I shine through my team and my partners.

My accomplishments and personal growth throughout the years are indebted to thoughtful individuals whose paths intersected with mine. In my 5 years of building and guiding effective design teams, I’ve learned to see beyond conventional titles that often conceal the true innovators. Many designers are highly technical, while many engineers exhibit remarkable creativity. These veils can only be lifted through tight partnerships, intellectually symbiotic team culture, and patience. I invest time in people, allowing them to unveil their genuine potential. This has been my most rewarding investment of all.

My role

The intersection of tactics and strategy

The bedrock of my tactical approach lies in the human connection. I invest my time in mentoring and guiding others, seeking profound insights into their essence as thinkers. This unique knowledge grants me an acute awareness of ground-level dynamics, fueling operational insights that informs optimal course of action. Indeed, the success or failure of a strategy hinges upon the cumulative impact of its individual tactics.

On the strategic front, I extend this collaborative ethos to cross-functional and cross-domain partners alike. My presence at high-stakes discussion tables is earned, not inherited. I use this privilege to enhance strategic vector.

This delicate equilibrium has been the fulcrum of my effectiveness, enabling me to consistently drive impactful product outcomes over the years. My ability to make a measurable impact lays in the careful balancing of these roles.

5 principles that guide me

#1 Know your people

In public settings, we often present only our most favorable aspects, carefully curating the image we project onto others. It's a very natural inclination to showcase our best selves, highlighting our skills, talents, and virtues. However, a person’s true character often lies beneath the surface, beyond the confines of the public persona they comfortably reveal.

Within a team context, it’s essential to recognize both individual strengths and collective areas for growth. A skilled leader celebrates and showcases individual strengths while dedicating time to nurture areas that need nurturing.

This is a cornerstone for a sense of fulfillment, healthy design velocity and collaboration culture.

How I do this

I seize every chance to engage in one-on-one work sessions with designers, focusing on an actual design problem. Establishing an informal working environment enables me to uncover the genuine thought process of a person, along with their aspirations and their anxieties, the critical traits that often remain concealed. This balanced knowledge makes my operational decisions more effective.

#2 Grow empathy and trust

Feeling of safety and trust form the foundation upon which a thriving and productive workplace is built. It creates an environment where humans feel enabled being at their best. Designers are more likely to take risks, envision, innovate, and feel empowered to offer their unique perspectives. Over the course of our work we all make mistakes, but we do best knowing that our contributions are being acknowledged in the balance. Erasing these perceived barriers of fear and insecurity is a foundation for a thriving team.

How I do this

My 3 rules are Presence, Persistence and Predictability.

“I am here for you and the team.”
“I am learning as much as I am teaching.”
“We’re all in this together.”

#3 Clarity of expectations

Above all else, this instills a sense of purpose. This sense not only reduces confusion and ambiguity but also promotes accountability and ownership. Designers perform at their best when they have a clear understanding of what is expected of them, and this, in turn, has a halo effect on productivity (quality) and velocity (speed). In turn, leaders can plan, prioritize and allocate resources effectively.

How I do this

Eliminate any ambivalence by creating expectations that can be understood and measured.
Take time to co-create the expectations with individual designers. It is wise to to guide a person towards their own definition that would ultimately align with the common XFN goals.
Who are your most important partners? Once the communication channels have been defined, I guide designers to the most effective partnering cadence (reviews, workshops).
Align and agree on timelines. Not everyone does best under a clock. Understand and overcome individual barriers (See #1).
Be omnipresent for your team. Moments of brilliance or despair do not line up to a schedule.

#4 Cultivate the presence of Design

Designers are not stylists. They are thinkers, engineers and strategists. I have seen Content designers influencing marketing strategies and Product designers contributing to code development. You do not have to predict the depth of individual acumens, you only have to encourage them to radiate.

How I do this

Ensure that designers are involved and are encouraged to contribute at cross-functional discussion tables and to stake their intellectual ground far and wide across the org.
Likewise, ensure that key XFNs involvement is not limited by design reviews, but they’re equally as encouraged to co-drive design events and sprints.
The active presence turns Design into a structural pillar with a decision-making voice, not a merely reactive element in the delivery chain.

#5 Healthy design process

Take a look at your organization’s recent Pulse survey, and specifically at the metrics around work/life balance, job satisfaction and fulfillment rates. If those numbers are below 80%, you have some work to do. And if they’ve dipped below 60%, you got a real problem. Here’s the good news: the remedy is often simple, quick to implement and pays immediate, tangible returns.

Making Design Delivery Process better for all