ABOUT

Alissa Fleet
Design Strategist
Systemic Constellations Facilitator
I’m an explorer, an adventurer, always curious about what brings about transformation for individuals, society, the world. I help people and teams innovate and bring their visionary ideas to life. I do this using the tried and tested tools of design thinking, user research, and product design. When all else fails, I help people get out of their heads and into their bodies to sense in to underlying dynamics: what wants to happen, what shores need to be left already, and how to leverage movements that are already in motion.
My journey
I have spent over 20 years in design, including at premier design firms such as Method, Ziba Design, and McKinsey & Co, helping clients innovate in a changing world. As a design researcher my focus has been on human behavior: analyzing lifestyle and habit, and testing what needs to be adjusted in a product or service in order to fit into people’s lives more naturally and intuitively.
What I discovered along the way is that the methods developed in the technology space — design thinking, co-creative problem solving, working iteratively — have proven to work so well that they are now been adopted by all industries looking to innovate. However after many successful product launches, it’s clear that “great design” also brought unintended consequences.
We know very well now how to optimize for engagement but at what cost? As a first generation user experience designer, many of us are taking a hard look at our responsibility for the untold levels of social alienation, mental health issues, and frayed social fabric. Is there a window of opportunity for course correction, to use the power of design to make our world a better place? To rebalance our relationship with nature and make people happier, healthier, and more fulfilled?
Insights
My personal response to this paradox was to go on a deeper inquiry of inner and outer change. It led my on a journey to discover what inner transformative work was needed for people who wanted to do transformative social change work. I traveled far and wide, studying mindfulness, buddhist psychology, indigenous knowledge systems, and living and studying with renowned spiritual leaders.
I am convinced that there is a brilliant creative intelligence within each person and have made it my mission to help people connect with that: to help them find the source of what makes them come alive and to find what is their part to play in redesigning our world. I believe that when we get in touch with this inner source, it has a multiplying effect that ripples out to reawakening the world we live in.
Influences
These are some of the trainings, experiences, and relationships that have influenced my work.
Systemic Constellations
Francesca Mason Boring – Facilitator Training in Family, Human and Natural Systems Constellations and Constellation as Ceremony, 2018-2019
Jan Jacob Stam – Training in business, organizational, and societal issue constellations, 2020 – present
Stephan Hausner – Art of Facilitation, 2021 – present
Dan Cohen and Emily Blefeld – Seeing with your Heart training, 2016-2017
Founder and training organizer, Everyday Mystery School, 2017 – present
Systems Thinking
Consciousness and Transformative Studies, JFK University, 2016-2019
Design Thinking
User-centered design, research, and strategy, late 1990s – present
Signatory of the Design Justice Network, 2021 – present
Psychology
Buddhist Psychology – member and organizer in the Thich Nhat Hanh Community of Mindful Living of Northern California, 2002-2011
Coherence Therapy – with by Bruce Ecker, researcher on transformative change through memory reconsolidation, 2005-2011
Traditional Knowledge Systems
Betsy Bergstrom – Trainings in Norse mythology and modernizing ancient practices, 2016 – present
Hank Wesselman – Vision seeker trainings, 2017
Activism
New England Peace Pagoda – peace walk for climate justice and to raise awareness of black and indigenous history of New England, 2003 – present
Embracing the World – volunteer and karma yogi for humanitarian organization in India, 2011-2013
Momentum movement building training, 2014-2015
Friend of the Brooklyn Center for Sacred Activism
Friend of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship