Innovation, Learning Transfer, and AI Impact on Metacognition - Dr. Tessa Forshaw
Tue Nov 25 2025
In this episode, I discuss with the fantastic Dr. Tessa Forshaw, a cognitive scientist, educator, and innovation leader researching and shaping how we learn and work in an age of rapid change.
Tessa is the co-founder and research lead at Harvard’s Next Level Lab, where she explores learning transfer, creative cognition, and how humans and AI can work together. She also teaches design thinking and creativity at Harvard and previously served on the faculty at Stanford’s d.school. Before academia, she worked at IDEO CoLab and Accenture, bringing together strategy, design, and human-centered innovation.
In her recent book Innovation-ish, Tessa distills her experience and insights into a practical guide for tackling challenges and sparking creative solutions across both personal and professional contexts.
Here are some takeaways from the conversation:
🌀 Get Comfortable with Ambiguity — Tessa’s #1 skill for kids and adults: learn to sit with the unknown and move anyway.
🧪 Innovation Is Everywhere (Not Just Gadgets) — From a child’s DIY monster-detector to a philanthropy’s NLP-powered outreach, process innovation can be just as world-changing as products.
🧭 Mindset · Moves · Metacognition — Tessa’s innovation stack: adopt the right mindset, use small repeatable moves, and steer with metacognition (your inner compass when there’s no map).
🤖 AI: Starter, Not Substitute — Great for jump-starting ideas and surfacing options; risky if it replaces productive struggle, deep schemas, or your own judgment.
🎓 Explore Before Explain — Tessa teaches creativity by letting learners do first, then naming the patterns—so ambiguity becomes a practice ground, not a panic zone.
❤️ Design School Around Love of Learning — If we nurture curiosity and resilience, the rest follows.
Find more about Tessa and her work:
* LinkedIn
* ”Innovation-ish” book
* “Innovation-ish” website
* Next Level Lab @Harvard
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit widewalls.substack.com
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In this episode, I discuss with the fantastic Dr. Tessa Forshaw, a cognitive scientist, educator, and innovation leader researching and shaping how we learn and work in an age of rapid change. Tessa is the co-founder and research lead at Harvard’s Next Level Lab, where she explores learning transfer, creative cognition, and how humans and AI can work together. She also teaches design thinking and creativity at Harvard and previously served on the faculty at Stanford’s d.school. Before academia, she worked at IDEO CoLab and Accenture, bringing together strategy, design, and human-centered innovation. In her recent book Innovation-ish, Tessa distills her experience and insights into a practical guide for tackling challenges and sparking creative solutions across both personal and professional contexts. Here are some takeaways from the conversation: 🌀 Get Comfortable with Ambiguity — Tessa’s #1 skill for kids and adults: learn to sit with the unknown and move anyway. 🧪 Innovation Is Everywhere (Not Just Gadgets) — From a child’s DIY monster-detector to a philanthropy’s NLP-powered outreach, process innovation can be just as world-changing as products. 🧭 Mindset · Moves · Metacognition — Tessa’s innovation stack: adopt the right mindset, use small repeatable moves, and steer with metacognition (your inner compass when there’s no map). 🤖 AI: Starter, Not Substitute — Great for jump-starting ideas and surfacing options; risky if it replaces productive struggle, deep schemas, or your own judgment. 🎓 Explore Before Explain — Tessa teaches creativity by letting learners do first, then naming the patterns—so ambiguity becomes a practice ground, not a panic zone. ❤️ Design School Around Love of Learning — If we nurture curiosity and resilience, the rest follows. Find more about Tessa and her work: * LinkedIn * ”Innovation-ish” book * “Innovation-ish” website * Next Level Lab @Harvard This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit widewalls.substack.com