Innovation,
Entrepreneurship,
+ Design Thinking
Specialist.
A multi-disciplinary innovation, HCD and Design Thinking consultant, educator and facilitator, Madeleine works with companies, brands, universities, startups and individuals to unlock creativity, unearth insights and teach people to think big and start small.
Qualified with Stanford University’s Design Thinking d-school (2019), Hasso Plattner Institute of Design and the National Institute for Play (2019), Mads has also trained with global design firm IDEO as a Design Thinking and Experience Innovation Facilitator (IDEO San Francisco 2016 and IDEO Experience Point Human Synergistics Melbourne 2017).
Mads holds a Masters level Design Thinking qualification from the University of Melbourne, where she completed her Master of Entrepreneurship with first class honours through the Melbourne Business School and Faculty of Business and Economics in 2016.
Mads also continues to design, deliver and collaborate on Design Thinking elearning program development, design sprints and consultancies across the corporate and startup sectors, and has partnered with global brands and businesses to design innovation and Design Thinking programs and digital learning modules for the edtech sector.
Fun fact: In 2016 Mads completed an in-house project with The Royals creative agency leading the development of an IDEO-inspired Design Thinking Ideation Deck. This involved the creation of an innovation tool designed to provoke conversation, shape scenarios, spark creativity and encourage fresh thinking internally and with commercial clients of The Royals.
Innovation
Mads qualified with Australia’s leading science-backed innovation consultancy Inventium as an Innovation Facilitator (August 2017), gaining advanced innovation facilitation techniques to optimise teamwork, love the problem/opportunity and drive employee engagement with utilisation of Inventium’s award-winning ideation and brainstorming stimuli.
Mads has also adopted a ‘learning by doing’ approach with some of the world’ best innovators and agile pace-setters. Highlight: Joining the Atlassian Playbook Team in San Francisco for an Atlassian SHIPIT, to experience first-hand what a teamwork sprint looks like inside one of the world’s fastest growing technology companies.
In 2018-2019 Mads joined Telstra Labs as an Innovation Specialist in Telstra’s Chief Technology Office. Her role involved designing and lead facilitating end-to-end innovation projects, rapid experimentation sprints and business acceleration using agile ways of working, customer-centric design, Lean Startup models, applied Design Thinking – and a good dash of common sense.
In 2019 Mads moved into the role of Telstra’s Innovation Ecosystem Lead, working cross-functionally with Telstra’s internal business unit executive leadership teams, plus external stakeholders including State Governments, Australian universities, Telstra Ventures, startups, Telstra enterprise partners and Global Innovation Hubs to map, measure and design an engagement portfolio and to drive innovation capabilities, connectivity and next horizon emerging technology opportunities.
Entrepreneurship
Mads completed a Master of Entrepreneurship at the University of Melbourne (Melbourne Business School) – a highly practical, one-year full-time immersive degree designed to equip students with the knowledge and skills to develop, launch and successfully commercialise and scale innovative enterprises using Design Thinking and Lean Startup methodologies, Steve Blank’s Customer Development Theory and the application of the Business Model Canvas.
Mads is passionate about startups and increasing diversity in the Australian startup and entrepreneurship ecosystem. She regularly designs and delivers startup and entrepreneurship education programs, and has facilitated 3DayStartup and Startup Sprint innovation and entrepreneurship workshops and programs at the University of Melbourne’s Wade Institute of Entrepreneurship. As the founder of her former businesses Future Amp and Girledworld, Mads also led all curriculum design, digital module development and education programs in the startup, innovation, future skills and design thinking learning areas.
Mads currently mentors early stage founders at the University of Melbourne, Startmate, Minderoo Foundation (indigenous entrepreneurship), Wade Institute of Entrepreneurship and Foundation for Young Australians.
Madeleine designs and facilitates programs for education and industry to enable the application of Design Thinking, Lean Startup, Customer Development, Entrepreneurship, and Business Model Canvas in work-integrated and education project sprints, and consults to government, industry and the education sector on innovation, entrepreneurship and employability skills curriculum design.
Madeleine completed the Kaospilot The Art and Craft Of Designing And Facilitating Learning Spaces Certification in 2019. Kaospilot has been dubbed “the world’s most adventurous alternative business school” by Fast Company and marked by Business Week as a design program “shaping a new generation of creative managers”. The 4-day masterclass equips educators with the skills, practice and training to design and facilitate learning spaces using Kaos’ world-leading experiential journey.
Leadership
Madeleine holds multiple board and mentorship positions, received the University of Melbourne Faculty of Business and Economics Leadership Award 2020, Victorian Tech Diversity Award 2019 (girledworld Pty Ltd) and is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Trained in high performance teamwork and leadership frameworks (holding both Compass Leadership and ChangeUp qualifications and a University of Melbourne Graduate Leadership Certificate), Madeleine is passionate about the empowerment and enablement of minorities in the workforce, and believes in the critical role of mentorship in building out balance and diverse talent in the entrepreneurial, startup and innovation ecosystem.
Madeleine believes anyone can lead if given the right tools and mentors to unlock their potential.
About IDEO experience point innovation training
IDEO is an award-winning global design firm that takes a human-centered, design-based approach to helping organisations in the public and private sectors innovate and grow.
ExperienceInnovation™ is a suite of experiential workshops built in collaboration with global innovation powerhouse IDEO, that build creative confidence and competence.
With the purposeful application of technology, ExperienceInnovation heightens engagement and enables innovation skill-building at scale.
From front line staff and new employees to project teams and executive leadership, IDEO workshops are designed to unleash new ways of thinking at all levels of organisation and step people through the essentials of a four-month innovation project in an engaging half-day or full-day workshop. Teams tackle a realistic design challenge while applying the three phases of design thinking.
ExperienceInnovation™ | Aware introduces teams to essential design thinking techniques, mindsets and behaviours in a hands-on format. This 90-minute workshop highlights how to bring creative habits like deep user empathy, radical collaboration and rapid experimentation to the every day.