I've had the privilege of learning from great mentors and building a team of stellar designers. Here are some of my thoughts on how design leadership can impact their team and company.
Craft a vision.
Design can add shape to the north star and translate ambitious product roadmaps into a user-centric narratives (with visuals!)
Design an environment.
A good design leader creates rituals and structure that bring teams together and help bring out your team's best work.
Communicate broadly.
Design does a lot of work leading up to a launch. Making sure to communicate research findings, even teasing early concepts, can connect the broader company to your team's work.
Encourage outside education.
Design leaders shouldn't know it all. Encouraging outside education can not only help the individual, but enrich the team as a whole through bringing in new ideas.
Align on business metrics.
Design is an integral part of the business strategy. Knowing how the business makes and spends money can help design add the most value where it counts.
More on ethos