When Did Design Leadership Become a Courtesy Title?

Apr 26

There was a time when design leadership meant something.

A seat at the table. A voice in the room. The ability to shape not just the product, but the vision.

Today, even brilliant design leaders are getting boxed into execution. Strategy meetings happen behind closed doors, long before design gets a voice. Product and finance teams call the shots, chasing historical data instead of future opportunities.

You can feel the frustration if you know where to look:

• Teams with talent, but no real influence.

• Endless iteration cycles chasing KPIs that don't move the brand forward.

• Great ideas dying quietly in the name of "velocity."

It’s not a talent problem. It’s not a creativity problem.

It’s a system problem.

Leadership has been trained to optimize for what’s already happened, not what could happen.

As I’ve mentioned before:

The past is written in spreadsheets. The future is sketched on napkins.

If you’re feeling it, you’re not alone.

And if you’re leading a team, they’re definitely feeling it too.

Industrial Designers International - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/13176226/

Blair Hasty

When Did Design Leadership Become a Courtesy Title?

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