This video is featured in the PDI 2026 playlist.
Summary
Making yourself heard and influencing others is not just about how you deliver a message or its content; it’s about claiming your personal power and taking up space in the world. We will explore practical tools and techniques to help attendees embrace their unique voice and narrative, while sharing strategies to build the confidence and self-worth needed to elevate their presence and impact.
Key Insights
-
•
Soft power in UX and product roles comes from framing agendas, building relationships, and influencing decisions rather than formal authority.
-
•
Identity tied too narrowly to research or design roles can limit opportunities; focusing on value and outcomes broadens impact.
-
•
Craft is table stakes; domain expertise and business alignment are the real levers of influence and power.
-
•
Jess’s partner Dana encouraged her to change how she moved, leading to a major career shift and founding an AI enterprise platform.
-
•
Stakeholders often misinterpret roles and underestimate contributions until someone clearly communicates their value.
-
•
Product management is splitting between delivery and discovery; PMs face a skills mismatch as AI changes expectations.
-
•
Collapsing talent stacks creates competitive advantage by reducing friction and increasing role overlap among team members.
-
•
Building strong partnerships and understanding executive decision rhythms significantly increase trust and influence.
-
•
Navigating organizational politics, including conflict and territorial behaviors, is a key part of gaining power.
-
•
Practicing curiosity, storytelling, visibility, and relationship-building are critical growth areas beyond technical craft for UX professionals.
Notable Quotes
"Power is a weird word. It's hard to relate to, and we aren't usually put in that position in our work."
"If I had waited for someone else to give me permission, I'd still be waiting. We'd all be waiting."
"People make assumptions about what we can achieve through no fault of our own."
"Craft isn't gonna help you feel more fulfilled, influential or powerful. It cannot meet that need."
"Your partners need to trust that you are going to make their goals your goals."
"Don't think constraints are real. Executives see them as excuses for not delivering."
"Vibe coding, the blurring of roles, creates a competitive advantage because there is less complex communication."
"Everyone wants to have an impact on the decisions being made no matter what the role is called."
"Aim for a two for one: how can you make your goals and the goals of others align?"
"The more generous you are, the more those around you shine and everyone benefits."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Multilingual embedding models can cluster similar meanings across languages in a shared latent space."
Ian JohnsonLatent Scope: Finding structure in unstructured data
June 11, 2025
"It is very easy to tick all the accessibility checkboxes and still have a poor, ugly, and unhelpful product."
Sam ProulxAccessibility: An Opportunity to Innovate
September 8, 2022
"Feature bloat kills usability because it clouds the core value proposition."
Prayag Narula Hannah HudsonEmpowering Designers to do Good Research
March 11, 2022
"If you need to cross a dangerous river, you don’t paddle straight into it; you use the opposing force of the river to move forward."
John CutlerOxbows, Rivers, and Estuaries: How to navigate the currents of change (without burning out)
December 3, 2024
"Requesting glossy portfolios up front risks excluding candidates with strong problem-solving skills who may not have had opportunities to showcase visual design."
Anna Avrekh Amy Jiménez Márquez Morgan C. Ramsey Catarina TsangDiversity In and For Design: Building Conscious Diversity in Design and Research
June 9, 2021
"Stop just throwing AI at the end of the process; integrate it strategically across the whole product and content lifecycle."
Noz UrbinaRapid AI-powered UX (RAUX): A framework for empowering human designers
May 1, 2025
"Abductive thinking, or what if thinking, is a core capability designers bring to defining what to build and why."
Greg PetroffEverything is About to Change: Software as Material
June 8, 2016
"Service design is product strategy."
Andy Polaine Lavrans LøvlieWhat is the role of service design in product-led organizations?
December 3, 2024
"Without data, we are just a person with an opinion — you can’t measure performance or impact without data."
Patrizia BertiniDesignOps + KPIs = Measure your Impact!
January 8, 2024
Latest Books All books
Dig deeper with the Rosenbot
What are de-risking sessions in service design and how do they help prepare stakeholders for co-creation?
What principles from multiplayer game communities can be used to foster positive social interactions in products?
Why is it important to consider disability as a dynamic state in inclusive design?