Embodying Strategic Design Leadership

Leading design sprints with a diverse team, where cross-disciplinary collaboration sparks innovative solutions.

Elevating Design Leadership

As the Senior Director of Product Design at Conviva, I believe that design leaders play a crucial role in driving innovation, fostering collaboration, and ensuring customer-centric solutions. In today's dynamic business environment, it is imperative that design leaders embody a set of strategic behaviors and mindsets to lead their organizations toward sustainable growth and innovation. This philosophy is not just an ideal I advocate for—it's one I actively practice every day in my role.

Qualities of Strategic Design Leaders

Embracing Business as a Language

I believe that as a design leader, I should not only excel in design but also understand and speak the language of business. This dual fluency enhances my ability to resonate with broader audiences and positions me as an equal among my business stakeholders. By bridging the gap between design and business, I can ensure that design solutions are not only high quality but also strategically sound.

Acting as Strategic Unifiers

I believe in the importance of uniting senior leadership around a common purpose. As a strategic unifier, I strive to design optimal organizational structures, conditions, and processes that align with the company's mission and objectives. By doing so, I can influence cultural cohesion and ensure that design initiatives are fully integrated into our overall business strategy, fostering a unified approach that benefits the entire company.

Building Broad Support for Design

I actively build support for design across the organization. By fostering allies and advocates at the executive level, I integrate design processes into core business areas. This broad support ensures that design significantly contributes to achieving our overall business objectives and enhances the role of design within the organization.

Creating Organizational Leverage Through Design

I leverage the unique strengths of the design function to convert underutilized assets and processes into high-value components. By enhancing organizational cohesion and scalability, I drive significant impact on both top and bottom-line growth. I ensure that design acts as a force multiplier within the organization, maximizing our resources and driving innovation.

Increasing Design Leadership Relevance in Strategy

I believe that design leaders must evolve from focusing solely on design to encompassing broader business and corporate strategy. Whenever possible, I take direct ownership of business outcomes and develop the necessary acumen to become a critical partner in the organization. This evolution enhances my relevance and influence within the company's strategic decision-making process, positioning design as a key driver of our business success.

Mindsets of Strategic Design Executives

Design Intrapreneur

I embody the Design Intrapreneur mindset by proactively driving innovation. I identify and synthesize disparate opportunities into cohesive prototypes and artifacts that accelerate decision-making. I ensure that innovative ideas are quickly brought to life and effectively leveraged, always rooted in a human experience. My proactive approach to intrapreneurship instills customer-centricity and navigates business roadblocks to strip away unnecessary processes.

Design Visionary

As a Design Visionary, I serve as a catalyst for change, driving the organization forward by reframing assumptions with purposeful questions. I employ storytelling, rapid ideation, and visualization to align stakeholders and achieve strategic objectives. My visionary thinking enables us to distinguish signal from noise and maintain a forward-looking trajectory that drives sustained excellence and competitiveness.

Strategic Unifier

I embody the Strategic Unifier mindset by collaborating with other leaders to craft intentional structures, frameworks, and processes that ensure stakeholders are fully aligned with a synthesized approach. I prioritize customer impact and cut through operational bloat, driving cultural cohesion and momentum toward our strategic objectives.