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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The role of design leaders has evolved from product-focused to cultural changemakers influencing organizational culture at scale.
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Successful changemakers must assess organizational ground conditions carefully before accepting their mission.
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Coming in too hot as a changemaker—rushing change without listening—creates resistance and failure.
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Listening tours and stakeholder mapping are powerful tools to build informed, shared visions.
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A shared vision inspires trust and collective motivation when it's co-created and inclusive of diverse perspectives.
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Prioritization and focusing on a few achievable goals enables momentum and prevents burnout.
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Quantifying outcomes and using tangible prototypes help communicate progress to leadership effectively.
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Failure is inevitable in change leadership; owning mistakes and learning from them builds resilience.
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Clear, visual communication processes align stakeholders and reduce confusion during change initiatives.
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Changemakers must embrace design as a mindset and strategy accessible to all, not just trained designers.
Notable Quotes
"The best future leaders will embody the qualities and traits of a DEO, a Design Executive Officer."
"People who can see patterns, solve problems, organize fluid teams, lead collective action, and adapt are changemakers."
"Change is fundamentally a design problem and therefore change can be designed."
"Before accepting a mission as a changemaker, ask if you have clear directives, champions, and resources."
"Coming in too hot is like firefighters running into a burning building without understanding the situation."
"Nobody wants to be told to do your thing unless it helps their thing. It's just human nature."
"Don’t boil the ocean. You have to get small wins before going for big change."
"Vision without execution is hallucination."
"Fall on the sword and own your mistakes—and then ask how you can learn from them."
"Once you hit the bottom, creativity will flourish and then it’s time to iterate and evolve."
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