Design Leadership

What does it take to be the leader of a design firm or group? We often assume they have all the answers, but in this rapidly evolving industry they’re forced to find their way like the rest of us. So how do good design leaders manage? If you lead a design group, or want to understand the people who do, this insightful book explores behind-the-scenes strategies and tactics from leaders of top design companies throughout North America. Based on scores of interviews he conducted over a two-year period—from small companies to massive corporations like ESPN—author Richard Banfield covers a wide range of topics, including: How design leaders create a healthy company culture Innovative ways for attracting and nurturing talent Creating productive workspaces, and handling remote employees Staying on top of demands while making time for themselves Consistent patterns among vastly different leadership styles Techniques and approaches for keeping the work pipeline full Making strategic and tactical plans for the future Mistakes that design leaders made—and how they bounced back

What does it take to be the leader of a design firm or group? We often assume they have all the answers, but in this rapidly evolving industry they’re forced to find their way like the rest of us. So how do good design leaders manage? If you lead a design group, or want to understand the people who do, this insightful book explores behind-the-scenes strategies and tactics from leaders of top design companies throughout North America. Based on scores of interviews he conducted over a two-year period—from small companies to massive corporations like ESPN—author Richard Banfield covers a wide range of topics, including: How design leaders create a healthy company culture Innovative ways for attracting and nurturing talent Creating productive workspaces, and handling remote employees Staying on top of demands while making time for themselves Consistent patterns among vastly different leadership styles Techniques and approaches for keeping the work pipeline full Making strategic and tactical plans for the future Mistakes that design leaders made—and how they bounced back

The fundamental tenet of this Design Leadership book is that design is a commercial and social imperative and its management and leadership are integral parts of what can make business successful, government effective and society safer and more enjoyable for everyone. The text draws on Raymond Turner’s extensive experience and insights into the effective use of design as a business resource for competitive advantage and social benefit. Raymond brings his experience of working for iconic businesses, projects and consultancies to provide essential, value creating, insights on the interface between design and business. Design Leadership adopts a straightforward approach that will be of great value to those who influence how organisations work - the managers and chief executives of a country’s wealth creating engines. It is also of particular relevance to those with design management and leadership responsibilities as well as students who aim to work in these roles. The ideas at the heart of the book concern all who shape society and have the brief to improve our lives. Raymond Turner’s advice will help all of these readers make design work and so become more effective more quickly.

Liftoff! is your guide to leveling up as a design manager and leader. Its experience-driven approach--written by designers for designers--will help you hire and scale teams, develop careers, learn why diversity matters to your business, and solidify design's role in your organization. Liftoff! will elevate your skills to lead your team and company to new heights.

The majority of companies, their employees and their leaders navigate a space where competitors appear overnight, customers demand innovations monthly, business plans rarely last a full year and career ladders have been replaced by trampolines. This environment of constant change will only accelerate in the future and traditional business leaders are ill equipped to deal with it. Just as we took our cues from MBAs and the military in casting the ideal CEO of the 20th century, we can look to design - in its broadest form - to model our future leader, the DEO. These leaders possess characteristics, behaviors and mindsets that allow them to excel in unpredictable, fast-moving and value-charged conditions. They are catalysts for transformation and agents of change. A hybrid of strategic business executive and creative problem-solver, the DEO is willing to take on anything as an object of design and looks at ALL problems as design challenges. Readers will learn not only why this form of leadership is essential to the success of modern organizations, but also what characteristics are best suited to this role. Through intimate conversations with leading DEOs, we explore the mindsets, communities, processes and practices common to creative business leaders. The book lays out—graphically and through example—how DEOs run their companies and why this approach makes sense now. We help readers identify these skills in themselves and their colleagues, and we guide them in using these skills to build, revive or reinvent the next generation of great companies and organization.

Great leaders aspire to manage “by design”—with a sense of purpose and foresight. But too few leaders incorporate the proven practices and principles of the design disciplines. Lessons learned from the world of design, when applied to management, can turn leaders into collaborative, creative, deliberate, and accountable visionaries. Design thinking loosens the mind and activates innovation. It creates the conditions for employees to thrive and for all kinds of businesses to succeed. In Designed Leadership, the strategic-design scholar and urban-systems designer Moura Quayle shares her plan for integrating design and leadership, translating processes, principles, and practices from years of experience into tools of change for professional leaders. Quayle describes the key concepts of designed leadership, such as “make values explicit” and “learn from natural systems,” showing how strategic design can spur individual creativity and harness collective energy. For managers at any level, Designed Leadership uses original visuals and field-tested examples to teach the kind of thinking, theorizing, and practicing that result in long-lasting high performance in the workplace and beyond.

Design has become the key link between users and today’s complex and rapidly evolving digital experiences, and designers are starting to be included in strategic conversations about the products and services that enterprises ultimately deliver. This has led to companies building in-house digital/experience design teams at unprecedented rates, but many of them don’t understand how to get the most out of their investment. This practical guide provides guidelines for creating and leading design teams within your organization, and explores ways to use design as part of broader strategic planning. You’ll discover: Why design’s role has evolved in the digital age How to infuse design into every product and service experience The 12 qualities of effective design organizations How to structure your design team through a Centralized Partnership Design team roles and evolution The process of recruiting and hiring designers How to manage your design team and promote professional growth

This collection of stories, examples and narratives about exceptional leadership by design provides tangible, examples of how the design process can be applied to leadership practice. It uses evidence-based organizational, behavioral, and leadership science to inform a framework that will equip leaders and organizations to be more effective.