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
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Design leaders must embrace the role of changemaker and influence organizational culture.
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Understanding the ground conditions before leading a change initiative is crucial for success.
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Building a shared vision involves including diverse perspectives and fostering trust.
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Prioritizing tasks is essential to avoid burnout and ensure measurable results.
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Failure is inevitable; embracing it can lead to growth and creativity.
Notable Quotes
"The best future leaders will embody the qualities of a DEO - a design executive officer."
"Change is fundamentally a design problem, and therefore change can be designed."
"Everyone has the capacity to be a changemaker, regardless of where they sit in the hierarchy."
"You need to seriously prioritize and hold your conviction to avoid the tendency to do everything at once."
"What doesn't kill you will only make you stronger."
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