Who's in charge?

I’ve been on teams where “collaboration” was celebrated… but nothing ever got done. We’d have workshops, brainstorms, and tons of sticky notes — and yet, somehow, the next steps always seemed to vanish into thin air.

That’s when I realized: collaboration without accountability is like a design sprint without a deadline — fun, messy, and ultimately unproductive. The truth is - we want people hungry to own the work, but we may not be the best at creating that environment or mindset.

Here’s how I approach building a culture of accountability as a design leader:

1️⃣ Clarify roles, not just tasks.
It’s easy to assume everyone knows who owns what. Explicitly naming responsibilities — without micromanaging — helps the team move forward confidently.

2️⃣ Set expectations, not ultimatums.
Accountability thrives in an environment where people know the goal, understand their impact, and feel supported — not threatened.

3️⃣ Model calm under pressure.
Teams rarely fail because they can’t deliver; they fail when leaders panic and pressure them. Steady leadership gives people space to focus and problem-solve.

4️⃣ Celebrate progress, not perfection.
Even small wins reinforce ownership and motivation. Iteration is part of accountability — and yes, sometimes messy, but always valuable.

5️⃣ Encourage transparency and early signals.
When blockers or challenges are surfaced early, the team can course-correct — accountability isn’t about blame, it’s about shared problem-solving.

💡 My takeaway: A culture of accountability isn’t about policing tasks. It’s about creating trust, clarity, and confidence so the team can deliver creatively and consistently.

What’s the one strategy you’ve seen actually stick in building accountability on your team? How do you hold others accountable?

Catch up vs. show up

Three months ago I made a decision I never wanted to make again - I needed to step away from work to focus on my health. Coming back from medical leave and diving into a big team is like trying to hop onto a moving train — the momentum is real, and so is the wobble.

I’ll be honest: the first day back, my instinct was to prove I could “catch up” immediately. Inbox triage, chat archaeology, design files that evolved without me… it’s a lot. But here’s what I noticed: the urge to catch up can actually distract from what’s needed most — showing up. Consistently.

Projects move forward without us - that’s healthy! What matters when you return isn’t sprinting to reclaim lost ground, but asking the questions only fresh eyes can bring:

• Where are we heading?

• What assumptions are still serving us?

• What can be simplified now that the dust has settled?

• What’s “for now” vs. sustainable?

That shift — from “make up for lost time” to “add unique value today” — turned overwhelm into contribution. Because the overwhelm froze me just hours into my first day back.

💡 My takeaway for leaders: when someone rejoins after leave, give them space not just to catch up, but to notice what the rest of the team has stopped seeing. That perspective is gold.

Have you ever rejoined a project or team midstream? What was your approach?

Learning to be wrong

I've been spending time talking to designers and product owners, and I've noticed a trend. People are all about iteration - until it's actually time to iterate. Then come the excuses.

Budget, team structure, leadership, stakeholders, and more collide into an environment where teams constantly prioritize new, "sellable" value rather than continuous improvement. The result? Products with short-term adoption, workaround experiences, growing competition, and mountains of unmanageable tech and design debt.

One of my most transformative moments in my career was when I was thrown into the world of usability testing. The first several tests I dreaded - they would just prove I'm bad at my job right? I'll get fired! But something magical happened - every time I was "proven wrong," I would have a burst of energy and thousands of ideas on improvements. I started walking into sessions hoping my design would get torn apart and I would see something so obvious that was invisible to my world view and perspective.

When people think of design, they often picture the big reveal: polished mockups, a slick prototype, a shiny “final” product. But the truth? The real magic happens in the messy middle — iteration.

Iteration isn’t glamorous. It’s the part where we redraw, reframe, and rethink until things finally click. And it’s not just a design process — it’s a leadership philosophy.

Here’s why:

💪 Iteration builds resilience. Teams that learn to treat ideas as drafts — not verdicts — bounce back faster when things shift. Instead of fearing “wrong,” they see it as “not yet.” And as humans, we need a little help detaching sometimes.

🚀 Iteration accelerates innovation. Big leaps often come from small adjustments stacked over time. A 5% improvement repeated ten times looks like a breakthrough.

🤝 Iteration strengthens collaboration. When everyone knows nothing is sacred, input flows more freely. People share earlier, ask sharper questions, and contribute without fear of “ruining” the big idea.

🌱 Iteration models growth. Leaders who show their own process — drafts, reworks, changes of mind — send a powerful signal: progress matters more than perfection.

Some of the best products (and teams) I’ve seen weren’t built by getting it “right” the first time. They were built by staying open to revision, again and again.

💡 My takeaway: Iteration isn’t rework. It’s the work. And when teams embrace it — with patience, humor, and curiosity — that’s when real breakthroughs happen. It's not about failing fast - it's about learning fast. Together.

What’s the best thing you’ve seen come out of an “iteration that wasn’t supposed to work”?

Leading Creatives, a crash course

When people ask me what being a design leader is like, I usually smile, take a deep breath, and say: “It’s equal parts problem-solving, strategy, and explaining to non-designers that yes, white space is actually doing something.”

Let me break it down.

🎨 1. The Myth of the Pixel-Perfect Manager
Contrary to popular belief, I don’t spend my days kerning fonts until they whisper sweet typographic nothings. Most of my time is spent:
- Translating business goals into design outcomes
- Coaching teams through ambiguous problems
- Politely wrestling with roadmaps that want to sprint before they crawl

Pixel-perfection? That’s the team’s glory. My job is making sure they’re solving the right problems before they get lost in hex codes.

🧩 2. Strategy: AKA Organized Daydreaming
Design strategy is basically the art of professional daydreaming… with spreadsheets.
- “What if we mapped the user journey?”
- “What if we actually asked the users?”
- “What if we stopped shipping features no one uses?”

I bring the sticky notes. The team brings the brilliance. Together, we turn wild ideas into scalable systems.

🫂 3. Leadership = Emotional UX
Here’s the secret: leading designers is less about design systems and more about nervous systems. People need context, clarity, and someone who believes in them when a concept goes sideways. A good leader doesn’t just give feedback on the work—they create the conditions for better work to happen.

Sometimes, that means hard conversations. And other times - ordering pizza.

🚀 The Takeaway
Being a design leader means being a strategist, a translator, a mentor, and occasionally, a part-time therapist. It’s messy, it’s human, and it’s the most rewarding job in the world.


So next time you hear a designer complain about button styles, remember: behind that pixel debate is a whole universe of strategy, empathy, and business impact.

And yes, the white space is still doing something.


👋 I’d love to hear from other design leaders and strategists: what’s the funniest “this is my job now?” moment you’ve had lately?