Asking the Right Questions: Life, Hope and Moving Forward During the Pandemic
Summary
Details to come.
Key Insights
-
•
Starting meetings or classes with a simple warm-up increases attentiveness and presence.
-
•
Remote teaching often results in students keeping cameras off, impacting engagement, but this can be navigated with inclusive strategies.
-
•
Peloton taught the speaker practical leadership lessons including compassion, collaboration, and community support.
-
•
Consistency is critical in leadership and personal growth, exemplified by the speaker's 73-week exercise streak.
-
•
Inclusive leadership requires acknowledging where people are physically and emotionally, offering alternatives accordingly.
-
•
Organizations must consistently provide education and enforce policies addressing discrimination, considering intersectional identities.
-
•
Leadership must listen actively and avoid placing the burden of diversity work solely on marginalized groups.
-
•
Recognizing external stressors such as global events is essential to empathetic leadership and inclusive workplaces.
-
•
Language matters; everyday expressions can unintentionally exclude or offend marginalized communities.
-
•
Inclusion and accessibility should be embedded into every designer's responsibilities, not isolated to specialists.
Notable Quotes
"I had you all do a warm-up before we started to help everyone be present and calm."
"Sometimes working with a bunch of boxes and letters on Zoom was the reality of remote classes."
"Be compassionate with yourself and others. Not everyone likes high fives, and that's okay."
"Collaboration is key. I'm never alone in a Peloton class, even at 4:30 in the morning."
"Consistency is key. I'm on a 73-week streak right now, and that's pretty badass."
"Identity is not monolithic; policies should address layered experiences."
"It is not the responsibility of marginalized groups to do all the educating about their experiences."
"Listen is a skill that is not emphasized enough in leadership."
"Watch your language; terms like 'that's so lame' can be exclusionary or offensive."
"Inclusion and accessibility need to be part of every designer's role, even if today it is one person's job."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Understaffing is consistent in design ops no matter where in the world you are."
Benjamin RealMaturity Models: A Core Tool for Creating a DesignOps Strategy
October 1, 2021
"It's cognitively easier to evaluate the work somebody else did than to do it yourself. That's why LLMs can evaluate LLMs."
Peter Van DijckBuilding new AI skills: Creating outsized UX value with evals
June 10, 2026
"Low-threshold peer designing exponentially develops confidence very quickly."
Niko LaitinenAdaptable Org Design for Resilient Times
June 10, 2021
"No s**t designers burnout more than any other function."
Peter MerholzThe 2025 State of UX/Design Organizational Health
November 12, 2025
"When things get more complicated than expected, we re-negotiate scope or assign a full designer to keep quality."
Nora Tejeda Giovanna AlonsoScaling Design Capabilities at BBVA Through a Self-service Design Model
June 10, 2021
"Disconnection is the breeding ground for conflict."
Alla WeinbergCross-Functional Relationship Design
December 6, 2022
"Technology affects cities directly and profoundly, shaping how we live, work, and play."
Dan HillDesigning for the infrastructures of everyday life
June 4, 2024
"A design program manager needs to understand at least what interaction, visual, and motion design mean—much like TPMs know engineering."
Panel Discussion: Communicating the Value of DesignOps
November 7, 2018
"The future of civic design will be localized, designed for and by communities rather than dictated top-down."
Bria Alexander Ariel Kennan Charlotte Lee Sarah Brooks Emily Lessard Gordon Ross Joanne DongReflect and Chart Forward
December 10, 2021
