This Is Your Competitive Advantage As A Design Leader / Jose Coronado / Ep. #240
Service Design Show
Has change actually accelerated for design?
Marc and Jose debate whether change pace and urgency—pandemic and AI—make design leadership demands more acute.
We've got a serious problem...
The "higher" you climb on the career ladder, the further removed you get from the actual discipline of design.
Unfortunately, it's a story I hear surprisingly often.
A design professionals finally gets that hard-earned seat at the table, and almost immediately, the pressure to conform kicks in.
They start to feel like they have to trade their unique perspective for a corporate persona, leaving their design identity, the very thing that got them there in the first place, at the door.
Our guest this week, Jose Coronado, shares a personal story that actually goes right to the heart of this issue.
When he first moved to the U.S. he consciously separated his professional life from his Hispanic background in an effort to belong and be seen.
The shift only came years later, after he organized a panel for Hispanic Heritage Month. The feedback he received hit him hard.
People told him, "Jose, thank you for doing this. I have never seen myself reflected in my future as a potential leader in the design field".
That experience was the moment he realized the power of bringing our "whole self" to work, and the danger of hiding parts of our identity.
So in this episode, we explore this identity crisis.
How do you evolve into a business leader without abandoning your design soul?
And I can already share that it's not about renouncing your craft, but rather enriching it with new layers.
It’s about learning to navigate the politics and negotiations of an organization while still proudly carrying the flag for design.
If you feel trapped between the design professional you are and the leader you're expected to be, this one will surely resonate.
What I loved about this conversation is the nuance it brings. I'm sure you've heard that "designers need to speak business" but what's often missing is the crucial second half of that advice, we must do it with our design expertise, identity, and skills. Business speak should enrich design, not replace it.
Enjoy the conversation and keep making a positive impact!
~ Marc
--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---
00:00 Welcome to Episode 240
04:00 The great shift
06:00 The catalyst
08:00 Design Leadership and Why We Have to Talk About It
09:30 Design's Growing Pains
12:00 3 Levels of Leadership
13:00 Craftsmanship, Stagemanship, and Statesmanship
16:00 Mastering Stagemanship:
17:45 What we're doing wrong
20:00 Developing Business Fluency
22:00 Understanding the context
26:30 Low-Effort Ways to Gain Business Knowledge
33:00 The Challenge of Invisibility
35:00 Patience vs. Incompetence
37:45 Building Trust
39:00 The Design Measurement Problem
41:00 Tangibility of Impact
44:00 Navigating conversations like that
46:45 Finance Conversations
48:00 Connecting Process, Service Improvement, and Design
51:45 Internal Struggle and Mindset Evolution
55:00 Embracing out identity
57:30 Maintaining Connection to the Craft
59:00 Deliver in commitment
1:01:00 Question to ponder
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