly so that I don't get burnt out because that is a very real thing, especially when working remotely. But overall, I would say that my state of mind is, somehow, quite positive!

Both of us are aware of what's happening in the world now, such as recent market crashes, rising inflation, and many lay-offs,... Not the best time for a lot of people, including many designers. When you think about all this, what do you make of it? Any advice you want to share with designers and the broader community?
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One of the most significant insights for me is that there is really no separation between the design community and what's happening worldwide. I think one of the universal superpowers that all designers have is the ability to adapt and to see things differently because the realm in which we work requires us to be very creative in solving problems.

At work, whether we need to solve a digital or physical product problem, or whether that is a service or a systems problem, we tend to rotate the "problem cube" and look at it from all angles to say, "Okay, well, how can we address this problem? How can we see it from a different perspective or use a different lens that will allow us to unlock the challenges we are facing right now, whether it's with customers, clients, or internal stakeholders?"

And so, one of the things that I would encourage designers, who are facing difficulties right now, is to take the same tools that they would deploy when trying to strengthen a product or enhance a customer's experience and turn that into themselves and see how they could utilize the space that they're in, whether it is activating a skillset that may have been dormant and strengthening that.

Another opportunity is to bring more exposure to something they are good at so that other people can see it. This could make finding a new job a lot easier. Also, by being more visible, various opportunities can start to look for them because of that display and how they talk about themselves.

Overall, I think this is actually a great time. However, it may be uncomfortable for many, and I don't want to discredit that. I don't want to ignore the feeling that comes with being in difficult situations, like being laid off, especially if you have family that you're responsible for, or just a living situation or whatever the circumstances.

Right now, it's the perfect moment to turn the dial-up in being an effective designer and showcasing yourself uniquely to navigate this landscape. It is a liberty that doesn't exist in many other professions.

In your TED Talk, you mentioned that you grew up in a certain neighbourhood in Miami and that it's often associated with being poor and black. You also described how people like Oprah or Jay-Z managed to have fantastic careers despite coming from similarly disadvantaged places and how that can sometimes push people to do more and achieve extraordinary results. You didn't talk about your own journey there, though. So, I wonder how Vincent went from the hood in Miami to the head of Global Leadership in InVision?
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Thank you for bringing that up, Jan. First, let me be clear, I never really aspired to do a TED talk. Many of my peers did, but I did not. I love TED talks. I watch them; I listen to them. I'm a fan of them, but that wasn't a part of my bucket list or my goals and accomplishments.

So, I want to start there and say that the main reason for doing it was recognizing that there's a bigger picture to what I feel like I am on this planet to do and doing the TEDx talk was bigger than me.

And I bring that up because that is the foundation of the story that speaks about how I went from where I grew up, which, as you were referencing, is a black neighbourhood in Miami that is predominantly pretty poor (in terms of class where the resources and the environment is deprived of a lot of things). And so, I grew up in that environment, but I did not let that environment dictate my journey and the present-day situation.

And so, how did that happen? Well, it happened because of a lot of people. It happened because certain people went out of their way and invested their time to expose me to opportunities that allowed me to dream. That allowed me to pursue things I did not know existed and encouraged me to do so. It actually all started with my sister.

My sister somehow saw that I enjoyed art. To this day, I don't know how she captured that. Because from my point of view, I was just like any other kid at seven or eight years old. A kid who liked to colour and liked arts and crafts and all that stuff. Either way, along with my parents, we decided to have me do an audition for Magnet Art School, which set the tone for the rest of my future.

The school application required me to present a portfolio, but being nine years old, I had never even heard the word portfolio before. So, I had no idea what that was, but I had a lot of art projects that I did in my classroom. So, I just pulled all those together, and I presented those. And then, I had to do an art exam where we had to draw and sculpt something.

That process was exciting because it awakened me to the possibility of something I didn't know existed.

People have always played an essential role throughout my entire journey, whether it was teachers or strangers sharing opportunities with me that piqued my interest and aligned with what I wanted to do, allowing me to pursue it.

I was fortunate enough to have my family's encouragement and support system to say go for it, which is not common. Especially considering both of my parents are from Tortola, BVI, located in the Caribbean, where traditionally, children aren't encouraged to do something in the arts. Preferably they are persuaded to be a doctor, lawyer, engineer or something like that.

In that sense, I am very grateful and truly blessed that I had my parents say at a very early age, "All we want you to do is be great at what it is that you do. We're not worried. And we're not concerned about whether or not you will make a living. We know that if you pursue the arts and are great at it, then we know that you will be okay."

Only a lot later, I realized that not every kid had such an environment and support, so retrospectively, I am even more grateful.

Was there a specific moment when you switched between arts and crafts and the world of design?
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I worked with a woman named Rosie Gordon Wallace, who was a great aid in my journey because she came alongside and exposed me to the professional realm of design. She did that through the people I would interact with and the opportunities she would present to me because she had her own organization that supported fine artists.

She was also very well connected in the design space and with people working with art and design in government and education, which opened many doors.

For the first time, I saw how those different parts work together and how essential it is to be a bit of a chameleon. And so, that learning allowed me not to be afraid as a designer first and foremost and not to be afraid when going into environments that were mostly filled with people who worked in the government or education. And if I were the only designer, I would be okay with that because of my previous exposure.

And so, by me doing that, it allowed me to receive. It allowed people to see me and see what I could do and learn a little bit about design from me in a way they otherwise could not have. So as a result, I was exposed to opportunities that eventually allowed me to get to where I am today.

When you think about when you were seven and right now. What were the things or most significant learnings that always carried you?
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I'm a person of faith. So faith is definitely one of them. It has played a significant role in my life and my journey. My belief system and the strength it provides.

Another piece that has stayed with me that is very practical has been the ability to remain flexible. And what I've learned is that throughout my journey, there have always been changes and pivots that have come up that I have had to adjust to.

Something always comes up, whether career-related or personal. I have to figure it out, and I have to adjust. I can't just sit and say, "Oh my gosh, this just changed; now I can't do anything, I can't move forward."

I always had to keep moving because there was always something I was reaching towards. So I decided not to get deterred from still moving forward because that was important to me. Forward movement was necessary. The goal became less and less important as I got older and more experienced.

And that may sound a little controversial, but what I recognize is that as long as I continue the journey forward and do not stop, there are things that I will learn in my pivots that are so much more valuable than the actual destination or goal that I was trying to achieve.

And so, that is one of the things that has been really important for me. You must be flexible when changes occur, be open, and embrace them.

You can't operate with resistance to change as it ends up causing more frustration and more stagnation in your professional and personal growth.

Not stopping moving forward, even during challenging and dramatic situations, have always been vital for me. You can't stop moving and have to be flexible to embrace even dire changes so that you can figure out what is next.

You educated and helped grow more than 200 people of different kinds, often with tremendous results. What is the secret to being a successful educator? Any particular aspects to highlight for people who have tutoring ambitions?
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The most critical aspect is to be authentic. I think there's an intimidation factor that comes with stepping into a room and having to teach and lead people, especially in this particular design space.

And I say this particular space of design because there's so much information already out there that it's not that people can't get the information that I have. And it is not to say that I am smarter than the people that are in the classroom or in the setting that I am in.

There are often people who are much smarter than me in terms of their knowledge and experience and what they're able to retain, et cetera. So, for me, I had to abandon the idea that to be effective in teaching, I had to pretend. Or think that for students to learn from me, I had to force myself as the authority in the subject matter.

Authenticity was always the key for me as it relates to being able to communicate and share information that's valuable for the people I had the pleasure of educating, allowing them to engage and ask more questions. And it allowed me to dig deeper into what I know to understand it even better.

At the same time, it's critical to have the mindset of always being a student yourself. Yes, I have a certain level of experience and knowledge based on my journey as a designer that qualifies me to be in the position to educate.

But at the same time, I don't know everything like everybody else. So, when someone tries to present themselves in a setting that says, "I know everything about this thing," they don't. That's a huge red flag, in my opinion.

Let's drift away from the design space. What biggest technical or scientific discovery do you think will happen in your lifetime?
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Something around food. I feel like something will allow us to produce a lot of the food simply. Something that will significantly change how we shop for food, how we consume food,... I think that's the space that will change dramatically through technology integration.

If you could have a magic wand for half an hour and change anything in the world, what would that be?
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I would change how we communicate, how people communicate with one another. That's what I would change. Do you want to know why I would change that? Is that part of the question?

Yeah, absolutely. You can be more specific.
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My magic wand would change how we communicate because I feel we don't communicate productively. When it comes to group settings, when it comes to one-on-one conversations,... and what I mean by that is that we don't often communicate with the intent to listen. We sometimes communicate with the intent to respond and react to how we feel about what we're hearing.

And often, that can lead us down a very slippery slope when we are communicating because if we are only communicating based on how we feel at the moment and not what is actually being said by the other person, then we may not be talking about the same thing. So it may not lead to something progressive, it may not lead to some practical action, and it might cause a lot of disruption.

And so, I think if we were to communicate with the intent of responding to what is actually being said and not the interpretation of what is being said, then I believe that would solve a lot of things in a lot of places, and we would have a healthier society.