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
"Designers are uniquely entitled to critique—it’s a privilege to rigorously improve craft while others might envy that process."
Joseph MeersmanSweating the Pixel: Scaling Quality through Critique
June 10, 2021
"Once you meet your basic needs, Maslow says you can transcend yourself and connect with something bigger."
Daniel GloydDesigning Warmth
February 26, 2025
"Turning the research lens on both the ‘in here’ organization and the ‘out there’ customer reality helps reveal misalignments and opportunities."
Robin BeersResearch as a Catalyst for Organizational Transformation
March 12, 2021
"An effective design organization treats operations as seriously as the work products."
Kristin SkinnerOpening Keynote: Org Design for Design Orgs
November 6, 2017
"One-pagers are a lightweight, skimmable way for anyone in the company to quickly understand what’s been learned from research."
Molly FargotsteinMultipurpose Communication & UX Research Marketing
September 12, 2019
"Sephora failed in South Korea because their bold makeup focus did not align with the local preference for soft, natural looks and skincare prioritization."
Chui Chui TanGlobal insights: Embracing international and intercultural research for innovation
March 12, 2025
"AI moderation, in short, is a large language model that runs a moderated interview session without a human researcher present."
Tara TresselInvestigating qualitative depth of AI-moderated interviews
March 10, 2026
"The behaviors act as a gauge, not a scorecard, to see who is struggling and who is thriving."
Johnny MichaelsenMeasure Behaviors, Not Results
April 23, 2026
"AI tools are incentivized to produce final deliverables, but that’s an output, not the essence of research."
Laura KleinHuman vs. machine: Testing AI’s ability to synthesize and analyze research
March 11, 2026
