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
"It helps if contributing to design ops initiatives is part of people's performance reviews or career ladder criteria."
Peter BoersmaHow to Define and Maintain a DesignOps Roadmap
October 3, 2023
"Map tours are my favorite thing—taking a new hire on a guided walk of the entire community."
Saara Kamppari-MillerCartography for Design Communities
September 10, 2025
"It’s more dangerous to do nothing than to do something that’s not super perfect to start."
Bob Baxley Sara Asche Anderson Sharon Bautista Frank Duran Jamie Kaspszak Abbey Smalley Sylas SouzaTheme 4: Discussion
January 8, 2024
"The best way is to distribute the accessibility work so it becomes light work for everyone."
Sam ProulxAccessibility: An Opportunity to Innovate
March 9, 2022
"Conflict actually strengthens relationships if we choose to engage with it."
Laura WeissTurn Down the Heat: 3 Ways to Handle Conflict in the Moment
November 20, 2024
"When I started out, I knew nothing about digital sustainability."
Nick LewisDesigning and building low-carbon websites independently
November 18, 2025
"Algorithms help us find what we want quickly, but when used in criminal sentencing or healthcare, they can produce unfair and biased results."
Mandy DrewWhat Role(s) Can Research Play in Responsible Design?
March 11, 2021
"We didn’t want to develop yet another model but rather a customizable approach to support diverse clients with innovation portfolio management."
Milan Guenther Benjamin KumpfThe $212 billion ‘so what?’: unlocking impact in development cooperation
November 20, 2025
"When someone stops learning, they get bored and look for something new — continuous learning is essential for retention."
Nicole UmphressDelivering Design Education During a Global Pandemic: Lessons Learned
June 9, 2022
Latest Books All books
Dig deeper with the Rosenbot
How can user personas and scenarios be used to humanize technical discussions and maintain focus?
How do AI tools help prevent common research question biases like leading or double-barreled questions?
How do newer generations of law students view the incorporation of UX principles into legal education?