Magic in the Room #74: Using Sensory Informed Design to Shape Experiences with John Stewart

November 1, 2021

We can use sight, taste, smell, hearing, and touch to shape people’s experiences.

 Anything we experience is shaped by all of our senses and perceptions. Leaders trying to create high-quality experiences for their team and customers have to pay attention to how things look, feel, taste, sound, and smell. These are details that make a big difference! In this episode of Magic in the Room, Luke, Chris, and guest John Stewart discuss how leaders can apply the concepts of Sensory Informed Design. 
About John Stewart, President, Encompass Develop, Design & Construct, LLC
John has a lot of titles – company owner, registered architect, licensed contractor, recognized authority in the gaming and hospitality industry. But the title he prefers is “partner.” That’s how he built a $100+ million company that is the choice of major companies such as Yum! Brands, Ford Motor Company, Churchill Downs, Pinnacle, and Brown-Forman. John’s nearly three decades of work experience runs the gamut from gaming and hospitality to religion and retail.
He has built churches, casinos and corporate headquarters, but his greatest skill is building teams of dedicated, talented professionals. He’s a servant leader who devotes time to his family, community, and church, volunteering as a teacher for 3rd and 4th graders, a marriage mentor and an educator on Business and Work as a tool for missions.
Find Encompass at encompass-ddc.com

Get a free Magic in the Room hat by posting a review and sending a screenshot to: info@purposeandperformancegroup.com

By Sarah Whitfield May 5, 2026
In this episode of Magic in the Room, Luke and Hannah explore the concept of polarities. Tensions like purpose and performance, stability and change, or accountability and grace that are often mistaken for problems to solve rather than dynamics to manage. Drawing on insights from Barry Johnson’s work, they explain how these opposing forces are interdependent and must be balanced over time to achieve sustained success. Through practical examples and personal reflections, they show how over-relying on one side of a polarity leads to predictable “shadow sides” such as stagnation, chaos, inefficiency, or burnout, while effective leadership requires recognizing where you are on the cycle and intentionally recalibrating. The episode emphasizes that many recurring organizational frustrations are not failures, but signals of imbalance, and offers a more nuanced approach to leadership. One that replaces rigid either/or thinking with flexible both/and awareness to improve decision-making, team dynamics, and long-term performance.
By Sarah Whitfield April 7, 2026
In this episode of Magic in the Room, Luke Freeman, Hannah Bratterud, and Chris Province dive into the concept of “mattering,” inspired by Zach Mercurio’s work, and explore why it is a foundational driver of engagement, performance, and culture in organizations. They challenge leaders to move beyond assuming people matter to actively ensuring individuals feel that they matter by being valued and by contributing value to a shared purpose. The conversation highlights how mattering differs from belonging, why it cannot be replaced by perks or efficiency, and how leadership behaviors like attention, recognition, and presence directly shape whether people feel seen, heard, and understood. Through examples ranging from workplace dynamics to broader societal trends like social disconnection, they argue that disengagement, conflict, and even poor performance are symptoms of a mattering deficit. Ultimately, they position mattering not as a soft concept, but as a measurable, actionable leadership responsibility that underpins trust, resilience, and long-term success.
Show More