Jeff Bezos, Amazon
Your job as a leader is to stay as close in touch as possible with those closest to the action.
Leadership
As a design leader, my primary focus is to create a system that empowers product teams to deliver exceptional design. To achieve this, my leadership style adapts based on context, needs, and desired outcomes. I have found that building a diverse team with complementary experiences, skills, and backgrounds fosters strong design – one that emerges through the collision of positive ideas, followed by healthy debate.
As a coach, I provide product teams with direction, resources (space, time, and tools), and air cover. I strive to connect with individuals on a personal level, understand their motivations, and help them achieve excellence in their work. I offer actionable feedback to drive improvement, create platforms for collaboration, and provide opportunities for growth – all while ensuring an enjoyable and engaging work environment.
As an influencer, I align product management, technology, and design with the organization’s vision and strategy. To accomplish this, I collaborate closely with peers and partners across engineering, sales, marketing, legal, and customer support. I demonstrate leadership through active listening, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, and stewardship.
As a mentor, I leverage the GROW model for coaching and mentoring my team. This model enables me to tailor my coaching approach based on each team member’s needs and receptiveness. Developed by Sir John Whitmore, the GROW model – Goals, Reality, Options, and Will – helps me understand their objectives, assess their current reality, explore potential options, and support them in committing to a course of action that aligns with their aspirations.
In summary, my leadership approach is centered on empowering product teams, fostering diversity, coaching, influencing, and mentoring. These principles have enabled me to design systems that support product teams in delivering outstanding design while maintaining alignment with the organization’s broader vision and strategy.
Systems Thinking
As a product leader, I strongly advocate for a Systems Approach to navigate the complexities arising from a product’s interaction with users, technology, the environment, economics, regulations, and socio-cultural contexts. This approach ensures that all elements of the product ecosystem work in harmony toward a shared objective, rather than operating in silos with conflicting priorities. By taking a holistic view of the product and its environment, we gain a deeper understanding of interdependencies and potential challenges. This enables us to proactively address issues, enhance the user experience, and drive business success.
Product Thinking
As a design leader, I believe it is essential to take a holistic view of a product’s entire lifecycle – not just its usage. As technology becomes increasingly pervasive, usability alone is no longer enough to differentiate products in the market. The key to attracting and retaining customers lies in delivering a seamless, continuous customer experience. Achieving this requires a deep understanding of customer behavior and insights into their needs at every stage of their journey with the organization, across all touch-points. By prioritizing a continuous customer experience, organizations can create a lasting impact, foster long-term loyalty, and strengthen their market position.
Read about my Design Thinking approach and views on the Design Process.
See End-to-end Case Studies where I have applied Design Thinking methodologies to various projects.
Learn about my workshops on Design Thinking for Youth
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