Meet Joshua René | Founder of The Spill Teem, Behavior Strategist, and Lover of people’s potential

We had the good fortune of connecting with Joshua René and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Joshua, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I’ve been in Human services my entire career and saw so many systems, processes, strategies, businesses, and brands built and designed in ways that served self first yet desired outcomes and successes as if they didn’t. This illuminated a huge dissonance, between what one does and what one says it does.

I knew I needed to do something about it, so I dove headfirst into the world of Design Thinking, where I thought I found “my people.” I quickly learned that Design Thinking was merely a set of tools and didn’t really serve the deep needs of people. It just supplied a creative and alternative way to get the job done differently but not actually be different. Being different would be sustainable, forever innovative, and a game changer for organizations and everyone inside and outside of them.

In order to truly help an organization to be different, we’d have to truly serve the people in it. People are complicated; people are diverse, people have different values and lived experiences, and people are human. So, to truly help organizations innovate and get unstuck, they needed true strategic support to navigate, inspire, and move people to think and work differently. That’s where The Spill Teem comes in, introducing Human-Centered Design while, at the time, the world was saying the answer was Design Thinking.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
What sets The Spill Teem apart is the amazing clients who vulnerably allow us to partner with them. They’re the real difference makers by choosing to solve challenges and problems in different ways. They’re brave because Human-Centered Design not only works on the challenge they’re solving but simultaneously works ON them; not every organization is built to solve external and internal problems at the same time.

This way of thinking and working positions organizations to solve real complex challenges by first asking, “What’s the Human need behind it?” And that hasn’t been easy, as everyone likes change, but not everyone likes to change. The world of work is prone to solving processes first and people second. We’ve been able to challenge this but, more importantly, come alongside some of the most powerful SMEs, nonprofit organizations, higher education institutions, government agencies, and creative brands to keep people at the center of problem-solving. Creating real clarity around what we call “The Behavioral Bottom Line” has proven that behavior impacts revenue, efficiency, and organizational or company awareness.

We’re who organizations bring in when they know what to do, understand that doing it creates tremendous value, and yet still can’t do it. This is why Human-Centered Design lives heavily in the space of people strategy and the psychological components of behavior change. With jokes and witty remarks aside, we want the world to know that change is truly hard. You’re not alone, but remaining stuck should never be an option, and I’d love for you to entertain the thought that what if the external result you want is a result of the internal work you need?

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
We’d start at my house and may never leave. We would enjoy a delicious meal, craft cocktails, and a diversely wild vinyl collection surrounded by inspiring electric decor, then travel to the backyard for an amazing conversation by the fire pit – not to brag, but I’ve designed my home in such a way that I’d never want to leave or escape from. The world’s busy and complicated enough, and I think we all deserve a place of refueling that we can call home.

BUT, if we must leave, there’s an amazing and wonderfully authentic Ethiopian cafe down the street that I call my second home in Richmond VA. From Belmont Pizza, to JewFro! Richmond’s food scene is unmatched – everywhere we would venture, I’m sure we’d have food in hand.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
When I was 19, I encountered a supervisor who changed my life and helped me see not only the world of work but also myself differently. Her investment in me, personally and professionally, would go on to be the foundation that shaped the trajectory of my career; proving that deliberate, intentional, and strategic support produces better organizational impact by way of the development of its people. What also can’t be ignored is that I am a Puerto Rican male from Brooklyn, New York, raised in a broken home, and the impact here was made by a southern blonde-haired white woman. Someone who looked nothing like me in gender and race or could relate to my lived experience CHOSE to invest her time and who she was to create a pathway for me to see the world for nothing but opportunity.

I need to add that to this day, she’s still a phone call or text away; in fact, I texted her while typing this to say, “thank you once again!”

Website: https://www.spillteem.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spillteem/

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/joshuarene