Paul Girgis
Innovation Strategist at Relish Works in Chicago, IL
What are you really good at?
Non-slimy, genuine networking. I love connecting the dots between different humans, companies, or opportunities across all the people I know and places I’ve visited. For example, at a conference I met an older Turkish entrepreneur who builds businesses in the Middle East, but attended high school in Atlanta. I got curious, texted a close friend, asked a couple questions, and made the connection that he went to the same high school as that close friend (“Go Knights!”). Small world.
What kind of conversation would you be excited to have?
Career pivots, deciding what to do out of college, anything related to design strategy, human-centered design, or corporate innovation
What’s one interesting & human fact about you?
Sometimes I feel the most alive and free when I’m riding a bike through the woods or running along a trail.
What are you working on next? Do you have an “ask” around that?
I’m working on crafting some homemade dinner meals that are entirely inspired by different members of my family. For my dad, it’s a sauce of eggplant, tomatoes and poblano peppers with lamb over pasta, served with a Malbec. It represents his Egyptian roots and his academic tenure in South America.
I’m also working on writing about the intersections of design strategy, corporate innovation, and behavioral economics. If you’d want to write/collaborate over that, I’d be interested.