IDEO, the design consultancy credited with popularizing the concept of “design thinking,” has named Mike Peng, a former partner, as its next chief executive officer. Peng will return to IDEO to assume his new role in June, following a five-year stint as chief creative officer at Moon Creative Lab, a venture studio affiliated with Japanese trading and investment company Mitsui & Co.
Peng succeeds Derek Robson, a veteran marketing executive who has served as IDEO’s CEO since 2023. Robson will move to a group-level role at Kyu Collective, a network of creative services firms that includes IDEO and is owned by Hakuhodo DY Holdings, Japan’s second-largest advertising group.
Peng’s appointment comes at a critical juncture for IDEO. The San Francisco–based firm’s history is tied to the pioneering use of “human-centric” design techniques to fashion iconic products like Apple’s first mouse, the GRiD Compass (the world’s first laptop computer), the Palm V personal digital assistant, and Procter & Gamble’s stand-up toothpaste tubes.
But the company faces new pressure from clients demanding faster, tech-enabled solutions, and from rivals, including consulting giants and in-house corporate design teams. Meanwhile, the breakneck pace of advances in artificial intelligence has created severe challenges for providers of design and creative services by automating tasks once considered the domain of expert designers.
IDEO, like many other design firms, underwent significant restructuring in the wake of the COVID pandemic. In 2023, the firm announced two rounds of layoffs that together reduced the company’s global workforce by about a third, to fewer than 400 people, down from a total headcount of about 725 in 2020, and closed its Munich and Tokyo offices. IDEO declined comment about current headcount or revenue.
Peng’s challenge will be to demonstrate that IDEO can help clients cope with geopolitical as well as technological upheaval. In an interview, he argued that IDEO’s core capabilities—including empathy, cross-cultural awareness, and a democratic approach to problem-solving—are ideally suited to helping clients build resilience in an age of uncertainty. “I feel like the world needs IDEO more than ever right now,” he said.
Peng brings an unconventional mix of skills and experiences to his new role. He earned an undergraduate degree in neuroscience at the University of California, Berkeley, and spent 10 of his 14 years at IDEO in Japan, where he helped launch the firm’s Tokyo office, and cofounded D4V, a venture capital firm for early-stage startups.
