Design Leadership: Navigating Idealism and Pragmatism

A theme that I think might be emerging for me in design leadership is the balance of or navigating idealism and pragmatism. A lot of designers get into this work because there's an idealistic sense of making the world a better place through understanding our users. As they become leaders, inevitably, they hit some walls and then they have to figure out a pragmatic how to be a pragmatist towards that goal. Some fail, somehow, or that might be strong, but have real struggles figuring out how to be both at the same time.