Aug 23, 2022

Welcome again to another episode of Engineer Your Success! Today, our special guest is Joseph Ruiz.

Joe Ruiz is a consultant and instructor in the Business School at VCU, teaching Creativity & Ideation. He served as the School of Business “Creativity Czar” for the Fall 2018/Spring 2019 term. Joe is a certified Legos® Serious Play® facilitator and he has an MBA from Northeastern University and a master’s in creative studies from Buffalo State University.

In his business, he specializes in designing and implementing creative problem-solving workshops and programs. He is a thought leader who thrives on the ever-changing nature of helping clients thrive in an uncertain, complex, volatile, and ambiguous environment by helping unlock the creative potential in their organizations.

Joe aims to help businesses optimize the customer experience to create raving fans. Raving fans stay longer, buy and use more products and services, and share their experiences.

Let’s know more about Joe with no further ado Let’s dive in!

[00:31 – 08:42] Opening  Segment

• Joe Ruiz is an assistant professor of creativity and ideation at Virginia Commonwealth University and recently discovered his passion for innovation.
• Joe’s journey has been full of challenges, but he has found success by learning to be self-aware and communicating in a different way than his wife.

[08:42 – 17:52] How to Keep Your Engagement High in a Changing World

• Joe shares how he got certified with Lego Serious Play and how it pushes him to innovate more 
• Diversity is critical as it improves innovation. 
• The key to keeping an engine well oiled is having a diversity of styles working together. This creates tension which helps you stay focused and engaged.
• Creativity and curiosity are important tools for managers when adapting to the constantly changing environment.

[17:53 – 27:30] 7 years of creativity and innovation in business school

• Doers can become leaders by developing empathy and understanding, listening to others, and challenging them to think creatively.
• Leadership is about setting a level of trust that allows people to be their best selves.
• Creativity and innovation can flourish in students when they are able to see their ideas come to fruition in physical space.”

[27:30 – 31:05] Closing Segment

• Parting Notes

Learn more about Joseph Ruiz by following him on LinkedIn

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Important Resources to Note:

• Click here https://sleekbio.com/jbryant for important resources mentioned on this podcast

Tweetable Quotes:

“Awareness is the oil that keeps the friction from getting too tight In the engine, as those parts are moving. As that diversity is working, having that level of awareness and curiosity, I would add really helps to keep that engine well oiled so it can keep moving.”   – Dr. James Bryant

“You can be a leader and a manager, but they’re not necessarily the same. And setting that level of trust is what creates the engagement, which is where that joy comes from and where you can work together to address these challenges because they’re gonna be with us, whether we want them or not.”  – Joseph Ruiz

“It really starts with the mindset, it’s a mindset before the toolset. And that is absolutely critical because when we’re talking about engagement whether you’re trying to just do a better job of what you are doing or whether you’re trying to keep your folks motivated. We know that there are three keys to keeping people engaged, mastery, autonomy, and purpose.” – Joseph Ruiz