What is the Expedition: An Audio Conversation

Written By Carla Silver

Estimated Listening Time: 30 minutes

The L+D Expedition launched this fall with 18 independent schools embarking on a six-month professional learning journey grounded in design thinking. Each team selected a meaningful challenge in their school community and is using human-centered design to make real progress. Throughout the Expedition, teams engage with our design thinking course, receive school-based coaching, participate in live learning sessions with nationally recognized designers and the L+D facilitation team, and complete milestone deliverables that document their process and make them eligible for cash prizes.

In the conversation linked below, Tara Curry-Jahn and Isaiah Noriega reflect on the design principles that shaped the Expedition and share early insights emerging from the first months of implementation. We’re excited to offer a window into our thinking and to spotlight what we’re learning alongside these remarkable teams. We’ll continue sharing updates on their progress and will announce the finalists in late January 2026. Finalist teams will present at our L+D reception at the NAIS Annual Conference on February 26, 2026. The facilitator team from L+D for the Expedition is Tara Curry-Jahn, Carla Silver, Isaiah Noreiga and Joe Romano.

Carla Silver

(@Carla_R_Silver) is the executive director and co-founder of Leadership + Design. Carla partners with schools on strategic design and enhancing the work of leadership teams and boards, and she designs experiential learning experiences for leaders in schools at all points in their careers. She also leads workshops for faculty, administrative teams and boards on Design Thinking, Futurist Thinking, Collaboration and Group Life, and Leadership Development. She is an amateur graphic recorder - a skill she continues to hone. She currently serves on the board of the Urban School of San Francisco. She lives in Los Gatos, CA with her husband, three children, and two King Charles Cavaliers. Carla spends her free time running, listening to podcasts, watching comedy, and preparing meals  - while desperately dreaming someone else would do the cooking (preferably Greg Bamford).

https://www.leadershipanddesign.org
Previous

The Shape of A School Day: A Design Problem in Plain Sight
Next

A New Generation of Growth and Evaluation Part III