An interview series spotlighting global tech influencers, disruptors, visionaries, and of course, innovators.
For more than 25 years, Founder/ Investor / Advisor/ Innovation Expert Deb Mills-Scofield has helped a range of early-stage to large global service, manufacturing and high-technology companies create and implement actionable, adaptable, measurable and profitable innovation-based strategic plans. Deb was also an equity partner in Glengary Ventures - an early stage venture capital firm.
Mills-Scofield asks her clients to match 10% of her fee to improve lives in their community. To continue learning, she centers her business model and value proposition on mentoring and being mentored in many capacities at our alma mater, Brown University, where she helped create the Cognitive Science concentration and then graduated with the degree in three years. Now, as an alum, she’s helping create another concentration, Design-Engineering in the School of Engineering. In addition, Mills-Scofield currently serves as a Women’s Launch Pad Mentor, Masters in Design-Engineering (Brown / RISD) Mentor, Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship Mentoring Maven, WISE Mentor, School of Engineering Advisory Council Member, Visiting Scholar and Van Wickle Ventures Committee Member. The Brown community has certainly benefited from Mills-Scofield’s years’ long, Ever True dedication, active involvement, ceaseless curiosity, invaluable skepticism and contagious enthusiasm.
With a focus on innovation, culture-process-commercialization (think business model, management, product, service, process), leadership and strategic alignment (i.e., business modeling/plans/strategy), Mills-Scofield thrives as a multi-disciplinary engineer who excels in technology, the arts and management, a STEAM leader passionate about helping companies and individuals see what’s possible and then make plans to achieve the impossible. In short, a blue lobster!
She began her career at Bell Labs, creating one of AT&T’s all time highest-revenue generating patents based on real customers’ real needs and then joined the early stage VC firm Glengary LLC as an Equity Partner managing overall Due Diligence processes. In addition to serving on several Boards, Mills-Scofield founded her consulting company twenty years ago, wrote in the Harvard Business Review, blogs and contributes to business books, aiming to inspire people to dream what they can achieve and giving them the tools to make their dreams come to fruition.
I had the pleasure to connect with Deb on the phone and via email to learn more about her consulting and mentoring expertise, decades at Brown, career advice, interdisciplinary approaches to new problems, building unexpected connections, core values, risk, failure, success, reading / listening/ viewing recommendations, and, of course, finding blue lobsters! Our interview follows.
Brown Design Workshop
EKMH: Let’s meet at the intersection of value proposition and accountability. How can VCs become a force for good?
Deb Mills-Scofield: By investing in things people/society really NEED vs. maybe want or are superficial. If you look at what comes out of the Valley & other hot spots and in what most VCs invest – it’s just more ‘stuff’ – more of the ‘same’ apps, another weather, dating, scheduling, etc. app vs. solutions that can save lives, improve health & equity, save real time, find real help etc.
But the VC/Startup community has become a bit too insular, especially in the Valley, so they feed off the needs of whom they see and experience vs. the other 90% of the world that isn’t as fortunate. The decision needs to be an ‘And/Both’, not an ‘Either/Or.’ Most VCs think that investing in things that do good AND do well requires longer investment time and/or less returns, but that doesn’t have to be the case.
EKMH: In addition to encouraging “conscious” investing -- you recommend that your clients match 10% of your fee to improve lives in their community and mentor an entrepreneur. In which other ways do you seek and/or have you sought to establish positive corporate habits while advising business innovations and market making?
Deb Mills-Scofield: You know, a lot of how to make positive impact is through basic simple business practices – like how you treat your employees and customers – with respect, compassion and grace. So as we discuss people/employees in doing strategy & innovation work, we determine how can they become a more ‘human & humane’ company – how can they employ the golden, or better yet, platinum rule, as appropriate – not to let people be unaccountable, but to be human. Accountability is critical – for employer & employees – and part of this means being explicit – being as clear as possible in communicating expectations, deadlines, etc. – no ‘read my mind’ stuff – so learning how & when to communicate is a huge skill that needs training.
From a product/services-standpoint, I ask my clients to try to order their own stuff – return it, deal with it, etc. – to be a consumer of what they make and see the obstacles they run into – and in terms of how they design, make, package & ship & then how the consumer/ client opens, gets rid of the packaging, disposes of the product when done, can repair vs. toss it, etc. – to think through all these steps, and how and what clients do affects their customers (i.e., are companies putting more work on consumers than they need to or really should?), their employees in making/building (i.e., exposure to toxins, work hours, ergonomics, etc.) and on the environment – so it’s an all-encompassing philosophy embedded in all that they do or can do.
EKMH: What steps can be taken to effect positive, inclusive change more rapidly?
Deb Mills-Scofield: One way I see is, as above, getting the executive teams to live and behave more like their employees and customers – to put themselves in those exact shoes and look at the world that way and see how they can change it. They also need to walk the talk by modeling the behavior they want in their employees – like recycling, if that’s a corporate policy— or evidenced by how they treat people, set and hold themselves accountable to goals, by clearly doing what I do vs. what I say and building systems into their company that make that as easy as possible, by using their scale for good.
EKMH: What predictions do you have for “next” normal, post-pandemic business models? In this new world of increased communication, digital transformation and human-centered design, how can businesses ethically leverage tech and find new revenue streams?
Deb Mills-Scofield: At a corporate level, hybrid work , and all remote for some, is finally here to stay – so companies have to work harder at making sure remote or partially remote employees are really hooked in and make it as hard as possible for employees to NOT be in the know – you can’t force them to use communication methods but you can reduce the friction in using them and the accessibility. They also need to clearly, concretely show employees & customers how digital transformation benefits them vs. the company only; how digitalization can make employee/customer lives better, and for the employee; and also show how they can directly impact & benefit further from the companies goals. I see more Direct to Consumer business models, bypassing some middlemen, of trying to get to the consumer without requiring Amazon, which means the hard task of rising above the noise – which can be done by providing meaning & purpose within what you offer and how you offer it.
I see more contactless payment options getting further embedded into our world and, hopefully, more inclusive design – accessibility in terms of physical/emotional accessibility as well as socio-demographic accessibility. For example, if you live alone, and you’re not as mobile, what do you do about a fridge? Buy two small ones at your level because you can’t reach the top shelf of a normal fridge? A way to leverage tech and find new revenue streams is to get out there, observe potential customers from their perspective, not what you want it to be, what you think it should be, but what it really is from the users’ standpoint, which may change by weather, day/time of week, who knows what, and design for them, with them – not for you (think Martin Buber’s “I-Thou”). There are so many unmet needs out there – they just aren’t sexy or viewed as lucrative – but scale can matter a lot.
Deb Mills-Scofield on mentoring: “At a very basic level, the relationships I get to build – the LOVE – yup, plain & simple, the strong love and bond with these students throughout their time at Brown – which as an alum is such a joy and treasure, how can you not thrive on that?”
EKMH: After developing Brown’s CogSci concentration and graduating in three years, you’ve remained “ever true” to Brown and continue to hold leadership and advisor roles on College Hill. What initially sparked your involvement and what keeps you committed?
Deb Mills-Scofield: Oi! Where to start! So Brown was my dream school – and I was raised in a home that encouraged asking why and how to ask great questions, that very little in life is prescribed and most of life is self-made – so then I go to Brown which is more of the same (and then to Bell Labs which was more of the same again). I learned more of how to think critically, liminally and ‘systemly’ (not just systematic, but in terms of systems); Brown was/is all about what we now call ‘design & system thinking’ but we didn’t have words for it then. I also had incredible profs that supported me, who were always there for me and who I still see to grab lunch, dinner, coffee (e.g., Kathy Spoehr, Sheila Blumstein, Andy Van Dam). Also, it’s an easy way to keep learning, since I’m insatiably curious, and honestly, there aren’t as many intellectually curious people in one spot as there are at Brown – so it’s a way to maximize my learning.
By mentoring, I learn about so many things. Last year, for instance, I learned about CPTED from one of my architecture students – it’s Crime Prevention through Environmental Design – think Minneapolis (George Floyd), Chicago (Chicago 7) & many other cities; it’s the ability to surveil the entire area, cut egress points etc. – but it sounds so ‘nice.’ Then, with another student, we discussed how much of AI has and hasn’t changed – e.g., the reason we created CLPS/Cog Sci vs. doing AI in 1980, and issues around general AI. So I keep learning and learning, and also, this involvement keeps me relevant and real with the students’ generation (which is also my kids’, so hopefully I’m a better Mom). At a very basic level, the relationships I get to build – the LOVE – yup, plain & simple, the strong love and bond with these students throughout and after their time at Brown - is such a joy and treasure; how can you not thrive on that?
And, given my current work in the School of Engineering (SoE) on design – after nagging, nudging and begging for more design in the SoE – and working with student groups etc. who have done great things to push the project forward, I’m now on the ‘other’ side of creating a concentration. For CLPS I was the student, now I’m the ‘adult’ in creating a Design-Engineering concentration!!!! It’s so exciting because so many of my students have wanted to and want to do this concentration– and I get to be part of making it real – and also get to see what my advisors shielded us students from 40 yrs ago!
EKMH: Which class/es most influenced you and why?
Deb Mills-Scofield:
Freshman year, I took a philosophy class on Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason – it was harder than heck and not a freshman course by any means and I really struggled but the issue of his ‘divine ought’ has stuck with me forever and parlayed into my love of Martin Buber and “I-Thou” which is a tenet of my life
During my freshman year I also took an art/architecture history class in List Auditorium where I learned that the RI capital building’s dome is the 4th largest free-standing (self-supporting) marble dome in the world (I have no idea why that stuck with me).
Sheila Blumstein’s classes on cog linguistics that included aphasia really helped me understand the brain that I still use today.
CS 15, or whatever it was then, with Andy Van Dam – first semester of programming, Fall ’79 and the final project was to write a script to run the elevators in the SciLi; so many of us had nightmares about that for years!!! And to this day, if I’m in the SciLi and need to go to a floor before 7, I’ll take the stairs.
EKMH: When reflecting upon your initial career expectations versus its actual progression, what most surprises you?
Deb Mills-Scofield: If you’d told me in 1982, right out of Brown and at Bell Labs that I’d be doing what I’m doing now, I would have thought you were nuts & lying. What I realized is how much of life is emergent and that’s what I tell my mentees (and my own kids).
I’ve only had one job description, the one when I started at Bell Labs, and was soooooo incredibly blessed to have been at Bell Labs when I was and with the bosses I had because they mentored and taught me so much. My roles and jobs changed as I saw things that I thought were interesting, was curious about or needed to be done and my management let me so I created my own jobs/roles after that initial one. And then, when I decided to marry my husband who was in basic research at Bell Labs and was going to teach physics at Oberlin College (where I thought I’d never live because New Jersey was as far west of the Hudson River as I was ever going), Bell Labs & AT&T did everything so that I wouldn’t quit. They did a corporate relocation to Oberlin, flew me to/from my NJ office every week and to Europe & Asia every month, set me up in 1988 with a complete remote office with all the hardware, copiers, printers, high speed internet, laptop, computer, and even cell phone in 1989! And when I had kids and wouldn’t travel, they let me go part-time, same title, level, role, trimmings and everything; they did everything they could so I wouldn’t quit, which I did in 2001, but it was my choice. So my path was not linear, which was fine because so much of Bell Labs wasn’t linear. Eventually, working at AT&T was untenable and too frustrating, so my husband suggested I go out on my own! Starting my own business with a 4 & 1 yr old, and having had just bought the house in Maine and owning two homes was wicked scary – especially as the main breadwinner. It was the Brown network that helped me get my strategy/innovation consulting business off the ground, led to my meeting my partners in the VC firm, and much more.
EKMH: How have you benefited from failure and/or taking risks?
Deb Mills-Scofield: Right after I left AT&T, I went to work remotely for a startup in NYC in 2001. It was a disaster – great product, lousy founder – perfection was his enemy so it failed, so I lost my job – and that led to the huge risk of going out on my own – that had to be the scariest, riskiest thing I’ve done career-wise. I had no client base, no nothing, and while we had a long financial runway before I’d have to get a ‘job’, which I didn’t want because I also wanted to be a very present Mom, the experience was terrifying. I wouldn’t have done it if not ‘forced’ into it in a way – and boy, am I glad I did!
EKMH: How have the core values honed from these challenges proved integral to your personal development and helped you accelerate multi-sector innovation?
Deb Mills-Scofield: All of that forced me to be more succinct and focused on the core values that have always guided me, but this made me really formalize them – 1) I-Thou (Martin Buber); 2) Rush to Discover, don’t rush to solve; 3) Experiment-Learn-Apply-Iterate – forever. As this became clear to me, it’s been a gift to turn it into the tenets of my strategic and innovation planning process – so I can live & profess what I believe as one and the same. These simple three tenets are the foundation of innovation and growth, and living a fulfilled and giving life, regardless of the industry or the stage.
EKMH: Please share an update on the DebBot.
Deb Mills-Scofield: Due to COVID, it’s stalled a bit – while my office hours tripled during COVID, the students started realizing they didn’t want a DebBot – they’d rather have 30 minutes with me, than with a bot – so we’ll see where this goes!
EKMH: Blue lobster sightings, either in the water or on land?
Deb Mills-Scofield: Well, there have been quite a few blue lobsters found from Gloucester, MA to Bar Harbor, Maine this year – real ones in the ocean. And as I’ve met the new freshman class at Brown – wowza! The students just seem to get bluer and bluer, and then, as the design-engineering concentration is coming together, my mentees who started a big part of that effort are showing how blue lobsters can and do leave a legacy for baby blue ones to come – if that isn’t the best, what is?
EKMH: And finally, which books, films and/or podcasts top your recommended list?
Deb Mills-Scofield: I like a variety of books including some mystery/thrillers like Baldacci, the Nordic authors including Jussi Alder-Olsen, Jo Nesbo, Camilla Läckberg, Tana French, Arnaldur Indriðason and Louise Penny, and more thinking books like Metaphors we Live By, The Power Broker by Caro, Ignorance by Firestein, and What a Body Can Do? by Sara Hendren. (Click here for my Goodreads’ recommendations.)
As for movies – a mix of action, documentaries, Ken Burns’ series. My podcasts for now are Against the Rules (Michael Lewis), Big Brains (UCHI – my son graduated from UCHI ’19), Capitalisn’t, Cautionary Tales, Alan Alda, Code Sw!tch and about 50+ more – I don’t have ‘recommended’ because it depends on the person & their interests.
**For the latest updates, check out @crowdfunderin and @ekmhinnovators.
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