Becoming a Changemaker by Leading with Design
Summary
Design and research-driven leaders have evolved from being responsible for executing design concepts to having a crucial role in driving change across organizations. This is welcome progress, but with greater responsibility comes new challenges, especially when it comes to championing change in organizations likely to resist it. As design and research-driven changemakers have risen in the ranks of business, they’ve “learned on the job,” experiencing both setbacks and victories. We captured many of these learnings by interviewing over 40 design leaders and incorporating their shared wisdom in our book, Changemakers: How Leaders Can Design Change in an Insanely Complex World. Whether these leaders worked at IBM and Google, a US government agency, or a small consulting firm, their insights and observations are applicable to all and well-worth considering. This presentation will offer an overview of what we learned. It will cover the top mistakes changemakers make as they navigate the messy processes and people issues involved in driving any type of change. You'll learn how to determine the ground conditions needed for success, how to find and align supporters, how to minimize detractors, and how to repurpose design tools, frameworks, and techniques to your advantage. Maria Giudice is the co-author of Changemakers: How Leaders Can Design Change in an Insanely Complex World.
Key Insights
-
•
The role of design leaders has evolved from product delivery to shaping organizational culture at scale.
-
•
Changemakers must assess 'ground conditions' like executive support and resources before accepting leadership roles.
-
•
Rushing into change without understanding the organization's history and culture ('coming in too hot') often generates resistance.
-
•
Building a shared vision requires inclusive collaboration where all stakeholders feel heard and represented.
-
•
Prioritization and focus on a few small wins prevent burnout and enable sustainable change.
-
•
Tools like the impact matrix help teams evaluate effort versus impact to choose projects wisely.
-
•
Vision without execution is futile; delivering tangible outcomes with prototyping and milestones is essential.
-
•
Failure is inevitable in change leadership; embracing mistakes with courage leads to growth and innovation.
-
•
Visual communication techniques enhance stakeholder understanding and trust during complex change efforts.
-
•
Changemakers don’t necessarily need formal design training but must adopt design as a mindset and problem-solving strategy.
Notable Quotes
"The best future leaders will embody the qualities and traits of a DEO — design executive officer — creative business leaders at the intersection of design and business."
"Change is fundamentally a design problem and therefore change can be designed."
"Before you accept a mission as a changemaker, ask yourself do you have a clear directive, champion support, and the right resources?"
"Coming in too hot means running into a burning building like a firefighter, ignoring past work, and rushing without listening."
"Nobody wants to be told to do your thing unless it’s clear that it helps their thing. It’s just human nature."
"Don’t boil the ocean. Get small wins before you go for the big change."
"You need maniacal focus to prioritize, but remain flexible as priorities will always change."
"Vision without execution is hallucination. You must make outcomes tangible and measurable."
"Failure sucks and hurts, but if you haven’t failed, you haven’t taken enough risks."
"When you hit the bottom, that’s where creativity flourishes and it’s time to iterate, evolve, and redesign."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"One in three designers on our team is from another country — diversity improves relevance for our global users."
Meredith BlackScaling Design Culture
November 6, 2017
"If you don’t have a state ID, many social services become inaccessible, showing how resource barriers matter."
Alba VillamilStereotyped by Design: Pitfalls in Cross-Cultural User Research
March 30, 2020
"If you don’t need a designer to create designs, what happens to designers?"
Llewyn PaineDay 1 Using AI in UX with Impact
June 10, 2025
"We need to turn our skills toward observing the culture of the companies we’re in."
Christopher GeisonTheme 1 Intro
March 25, 2024
"We come to these spaces not to escape but to partake of them."
Sha HwangThe First Fifty Years of Civic Design
November 16, 2022
"Being a product boss isn’t about the tools you use. It’s all about the people and relationships behind those people."
Wendy JohanssonBe a Product Boss!
December 6, 2022
"The car is probably one of the most negative technologies we’ve introduced at scale."
Dan HillDesigning for the infrastructures of everyday life
June 4, 2024
"Tracking the results of design ops initiatives allows you to tell data-informed stories, putting you on the same level as other leaders who speak data."
Jules MonzaUse These Words and Count These Things
September 25, 2024
"Every small initiative can lead to significant change when multiplied across communities."
Ash BrownSilver Linings: What DesignOps Learned in the Shift to WFH
October 23, 2020
