Rosenverse
Unmasking Design Leadership: Navigating leadership without neglecting ourselves

Log in or create a free Rosenverse account to watch this video.

Log in Create free account

100s of community videos are available to free members. Conference talks are generally available to Gold members.

Unmasking Design Leadership: Navigating leadership without neglecting ourselves

Thursday, October 30, 2025 • Rosenfeld Community
Share the love for this talk
Unmasking Design Leadership: Navigating leadership without neglecting ourselves
Speakers: Jason Mesut , Martina Hodges-Schell and Jose Coronado
Link:

Summary

What kind of leader are you — really? Many of us wrestle with being the right kind of leader — for our teams, our organizations, and for ourselves. Over the years, Martina, Jose, and Jason have explored the many faces and shapes of design leadership: the archetypes, the attitudes, and the patterns of behavior that shape teams — for better or worse. Join us for an interactive Rosenverse session where we’ll unpack what positive design leadership looks like in practice. You’ll get a chance to reflect on your own leadership style (and maybe recognize a few familiar archetypes), share stories with peers, and explore how to find a balance between leading others and staying true to yourself. Come ready to listen, laugh, and maybe even unmask a few of your own leadership habits along the way.

Key Insights

  • Six negative leadership archetypes define damaging patterns that many design leaders unintentionally exhibit.

  • The Directive Disruptor archetype damages culture by ignoring context and imposing a rigid approach.

  • Protective Parent leaders overly shield their team but disempower individual growth.

  • Solo Solver leaders prioritize personal relationships over team advocacy, undermining team culture.

  • Academic Purists adhere rigidly to tested methods, stifling flexibility and innovation in teams.

  • Omni Oppressors attempt to control everything, causing micromanagement and low autonomy.

  • Mask Manipulators use emotional manipulation disguised as care, eroding trust and safety.

  • Leadership Functions tool helps leaders map where they spend time, what they enjoy, and their confidence across eight dimensions.

  • Leadership Dichotomies frames leadership style as spectrums rather than fixed categories, promoting self-awareness and adaptability.

  • Reflection and dialogue about leadership styles can surface mismatched expectations and open opportunities for growth and team empowerment.

Notable Quotes

"When we first thought about this topic, we quickly realized we needed to point the finger at ourselves because we've exhibited some of these behaviors."

"Directive Disruptors plow through organizations without listening, causing alienation and low morale."

"Protective Parent leaders hold the umbrella for the team but limit their growth by taking on too much themselves."

"Solo Solver leaders don’t advocate for their team and delegate culture building to others."

"Academic Purists believe one size fits all, ignoring context and stifling innovation."

"Omni Oppressors try to do everything, resulting in micromanagement and harming organizational culture."

"Mask Manipulators appear caring but use guilt and emotional pressure, killing trust and psychological safety."

"The Leadership Functions chart helps reflect on where you spend time, what you enjoy, and where you feel confident."

"Leadership Dichotomies are not opposites but spectrums where leaders find their dominant position and comfort range."

"Many leaders don’t have time to pause and reflect, but that reflection is critical for understanding the full picture of their leadership."

Ask the Rosenbot
Heidi Trost
To Protect People, You Have to Protect Information: A Human-Centered Design Approach to Cybersecurity
2025 • Rosenfeld Community
Sarah Auslander
Insights Panel
2022 • Civic Design 2022
Gold
Lada Gorlenko
Theme 2 Intro
2022 • Design at Scale 2022
Gold
Kristin Skinner
Group Activity: A Deep Dive Into Value and Outcomes
2019 • DesignOps Summit 2019
Gold
Meghan Hellstern
The Next 100 Years of Civic Design: How Might We Better Rise to Meet the Challenges of Today and Tomorrow?
2021 • Civic Design 2021
Gold
Kate Towsey
Participant Recruitment and Management Tools
2026 • Advancing Research 2026
Gold
Jon Fukuda
Design Planning and Management Support
2023 • DesignOps Summit 2023
Gold
Dave Malouf
Theme 3: Introduction and Provocation
2024 • DesignOps Summit 2020
Gold
Nicole Bergstrom
AccessibilityOps: Moving beyond “nice to have”
2024 • DesignOps Community
Yolanda Rankin
Black Feminist Epistemology as a Critical Framework for Equitable Design
2021 • Advancing Research 2021
Gold
Bas Raijmakers, PhD (RCA)
What Design Research can Learn from Documentary Filmmaking
2022 • Advancing Research 2022
Gold
Jessamyn Edwards
Surviving Your UX Career in Enterprise Design
2021 • Enterprise Community
Bruce Gillespie
Learning from journalism: Balancing impactful communication with compassionate storytelling
2025 • Advancing Research 2025
Gold
Erika Kincaid
Connecting the Dots: How to Foster Collaboration and Build a Strong Design Review Culture
2022 • Design at Scale 2022
Gold
Matt Webb
Context Window: Five Futures for AI
2025 • Designing with AI 2025
Gold
Allison Sanders
Operating with Purpose
2024 • DesignOps Summit 2020
Gold

More Videos

Sean Dolan

"Unless it’s designed for digital use it’s not going to get widely shared throughout the organization."

Sean Dolan

A Practical Look at Creating More Usable Enterprise Customer Journeys

October 31, 2019

Mark Templeton

"The post-PC era has had more impact on enterprise UX and computing than any other factor in all history."

Mark Templeton

Creating a Legacy: the ultimate experience

June 9, 2017

Ariba Jahan

"Survival can feel like a roller coaster with big energy spikes and drops, often leaving us completely depleted."

Ariba Jahan

Team Resiliency Through a Pandemic

January 8, 2024

JP Allen

"Tools are getting much more complex and have more crossover, which made redesigning the map a challenge."

JP Allen Holly Holden

Navigating the UX Tools Landscape

October 1, 2021

Dave Malouf

"Who is missing from our efforts to make our paths more frictionless?"

Dave Malouf

Theme 3: Introduction and Provocation

January 8, 2024

Ted Neward

"Outage caused by technical debt between Boneyard’s VT100 era system and E-Toy’s cloud infrastructure."

Ted Neward

Theme 4: Enterprise Organizational Journey

June 4, 2019

Janelle Estes

"Being open and flexible to what's most helpful for the team at that moment is key."

Janelle Estes

UX Research Trends

January 28, 2021

Caroline Vize

"Getting executive buy-in is so critical to the success of research, yet it remains a challenge for many."

Caroline Vize

The State of UX: Five Lessons from 2021 to Accelerate Digital Experience in 2022

March 9, 2022

Brian Moss

"Researchers are professionals; we need to set clear expectations but then trust them to do their jobs effectively."

Brian Moss

What Does it Mean to be a Resilient Research Team?

March 9, 2022