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
"Nobody wants to be told to do your thing unless it’s clear that it helps their thing. It’s just human nature."
Maria GiudiceBecoming a Changemaker by Leading with Design
March 29, 2023
"Trust is something to build and maintain, not a box to check or a one-time achievement."
Dem Gerolemou Alexis Oh Neef RehmanClimate technology fundamentals
May 15, 2024
"No assistive technology user uses default settings; we spend years customizing everything to work for us."
Sam ProulxSUS: A System Unusable for Twenty Percent of the Population
December 9, 2021
"We model context of use as knowledge graphs with tasks, sub-task goals, task objects—all linked in relations."
Joerg Beringer Thomas GeisScaling User Research with AI: Continuous Discovery of User Needs in Minutes
June 10, 2025
"Everyone is looking for ways to build better products and go faster, breaking down silos between business and IT."
Jackie HoLead Effectively While Preserving Team Autonomy with Growth Boards
January 8, 2024
"Documentation is important for liability and useful for patient handoffs, so notes must be concise yet detailed."
Jennifer KongJourneying toward AI-assisted documentation in healthcare
June 5, 2024
"The job market is flooded with overqualified candidates competing for fewer roles, often below their experience level."
Corey LongHiring in DesignOps: A Critical Study on How to Hire and Get Hired
September 23, 2024
"Having empathy hours where different people across the org listen to user insights helps build better understanding and skills."
Lija HoganDoing more with more: Lessons from the Front Lines of Democratization
March 9, 2022
"Measurement is hard; pick culturally resonant metrics and pilot them before scaling broadly."
Catherine CourageThe Enterprise UX Journey: Lessons From the Voyage & The Opportunity Ahead
May 13, 2015
