How to Reverse Engineer a Desired Outcome through Design – Ram Castillo

Ram Castillo is a Sydney-based design director, author, international speaker, and career director. His hit podcast, Giant Thinkers, has charted #3 on iTunes in more than 5 countries and currently has over 250,000 active listeners. Ram has been helping designers find employment for almost a decade. Now, he continues to mentor all kinds of creatives through systems such as the Lightning Bolt Method, inspiring and motivating them to successfully pursue their passions.  

In this episode, Ram delves deep into his childhood and how he expressed his creativity from a young age using whatever resources he could find, including toilet paper rolls. We also discuss: 

• How the lens of design leads to better questioning
• The importance of varied mentorship and how to find good mentors 
• The importance of decision-making 
• High value vs. low-value activities 
• How fear is a false construct based on untested assumptions 

Ram Castillo Website:

https://ramcastillo.com/

Giant Thinkers:

https://giantthinkers.com/

Giant Thinkers Podcast:

https://giantthinkers.com/category/podcast/

Ram’s books – How to Get a Job as a Designer, Guaranteed https://www.amazon.com/How-Designer-Guaranteed-Step-Step/dp/099257000X, How to Get a Mentor as a Designer, Guaranteed https://www.amazon.com/How-Get-Mentor-Designer-Guaranteed/dp/0992570026

Keep up with Ram Castillo on Social Media:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/thegiantthinker
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheGiantThinker
• Linkedin: https://au.linkedin.com/in/ram-castillo-39a39923
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thegiantthinker/

Chapter titles 

• 00:19 – Ram’s childhood and what toilet paper rolls mean to him
• 4:33 – How Ram’s parents influenced him to dream big 
• 10:33 – How of childhood bullying affected Ram
• 17:47 – Ram’s start in the mailroom 
• 27:07 – The lens of design and how it leads to asking questions 
• 33:00 – Mentorship in Ram’s life
• 41:09 – The importance of making decisions
• 47:32 – High value vs. low-value activities
• 52:44 – Fear is a construct

Frameworks

According to Ram, the four steps of design are:

1. Research. Gather information. Then, 
2. Define. Group research and data and narrow it down to solve a specific problem. Next,
3. Conceptualize. Create a prototype. And finally, 
4. Deliver. Distribute the design into the world. 

Then gather feedback and repeat the steps. 

How to Find a Mentor:

A mentor should be an advisor, friend, and idol 

1. Get clear on the definition
2. Go through a personal analysis
3. Pair your goals with the right people
4. Mentor others and give back

Lightning bolt method – empowered and informed rapid decision making 

Quotes

7:01 – It’s not that people are not born creative. It’s that they don’t hold onto that creativity as we grow older. 

14:41 – Everything that I’ve done and chosen, I felt was helping my younger self. 

30:42 – Never assume anything. What does the world need that you can give it?

36:53 – The power of mentorship is … in the dialogue. 

55:17 – When the pain of remaining the same is greater than the pain of changing, that’s when you know 

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=23010497)

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• How to Reverse Engineer a Desired Outcome through Design – Ram Castillo