Designing a Culture of Innovation
Why the best innovation starts with listening
👋 Hi there! Thanks for reading, and happy start to the school year! 📚🤓
I’m writing because education wasn't designed around students, but we can improve the learner experience through design. I share stories, tips, and work in progress weekly.
Why it matters:
The Y’s history shows us that innovation is not about breakthroughs—it’s about building cultures that listen, adapt, and act. Today, that means equipping staff to design solutions alongside the communities they serve.
Go deeper:
A Legacy of Innovation
The YMCA has a long tradition of innovation, shaped by community needs and human imagination. At this summer’s YMCA Innovation Summit, I was struck by just how many everyday practices trace their roots back to the Y: basketball and volleyball, summer camps and indoor pools, even Father’s Day.
Innovation at the Y has never been about chasing novelty. It has been about paying attention to the community, noticing what’s missing, and creating practices that stick.
Today’s Moment for the YMCA
Now, the YMCA of San Diego, the largest Y in the country, finds itself in another moment of opportunity and reinvention. Not one defined by inventing a new sport, but by designing new ways of working: how to respond to complex community challenges, how to empower staff, and how to deepen partnerships with the region as a driver for community well-being.
As a member of the Design Thinking and Innovation sub-committee to Brand and Strategy efforts at the Y, I’ve been invited into this conversation. Our role is not to prescribe answers but to help the Y “get curious”—to uncover friction, test possibilities, and strengthen a culture of innovation that already runs deep in the organization’s DNA.
Looking Inward: Building a Culture of Innovation
This fall, I’ll be leading a session with alumni from the YMCA’s Leadership Fundamentals Academy. We’ll be listening to their experiences, exploring the barriers they face in driving change, and asking what supports they need to push forward community-centered innovation in their departments.
We’re getting curious to establish a foundation for our efforts that will be about investing in what works, adjusting to areas of opportunity, and creating sustainable practices that build a common understanding and approach across the organization.
That work is part of a broader set of efforts underway:
Creating a shared language of innovation. We’re piloting training, mentorship, and communities of practice so staff across the Y can connect around design methods and tools.
Expanding capacity. More employees with design experience means more teams ready to take on challenges with fresh approaches.
Empowering catalysts. Much like Intuit’s “Innovation Catalysts,” we’re deputizing staff who opt in to help spread design capacity across the organization.
Shifting how innovation is celebrated. Instead of simply spotlighting new ideas, we’re reframing Innovation Summits to showcase the process—how teams discovered and tested their way toward impact.
Positioning the Y as a test bed. By opening the doors to partners, we’re exploring how the Y can serve as an accelerator for mission-aligned projects in the region.
What’s Next in San Diego
For 180 years, the YMCA has been innovating by listening to communities and designing for what’s next. Today is no different. What excites me most is not just the projects we’ll launch, but the culture we’re cultivating—one where staff feel equipped, supported, and inspired to design better ways of serving their communities.
That’s the through line: whether it’s inventing a sport in 1891 or reframing how a summit works in 2025, innovation at the Y has always been about meeting people where they are and imagining what’s possible next.
This work is about shifting from innovation as event → to innovation as practice.
From ideas on a stage → to teams testing and learning together.
From novelty → to a culture of curiosity, possibility, and change.
I can’t wait to learn, support, and watch this work evolve.
Why Connect with the YMCA?
The YMCA’s roots are deeply tied to education. In the 19th century, the Y created night schools, literacy programs, and vocational training long before public adult education was widespread. It became known as a “people’s university”—a place where communities could learn, grow, and discover new possibilities together.
That same spirit runs through the work I do in education: helping institutions listen, design for real needs, and cultivate cultures where people feel equipped to lead change.
Partnering with the Y feels like a natural extension—connecting past and present by using design to shape how learning and innovation continue to take root in community.
We went “Over the Edge” for Reality Changers!
Surrounded by our parents and friends, Grace and I rappelled down the Manchester Grand Hyatt (as the Green Power Ranger and Wonder Woman) in celebration of first generation college students and Reality Changers, an incredible organization that helps San Diego youth become first-generation college graduates and agents of change in their communities.
It was nerve-wracking, exhilarating, and exciting; we’re already taking about, planning for, and recruiting for next year!
Most of all, it was so much fun being with volunteers, staff, and students from this amazing organization and seeing their impact come to life.
Nominate or Contribute Insights from the Field
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Well done. If you're working with someone named Raymond Wu on this, he's a terrific guy. Smart, thoughtful. He seems to be leading the Y in San Diego with really exciting initiatives.