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Barbara Karanian
Lecturer (previously Visiting Professor)at Stanford Transforming Innovation in Classrooms and Organizations - Psychology of Designing Change -
Professional Background
Barbara Karanian, Ph.D., is a dynamic force in design education and entrepreneurial leadership. As the founder of The Design Entrepreneuring Studio, she has made her mark as a Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University. In this role, she passionately engages students in innovative educational practices that blend the sciences of engineering, psychology, and design. Barbara's research is at the intersection of social-cognitive psychology and engineering design, delving into how cognition and emotions shape design decisions and entrepreneurial actions.
Her academic journey has taken her through esteemed institutions and varied roles. From 2005 to 2010, she served as the Michael T. Anthony Professor at Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston, lending her expertise to the field of engineering education. Alongside her position at Stanford, Barbara is also an Adjunct Associate Professor in Social Science and Policy Studies at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), showcasing her versatility and commitment to fostering a comprehensive understanding of engineering leadership.
Education and Achievements
Barbara's educational background is as impressive as her professional accomplishments. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree with a double major in Experimental Psychology and Fine Arts from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA. Her pursuit of knowledge continued as she obtained a Master's in Education with a focus on Art Therapy, followed by her Ph.D. in Educational Studies with an emphasis on Organizational Behavior from Lesley University. Her dissertation, titled "Gender and Leadership: Men and Women's Stories," reflects her commitment to exploring gender dynamics in organizational settings.
In addition to her academic credentials, Barbara has been recognized for her instructional prowess. She was awarded a Teaching Fellowship in Leadership at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education – a testament to her exceptional skills in leadership education. Her ability to weave storytelling into her teaching methodology facilitates not only knowledge transfer but also emotional engagement, paving the way for creativity and innovation.
Notable Works
Barbara is the author of significant publications that contribute to the fields of leadership and design education. Her book, "Working Connection: The Relational Art of Leadership," explores the relational aspects of leadership, emphasizing the importance of communication and community in enhancing workplace dynamics. Additionally, her work titled "Analyzing Engineering Leader Stories-Predicting Engagement" provides insights into how storytelling can enhance engagement and connection within teams.
As a highly sought-after consultant, Barbara collaborates with leaders and organizations to cultivate creative and communicative skills necessary for effective teamwork. Through her proven methods, she helps teams master the art of community-building and creative expression, which is particularly evident in her courses at Stanford University.
In her innovative course ME 378, "Tell, Make, Engage: Action Stories for Entrepreneuring," students explore the transformative power of storytelling as they transition through the various stages of the design process – from inspiration to prototyping to realization. Furthermore, her courses ME 243 "Designing Emotion" and ME 236 "Tales To Design Cars By" offer students unique approaches to understanding user experience and emotional design within engineering contexts.
Recent projects undertaken by Barbara delve into changing organizational norms and practices, focusing on pre-visualization tools to narrate products yet to be made. Her research includes examining cognitive aspects of design and the perceived differences in user needs between online and offline interactions. Through her use of video-taped "drive-alongs," she assesses driver responses to existing automation, aiming to bridge the gap between Silicon Valley innovation and Hollywood storytelling.
Currently, Barbara exercises her expertise as a consulting partner with MoVi Connect.io, where she continues to influence the way organizations adapt and thrive in a rapidly changing technological landscape. Her work is characterized by a forward-thinking approach that integrates design, leadership, and emotional intelligence.
In her esteemed career, Barbara has not only played a pivotal role in shaping the future of engineering education but also in advancing conversations surrounding leadership, creativity, and human-centered design. Her commitment to fostering innovation and entrepreneurship in the design sector continues to inspire students, faculty, and professionals alike.
Barbara's research and practical applications resonate throughout the fields of engineering design and leadership, ensuring her position as a thought leader who champions the significance of storytelling and emotional engagement in educat
Highlights
Vulnerability with a Stranger I tend to obsessively prepare, regroup and iterate on my work, telling myself a story that explains my approach for week seven's meeting of my ME 378 class at Stanford. Certainly, the students were developing novel work. In addition to outside of class and work responsibilities, they consistently prepared, did the readings, iterative project writing, and participated by observing or speaking up in class. We had fun moments and laughter, too. I just had a feeling that I was missing something. Were they really getting closer and showing the genuine in their purpose? I challenged myself. I wanted to show them how to Lead with Emotion and that meant doing something different in class. Then, I challenged them. Will you be more vulnerable with a stranger than with each other? To tackle the class’s organizing question: “How do you tell a story in the middle of a new creation,” I brought multiple “strangers “into the classroom to help with a multi-layered plan: warm up, a practice exercise, and a simulation design challenge. Thanks to Aero Astro graduate student and alum of ME 378 #AviadLengo for engagingly leading a warm-up and telling us his start-up story dream. Appreciation to another ME 378 alum #BillKing. Bill and my other not strangers anymore memorable guests #VishnuSrinivasan and #SudarshanSridharan along with Eric simulated a VC/founder interview with the compelling Professor #DebbieSenesky. Hard to believe that #DebbieSenesky did not know in advance that she would be interviewed. We were all on the edge of our seats – as we paused to take time-outs to discuss the reality of the questions, some starkly technical, and the impact of her responses 🎶 telling a once in a million moons story.
Later, inspired by all of it, a student in the class volunteered and then it was his turn to inspire! With Bill as managing partner/student as interviewee we were treated to another kind of simulation. The student showed us his truth in the moment, to his past and to his cause. The class applauded when we heard Bill say to our classmate, “The job is yours.” We experienced the power of Vulnerability with a Stranger. How do you tell a story in the middle of a new creation? The intent was explicit, the intervention surprising, and the results expansive.
HOW DO YOU KNOW YOU ARE GOOD AT STORYTELLING, TEACHING? After the first class with me during Stanford's winter quarter, a student stunned me with this demand. I told him I had never been asked that question before. I thought about it for a minute. And then I carefully began to answer,
Me: Well, let me begin by answering the second part - how I know I am good at teaching… Student: No [ he interrupted, looked me in the eye] it’s not two questions it’s one: How do you know you are good at teaching storytelling? Ok. This was new. In a layered response I included some color and framing for previous and current students I taught and Who they were – in classrooms - on both coasts of the US from all over the globe. I even provided some confidential anecdotes detailing the trajectory of one student’s iterative development. I was glad to tell how the previous student leaped forward emotionally. I underlined how that student showed us personal motivation -through storytelling- to become a successful founder. Student: Well, you could have responded in a different way [said in a measured tone] you might tell me about things you wrote or collaborative work on stuff with a post-production company in Hollywood or telling stories on a stage. Me: Thank-you [said with spontaneous appreciation] for noticing that I didn’t talk about my personal work. I learned a long time ago that people could be artfully practiced and superb at their craft and not wish to nor capable of teaching it to someone else.
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Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
- Network Strength: Visualizes the strength of your relationships relative to others in your network
- Timeline: Shows your relationship history with each contact
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
- Home Feed: Displays updates about your network including job changes, news mentions, and birthdays
- Groups: Organizes contacts into meaningful categories
- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Mesh is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Mesh as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Mesh offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Mesh takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Mesh encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Mesh work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Mesh is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Mesh is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Mesh is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
Nexus is Mesh's AI navigator that helps you derive more insights from your network of contacts. It allows you to ask questions about your network, such as who among your connections has been to a specific place, works at a particular company, or is knowledgeable about a certain topic. Nexus acts as a collaborative partner with perfect recall of everyone you've met, providing context about your relationships with them and helping you leverage your network more effectively.
Mesh makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Mesh's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Mesh isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Mesh instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Mesh is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Mesh can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Mesh is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Mesh's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Mesh has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Mesh a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Mesh's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Mesh's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Mesh has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Mesh's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Mesh as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Mesh eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.