Influence, Inspiration & Guidance

How I Catalyze Innovation, Alignment, and Growth

 

I am on a mission to inspire and lead, shaping strategy with design innovation, deep partnerships, and clearly defined goals. I’m driven to guide teams through challenges with empathy and clarity to deliver thoughtful solutions. Here is a bit about how I approach these objectives.

Shaping Culture Through Design Leadership

✣ four core principals ✣

Empowering Every Designer

 

Design leadership isn’t about titles, it’s about influence. Designers at any level should have the chance to lead through their work and ideas. Empowering teams to bring their best fosters personal investment and unlocks their potential. When this mindset becomes part of an organization, it shapes how we collaborate, prioritize, and innovate. It’s the foundation for a culture where great design—and great designers—can thrive.

    Craft & Partnership

     

    Emphasizing stellar craft and embracing a true partnership mindset consistently unlocks greater opportunities for design to shine. This holds true across organizations, roles, and team dynamics while empowering every designer to amplify our impact, fostering cohesive product development and elevated outcomes.

     

      Creating Products & Culture

       

      These principles are based in the practice of product design but their value extends far beyond that. They inform my approach to building relationships, growing teams, nurturing partnerships, engaging with customers, and shaping amd nourishing a thriving culture.

       

        Transforming Through Design

         

        I believe design has the power to do more than just solve problems—it can unlock potential. For me, design leadership is about inspiring teams to approach challenges with creativity and confidence, fostering a culture where bold ideas are celebrated, and diverse perspectives lead to richer outcomes. I’ve seen how championing design as a tool for transformation can drive meaningful progress, not just in the products we create but in the people and teams who shape them.

          7 Keys to a Strong Design Culture

           

          Refined over the years and pulled from my design practice, these methods are essential principles for building a healthy, dynamic design culture.

          My mission is to establish and nurture a team of and empowered designers who believe in their ability to create positive impact, drive strategic vision, and deliver meaningful change for customers.  To help bring that vision to life, I work to proactively influence organizational priorities in ways that support these values. I think this is the essence of design leadership.

          I believe that designers’ unique toolkit gives us a distinct advantage that can elevate the strategic thinking, empathy, and innovation which are vital to eery organization. The seven methods below form the foundation of a vibrant, forward-thinking design culture—one that not only meets goals but inspires teams to reach new heights.

          1. Ask & Understand

          Before taking on any challenge, I first aim to understand key questions.

          Who is invested in this effort? What are the most important goals? What is the timeline for design and delivery? What is the opportunity? What are the risks? Starting with questions and listening to the answers helps ensure that my time, focus, and resources are applied appropriately.

          2. Collaborate

          Collaboration is the cornerstone of creative design leadership.

          I aim to build trust and create space to encourage diverse perspectives as inputs to drive innovation. Across roles and disciplines, I work to disrupt silos, lead with open communication, and advocate the symbiotic relationship between aesthetics and functionality.

          3. Align

          Design is essential to build outstanding product experiences. But UX teams can’t do it alone.

          Success requires alignment across sales, product management, and engineering teams to set priorities and identify viable approaches. To maximize speed, efficiency, and scalability, design teams require visibility and dialogue with leaders and ICs across partner organizations.

          4. Research

          Meaningful data about customer behavior & desires is fundamental.

          Customers are the foundation of any successful business. Understanding their most critical needs, goals, and pain points through ongoing research and other feedback helps us focus on building value for them, creating stronger relationships, happier customers, and a better business.

          5. Measure

          There is no substitute for informed decisions. Using data to understand customer behavior and business impacts of changes to design and functionality is essential to great design outcomes. Gathering and applying insights from behavior tracking or site and app instrumentation can provide crucial knowledge about how customers use products.

          6. Act Responsibly

          I love technology and innovation. It excites me! And many customers feel the same. But along with delivering innovative new capabilities, as people who build and use those tools we have a profound responsibility to instill those products with empathy and guardrails that encourage responsible usage and prevent or discourage exclusion, unnecessary risk, and unintended harm. I apply tested frameworks for analysis and resolution of potential ethics gaps through Ethics by Design.

          7. Tell a Story

          All of these practices inform my most valued contribution: Crafting clear, innovative, and achievable product roadmaps through strategic, long-term vision efforts. Vision work can be challenging to prioritize or deliver when balancing resource allocation with shorter-term tactical priorities. But when practical, such efforts serve many needs, including helping make smarter decisions along the path to a well-sorted long-term vision.

          Let's Get It

          I believe that design is a powerful tool to improve the world. I care deeply about creating humanistic software that empowers and delights the people who use it. I’m looking for my next opportunity to make an impact. If you think we might be a good match, please reach out.