Paul Bennett

Paul Bennett is IDEO’s Chief Creative Officer. As a partner and one of five senior executives, Paul works with clients, partners, and colleagues to bring to market human-centric, commercially successful, and socially significant new businesses, products, services, and experiences. He is responsible for content excellence across IDEO, and is active in developing and publishing new thinking in the field of human-centered and design-led innovation.

Paul, a Brit who spent his early years in Singapore, has had an outstanding international career. He created IDEO’s largest global practice, Consumer Experience Design; ran its San Francisco office, setting a robust and enduring creative direction; extended IDEO’s international reach in founding its presence in China; established and led its New York office, increasing IDEO’s share of influence in the US market; and delivered impact to clients and new growth to IDEO’s business in Europe. Today, Paul continues to provide creative leadership and cross-pollination of insights and ideas to clients and colleagues on an extended scale by traveling, learning, and working across the globe.

Paul is a sought-after speaker and is invited to speak at major forums, including: The World Economic Forum; Boao Forum for Asia, TED Global; TEDx Tohoku, Dubai and Amazonia; The Economist Redesigning Business Summit, The AOL CEO Conference, the American Express Luxury Summit and Tokyo Midtown Opening, and more.

Paul’s thought leadership is also regularly published in a range of influential media, including: the Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, BBC, Bloomberg Businessweek, Harvard Business Review, The Independent, The Guardian, China Entrepreneur Magazine, The Straits Times (Singapore), L’Espresso (Italy), RÚV TV (Iceland), To Vima (Greece), Khaleej Times (Dubai), ABC TV (Australia), and Channel News Asia. He has also appeared in prime-time BBC documentary Genius of Design, produced by the Oscar-winning production company, Wall-to-Wall, and A Meeting of Minds, a documentary co-produced by CNBC and Star Alliance.

A keen educator, Paul has taught and coached students from the Royal College of Art (UK), Stanford University, Columbia Business School, and FIT’s (Fashion Institute of Technology, New York) Executive Beauty and Fragrance Marketing program and Capstone Project in the US.

Prior to joining IDEO in 2001, Paul co-founded the pioneering brand design business, nickandpaul, in New York, where his clients included Coca-Cola, Ford, Johnson & Johnson, and Unilever.

Paul keeps a blog, The Curiosity Chronicles, at curiositychronicles.tumblr.com, and writes a regular column for Metropolis magazine and the CBN (China Business Network) Weekly magazine.