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Episode 133: Michele Ronsen – Curiosity Tank, How to Ask Better Questions

Michele Ronsen, the Founder, Educator, and Chief Curiosity Cat of Curiosity Tank, joins the show to share her journey from drawing logos as a 3-year-old to leading user research and design for Fortune 500 companies and startups. Hear how to ask better questions, why short questions are better, how to deal with rejection, how we decide what we eat for dinner, and the Skittles Popcorn experiment. This episode covers everything from the best questions to ask to adventures with Michele’s daughter, “Bunny.” Here’s a small sample of what you will hear in this episode:

• Why does Michele have a stronger connection with the McDonald’s logo than the average person
• What are the most memorable projects from her design career
• What are her favorite and least favorite questions to ask
• The Acronym Decoder
• Why does the Energizer Bunny keep going and going and going and…
• Why is Michele so good at multitasking
• What is the most creative food concoction her daughter has created
• What did Michele’s parents do for a living

Connect with Michele on LinkedIn and at CuriosityTank.com.

Enjoy the shooooow! Check out the show notes below for much more detail.

Show Notes

• Intro & Curiosity Since Childhood
  • [0:31] Email me at max@maxpodcasting.com to save time with your high-quality podcast and use it as a business-building tool
  • [0:44] Connect with Michele on LinkedIn and at CuriosityTank.com
  • [1:45] Curiosity Tank, User Research, Design
  • [2:13] What is Michele’s childhood memory with the McDonald’s logo
  • [3:35] Logo
  • [3:47] Creative Torture
  • [3:54] What did Michele’s drawing look like
  • [4:42] Bozeman, MT
  • [5:04] Innovation, DNA
  • [6:18] Pentagram
  • [6:20] Paula Scher on the Wild Business Growth Podcast
  • [6:22] Nordstrom, Bank of America, Wells Fargo
  • [6:27] What is the most memorable project from Michele’s design career
  • [7:00] Nordstrom Innovation Team, Products, Services, Beauty, Cosmetics
  • [7:18] Bank of the Future, Salt Lake City Olympics
• Curiosity Tank & Asking Better Questions
  • [8:23] Why did Michele start her own company
  • [8:31] Designer, Design Director
  • [8:44] California College for the Arts (CCA), DMBA Program, Leading By Design Fellowship
  • [9:07] Capstone Project, Cohort
  • [9:24] Research, Project Managers
  • [9:44] Professor
  • [9:58] Ethnographies
  • [10:09] Anthropology
  • [10:14] Alice in Wonderland
  • [10:52] Senior Vice President (SVP)
  • [11:02] Clients
  • [11:14] Contract
  • [11:50] Why is Michele so curious
  • [11:54] Insights
  • [12:16] Mental Model
  • [12:34] Technicolor
  • [13:02] Colleagues, Stakeholders, Employer
  • [13:19] Shoutout Dana!
  • [13:42] How do you win more clients
  • [14:08] Pain Point
  • [15:00] Academy of Art, UC Berkeley, General Assembly
  • [16:01] Product Teams
  • [16:41] User Researchers
  • [17:25] Generative Research, Discovery Research, Foundational Research
  • [17:48] Areas of Expertise, Client List, Education
  • [18:12] Straw Man Outline, Product-Market Fit
  • [18:24] Fidelity, Engagement, Content
  • [18:51] Case Study
  • [19:01] How do you deal with rejection
  • [20:19] Why do you need to ask better questions
  • [20:31] Crispalize!
  • [20:42] Jargon, Acronyms
  • [21:06] Double-Barreled Questions
  • [21:23] Product Research, Attitudes, Behaviors, Exploration
  • [21:45] Attitudinal, Behavioral
  • [22:01] Unmoderated
  • [22:15] Why is it better to ask short questions
  • [22:39] Open-Ended Questions vs. Closed-Ended Questions
  • [22:58] Binary Answer
  • [23:42] Conversationalist
  • [24:07] How do you get better at asking questions
  • [24:25] Dinner Party
  • [25:11] I just can’t resist Alluding to Alliteration
  • [25:26] Tools: Attitudes & Behaviors
  • [25:48] Why does it help to ask better questions as a small business owner
  • [25:58] Informed Decisions, Data, Subjective Data, Objective Data, Qualitative Data, Quantitative Data
  • [26:33] Competition, User Feedback
  • [27:20] Advising
  • [27:27] Improv
  • [27:34] What is Michele’s favorite question to ask
  • [28:05] User
  • [28:23] Onboarding Experience
  • [28:58] Save time with your high-quality podcast. Email me at max@maxpodcasting.com to bring your podcast to life and use it as a business-building tool

• Inspiration & Creativity/Curiosity: People, Hobbies, and Resources
  • [29:33] How do you stay curious
  • [30:05] Surface-Level Questions
  • [30:51] Post-it Notes
  • [31:32] Chicken Parm you taste so good (Chicken Parmesan)
  • [32:04] Why does chicken parm taste so good
  • [32:52] Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle
  • [33:12] What hobbies help you stay curious
  • [34:23] Calendar
  • [34:41] Revenue Stream
  • [34:51] How do curious and creative hobbies help your business
  • [35:41] Who does Michele like to follow for inspiration
  • [36:25] Hiring
  • [36:31] UX Lex (UX Lexicon)
  • [37:10] Acronym Decoder
  • [37:18] UX (User Experience)
  • [38:12] Businesses, Industries
• Wild Business Shoutout of the Week
  • [38:40] Creative Marketing
  • [38:49] Commercial, Mascot
  • [38:55] Original Energizer Bunny Commercial
  • [40:01] What does Michele’s daughter have in common with the Energizer Bunny
  • [40:50] Why does the Energizer Bunny have such staying power

• The Unusual: Pet Peeves, Quirks, and Weird Talents
  • [42:00] Quite the drumroll
  • [42:05] What is a weird talent Michele has
  • [42:16] Multitasking
  • [43:02] What is a quirk Michele has
  • [43:41] What is a pet peeve she has
  • [43:56] Fixed Mindset
  • [44:32] Educators, Innovators
  • [44:40] Growth Mindset
  • [44:45] Thinking outside the box and beyond
  • [45:18] Diverge-Converge
• Rapid-Fire Q&A
  • [45:37] The Queen’s Gambit
  • [45:59] Chess, Shark Tank
  • [46:11] What is Michele’s least favorite question to ask
  • [46:28] Really couldn’t resist
  • [46:37] What is the most challenging part of teaching at the collegiate level
  • [46:58] Mac vs. PC
  • [47:13] Academic Rigor
  • [48:22] Curiositivititively (rolls off the tongue/rolls the tongue into a ball)
  • [48:30] What is a memorable form of “creative torture” from Michele’s childhood
  • [49:30] English, Science, Math, Entrepreneur, Amateur Architect
  • [49:51] Encyclopedia Britannica
  • [50:12] Googling, Voice Assistants
  • [50:36] Skittles Popcorn on YouTube
  • [51:01] Skittles
  • [51:41] Connect with Michele on LinkedIn and at CuriosityTank.com
  • [51:53] LinkedIn Top Voice
  • [52:28] Bundle and Discount Code coming soon
  • [52:43] What are Michele’s final thoughts
  • [53:03] Cat-like Speed and Reflexes
  • [53:17] Subscribe to the Wild Business Growth Podcast and tell a friend about the podcast
  • [53:22] Check out the Wild Business Growth Podcast on GoodPods, where you can see what your favorite people are listening to
  • [53:26] Connect with me on Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn at @MaxBranstetter
  • [53:30] Save time with your high-quality podcast. Email me at max@maxpodcasting.com to bring your podcast to life and use it as a business-building tool
  • Theme music: Freestyle Percussion Magik – Jungle Tribe – provided by Jamendo

What is the Wild Business Growth Podcast?

Wild ideas. Wild growth. Every Wednesday morning a new entrepreneur or innovator joins the Wild Business Growth Podcast to share the crazy creative and unusual ways they grew their business, and provides tips for you to do it, too. Hear the woman who became the voice of Siri, the man who’s reinventing the sandcastle, how GaryVee’s partners are turning the wine world upside down, and more wild stories. Hosted by Max Branstetter (that’s me), Founder and Podcast Producer at MaxPodcasting.

How do you start a podcast?

Interested in starting a professional-sounding podcast for your brand, but don’t want to deal with the time commitment? I’ve got you covered. Email me at max@maxpodcasting.com to save time with your high-quality podcast and use it as a business-building tool.

Thanks for listening to Michele Ronsen on the Wild Business Growth Podcast. To hear more Wild stories like this one every Wednesday morning, subscribe to the Wild Business Growth Podcast and tell a friend about it. Until next time, Let your business Run Wild…and Bring on the Bongos!!