Private Equity Funcast Marionettes, Metrics, and Medieval French Lit: A Conversation on UX and Life with Leah Reich
Sep 30, 2025
Leah Reich, an accomplished UX researcher with a PhD in sociology, shares her unconventional journey from Medieval French literature to leading user experience at top tech companies. The conversation delves into the nuances of understanding user needs versus stated wants, revealing why many products miss the mark. Leah emphasizes the importance of empathizing with users' emotional contexts and the risks of misplaced innovation, using the Juicero case as a cautionary tale. With insights into designing for real workflows and team dynamics, listeners are invited to rethink the essence of user experience.
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Class That Taught How To Make Things Interesting
- Leah credits a Berkeley medieval French literature class and an inspiring professor with shaping her love of making dry topics exciting.
- That early experience taught her to make technical or boring projects engaging for users and teams.
UX Is A Three-Way Intersection
- UX sits at the intersection of user needs, product principles, and business goals.
- You must balance user problems with company principles and commercial metrics when designing experiences.
Users Describe Workarounds, Not True Solutions
- Users rarely know the optimal solution because they solve problems with existing mental models and workarounds.
- Research must uncover the real underlying need, not just user-suggested fixes.
