Rosenverse

This video is only accessible to Gold members. Log in or register for a free Gold Trial Account to watch.

Log in Register

Most conference talks are accessible to Gold members, while community videos are generally available to all logged-in members.

Becoming a Changemaker by Leading with Design
Gold
Wednesday, March 29, 2023 • Advancing Research 2023
Share the love for this talk
Becoming a Changemaker by Leading with Design
Speakers: Maria Giudice
Link:

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."

Ask the Rosenbot
Yalenka Mariën
Designing for Digital Inclusion in the Belgian Government
2021 • Civic Design 2021
Gold
Jesse Zolna
Inviting the Whole Org to Come See For Yourself
2020 • Advancing Research 2020
Gold
Rebecca Topps
Planning and conducting remote usability studies for accessibility
2020 • Advancing Research Community
Séamus Byrne
Aligning Teams with Choreography
2024 • Enterprise Experience 2020
Gold
Abby Covert
Panel: Collaboration Tools
2017 • DesignOps Summit 2017
Gold
Megan Blocker
A Selectively Scrappy Approach to ResearchOps
2018 • DesignOps Summit 2018
Gold
Chris Govias
Perspectives on Civic Design
2021 • Civic Design Community
Sara Logel
Your Colleagues are Your Users Too
2023 • Advancing Research 2023
Gold
Alexis Lucio
Scaling Accessibility Through Design Systems
2022 • Design at Scale 2022
Gold
Mansi Gupta
Drawing from Feminist Practice to Make Inclusive Design Operational
2022 • DesignOps Summit 2022
Gold
Alicia D. Johnson
Disasters and the 21st Century
2021 • Civic Design 2021
Gold
Erika Flowers
Introduction to MURAL for UX
2021 • Design at Scale 2021
Gold
Josh Clark
Sentient Scenes and Radically Adaptive Experiences
2025 • Designing with AI 2025
Gold
Susan Weinschenk
Evaluating the Maturity of UX in Your Organization
2020 • Enterprise Community
Husani Oakley
Theme Two Intro
2023 • Enterprise UX 2023
Gold
Amy Brana Stuart
Rest in Peace Fly-in-fly-out Design
2022 • Design at Scale 2022
Gold

More Videos

Jacqui Frey

"Superfluidity means zero viscosity—flowing without loss of kinetic energy, no friction."

Jacqui Frey

Flow and Superfluidity for Design Orgs

November 7, 2018

Kate Towsey

"Every operation is going to have whirlwinds and fires all the time; strategy doesn't end that."

Kate Towsey

Ask Me Anything (AMA) with Kate Towsey

April 2, 2025

Spencer L. A. Stultz

"Aligning with dominant culture is what gets you rewarded, but it alienates anyone who falls into an other bucket."

Spencer L. A. Stultz

Why Social Justice Frameworks are Necessary for Successful DEI/JEDI Initiatives

October 4, 2023

Denise Jacobs

"I appreciate your allyship when I'm in the room, but I appreciate it more when I'm not in the room."

Denise Jacobs Nancy Douyon Renee Reid Lisa Welchman

Interactive Keynote: Social Change by Design

January 8, 2024

Aditi Ruiz

"Empathizing with product managers is a great first step towards turning understanding into bigger influence for product and design."

Aditi Ruiz Christian Crumlish Farid Sabitov

A PM State of Mind: Empathy Mapping Your Product Manager, Pt. 1

December 6, 2022

Mohammad Hossein Jarrahi

"In research, it depends; it’s never yes or no — it really depends on the context and the job."

Mohammad Hossein Jarrahi

Contextuality problem: Exploring the Benefits of Qualitative and Quantitative Research

January 20, 2023

Llewyn Paine

"More than a third of content on social media sites is AI generated, creating a training problem for new AI models."

Llewyn Paine

Coexisting with AI: A practical guide for researchers to navigate tools, ethics, and integration

March 11, 2025

Saara Kamppari-Miller

"This was the first time the director saw the team doing something together."

Saara Kamppari-Miller

"Prototype" vs "Prototype"--Breaking Down and Rebuilding Our Understanding of What We Do

October 24, 2019

Dave Malouf

"Design Ops is going to have to deal with Product Ops, and figuring out that relationship will be a big deal."

Dave Malouf Meredith Black Farid Sabitov

The Past, Present, and Future of DesignOps: a 2-part DesignOps Community Call (Part 1)

February 17, 2022