Airbnb Design—Talks No. 10

When it comes to moments of uncertainty and chaos, the stakes don’t get much higher than crisis negotiation. From suicide prevention to hostage negotiation, Officer Rudy Granados’s upbringing and experience make him distinctly qualified for the tasks at hand. Originally from the Bay Area, Rudy grew up in challenging circumstances. His earliest encounters with police officers were negative ones—he has multiple experiences of being racially profiled.

Before becoming a negotiator, Rudy worked as a martial arts and weaponless defense coach—specializing in self-defense for women and children. He prides himself on increasing people’s situational awareness so they may proactively respond to chaos, and building relationships with people of all walks of life.

But he’s well aware of the stigma that comes with being an officer, too. On first impressions Rudy said, “The first thing people see is the uniform, so they start to make assumptions.” And those assumptions—putting all officers in the same category—are something he himself had to work to get past, for himself and with others.

Season two of Airbnb Design—Talks, “When Chaos Is Your Creative Director”, will kick off with a conversation between Officer Rudy Granados and Airbnb Design Lead Benjamin Evans. Together, they’ll dive deep into Rudy’s life and work experiences, discuss his process for taming the chaos within others, and consider how both creativity and collaboration are methods of negotiation.