Event Date: 04/20/2026

Designing a Meaningful Life: Navigating Work, Purpose & the Next Chapter

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Location: Virtual Event
Date: April 20, 2026
Time: 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. CT
8a PT | 9a MT | 11a ET

What if the same principles used to design innovative products could be applied to the way we live?

Join Cresset Founder and Co-Chairman Eric Becker for a conversation with Bill Burnett and Dave Evans, New York Times bestselling authors and co-founders of the Stanford Life Design Lab. Together, they explore how design thinking can serve as a powerful framework for navigating life’s most important questions.

For decades, Bill and Dave have helped individuals and organizations approach work, relationships, and personal growth with greater creativity and clarity. Their Designing Your Life methodology invites a shift away from linear planning toward a more dynamic process rooted in curiosity, experimentation, and reflection.

Together, we’ll explore the ideas and practices that shape a more intentional life, including:

  • Reframing uncertainty as an opportunity for exploration and growth
  • Approaching decisions through small experiments rather than fixed outcomes
  • Redefining failure as a tool for learning and forward momentum
  • Building daily habits that foster engagement, energy, and a sense of meaning

Whether you are exploring a new chapter or refining an existing path, this session offers a grounded, human approach to shaping a life that feels both meaningful and well-lived.


Secure your complimentary copy of Designing Your Life here.

About Bill Burnett

Bill Burnett is an Adjunct Professor and the Executive Director of the Life Design Lab at Stanford. He received his Bachelors of Science and Masters of Science in Product Design at Stanford and has worked in start-ups and Fortune 100 companies, including seven years at Apple designing award-winning laptops and a number of years in the toy industry designing Star Wars action toys. He holds a number of mechanical and design patents and design awards, and, in addition to his duties at Stanford, he advises several of his students’ startup companies. 45 years, five companies, and a couple of thousand students later Bill is still drawing and building things, teaching others how to do the same, and quietly enjoying the fact that no one has discovered that he is having too much fun.

About Dave Evans

Dave Evans is a lecturer in the Product Design Program at Stanford. He holds a BS and MS in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford and a graduate diploma in Contemplative Spirituality from San Francisco Theological Seminary. While at Apple, he led product marketing for the mouse team and introduced laser printing to the masses. Having participated in forming the corporate cultures at Apple and EA, Dave decided his best work was in helping organizations build creative environments where people could do great work and love doing it. Helping people get traction on the question “What should I do with my life?” finally took Dave to Cal and Stanford and continues to be his life’s work. 

*Third-party prepared biographies are provided for informational purposes only; Cresset does not validate their accuracy or completeness.

Featuring

Bill Burnett

Bill Burnett

Co-Founder & Executive Director, The Stanford Life Design Lab
Dave Evans

Dave Evans

Co-Founder, The Stanford Life Design Lab

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