Tim Allen: Make your ceiling your floor

Tim Allen is the Global Head of Design at Instacart. He leads the
global product design, research, content and operations, centered
on food access and inclusivity. His focus on fueling human
potential is key to building products and cultures that inspire
people to do their best work. As an additional outlet for his
passion for design thinking, Tim was named one of Fast Company's
Most Creative People in Business for 2017.  Tim speaks and
instructs at schools and events around the country.


Prior to Instacart, Tim led Airbnb's global Product Design team,
Microsoft's Experiences & Devices design practice and
Amazon's Product Design Studio as Executive Creative Director
leading the experience design for Echo, FireTV, and Kindle
products. Tim also shaped the vision for one of the largest
Experience Design teams in the United States at R/GA, whose Nike+
work established the future of connected experiences for brands.
Through innovative work with Adobe, Red Hat, and IBM, Tim holds
seven patents related to software design, ranging from chat
interface modeling to mobile device synchronization.


We dive into how throughout his career, Tim continued to make the
ceiling his floor. We chat about what that means, how his
upbringing impacted him as a designer, and how the skills that
got you to where you are today won’t necessarily get you to
what’s next.