Last week on 26 March, I had the privilege of speaking at IxDA Byron Bay and hosting a panel.
Byron is one of my favourite places in the world, so it was awesome to be back on #ArakwalCountry. A huge thanks to Will Stuart for inviting me and making it all happen. A fun IxDA Byron Bay and Sydney Design Thinking (SydDT) collaboration.
I spoke about one of my favourite things… regenerative leadership, design, and innovation. My slides are here.
If you’ve seen any of my stuff, you probably know I talk about regen as three nested and interdependent layers of the personal (us as individuals), performance (how we get things done as teams and organisations), and planet & place (our collective communities, culture, economy, and living systems).
I focused on three questions… What is regenerative and why do I want it? How do I put this into action in my own life and work? What next?
This flowed into a panel with Jane Laverty from Business NSW Northern Rivers, Dan Leverington from The Ocelli Group, and Demi Barclay from TAFE NSW who shared some of their insights and experience on designing for regeneration in life and business.
Thanks to everyone who came along and made it such a fun night. Couldn’t make it or just want to relive it? Watch it now.
Slides
Here are my slides for this presentation…
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Thanks!
It was awesome to catch up with a bunch of friends… Rashid Habib (who I hadn’t seen since 2008 in London where we worked together in financial markets), Duncan Underwood, Davina Bambrick, Saadi Allan, Ash Donaldson (who made the trip down from the Gold Coast), Mary-Claire Monsalve, Shannon Carruth, Michelle Williams, and Chris Rollings (who’ve also spoken at SydDT over the years)… and all my new friends too!
An extra special shout out to Dan Leverington. I’ve been lucky to have him as my accountability buddy since the 2023 Reignite: Impact Leader’s Retreat organised by Luke Faccini and Tom Allen. I love our regular peer coaching sessions and get so much value from them.
A huge thanks to our sponsors for this event… it was brought to you by Business NSW Northern Rivers, TAFE NSW, Spangled Drongo Brewery, Just Digital People, and Dynamic4.
Our next meetup in Sydney is SydDT #112: Designing Your Way Through Chaos with Rachel Zhang on Thursday, 10 April… organised by Lucas Mara and brought to you by ThinkPlace, Sh8peshifters, and Dynamic4.
Rach will share her experiences and insight on how to keep motivated during the economic challenges designers are facing. Lucas will host a panel with Rach, Steve Brown, and Kylie Mageropoulos. Grab your ticket!
Meetup Announcement
Wednesday, 26 March 2025 @ 5:30pm. TAFE NSW Connected Learning Centre (CLC) Byron Bay
SydDT is going on tour again, this time to hang out with our friends at IxDA Byron Bay. Our first collaboration! Join us for the first IxDA Byron Bay event of 2025 and SydDT #111.
IxDA Byron Bay will host Ben Pecotich. He’s a designer, coach, and founder of Dynamic4 – a social enterprise and B Corp focused on regenerative leadership, design, and innovation. He’s also the co-founder of Sydney Design Thinking (SydDT).
Come join us for some fun conversations with interesting people in and around the Northern Rivers design community!
Note: During the day, Ben will be leading a Regenerative Leadership, Design & Innovation in Action workshop with some members of the Business NSW Northern Rivers Regional Leaders Network and five members of the IxDA Byron Bay community.
Talk
Ben will kick off with a ~20-minute talk, diving into the world of regenerative leadership, design, and innovation. He’ll make the case for “regenerative” and frame it in the three nested layers of us as individuals, as teams and organisations, and our collective communities, culture, economy, and living systems.
The central question he’ll focus on is how do we design and build business models, products, and services that customers and teams love, make money, and do great things for people, place, and our planet while increasing wellbeing?
Panel
Following his brief talk, Ben will host a panel with three Northern River locals doing awesome work in a diverse range of contexts. Jane Laverty from Business NSW Northern Rivers, Dan Leverington from The Ocelli Group, and Demi Barclay from TAFE NSW will share their insights and experience on how we design for regeneration in life and work.
This event will provide practical insights for designers, leaders, changemakers, and anyone interested in helping create the conditions for people and communities to be happier and live on a cleaner healthier planet.
Speaker/Panellists
Ben Pecotich
Design & Innovation Director/Founder – Dynamic4
Ben Pecotich is a designer, coach, and founder of Dynamic4 – a social enterprise and B Corp focused on leadership, design, and innovation for happier communities… and making the transition to more regenerative ways of living and doing business.
He coaches and works alongside leaders to solve problems that matter by designing and building business models, products, and services that customers and teams love, make money, and do great things for people and our planet… all while increasing wellbeing.
For 30+ years, Ben has led, designed, and delivered strategic change in financial services in Australia, NZ, Asia, the UK, and Europe. He takes a human-centred design and living systems approach to bring together strategy, design, and tech. During this time he’s also founded over 20 startups/social enterprises.
Ben’s the author of Solve Problems That Matter: Design, Build & Launch Your Social Enterprise Idea and co-founder of the Sydney Design Thinking meetup.
Jane Laverty
Regional Director, Northern Rivers – Business NSW Northern Rivers
Dan Leverington
Managing Director & Founder/Commercial Sustainability Concierge, The Ocelli Group
Demi Barclay
Design Project Associate (CX), TAFE NSW
Event Sponsors
This event is brought to you by Business NSW Northern Rivers, TAFE NSW, Spangled Drongo Brewery, Just Digital People, Dynamic4.
