How to Influence Through Communication, With Alastair Simpson (VP of Design at Dropbox)

Alastair Simpson is a design leader and mentor, serving as VP of Design at Dropbox. Prior to Dropbox, Alastair was Head of Design at Atlassian, where he helped scale the design team from 20 to over 250. On today's show we chat about craft and how important it is for designers at any level, persuasion, how to present work, and how to deal with puzzling feedback.

Timestamps:

• 00:00 – Intro
• 02:28 – Alastair's journey into Design
• 06:34 – On building the right habits
• 11:24 – Sharing work, getting feedback, and storytelling
• 27:45 – How to get good at presenting work
• 31:44 – Soft skills that are important for designers
• 33:56 – Craft of Design vs. surgical optimisation
• 41:29 – Leading through craft
• 47:16 – The importance of inspiring others
• 50:06 – What Alastair hopes will happen over the next decade
• 52:02 – End of show questions

Connect with Alastair

LinkedIn, Medium

Selected links from the episode

The one critical skill most designers overlook, by Alastair
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, by Robert Cialdini
Start With Why, by Simon Sinek
Atomic Habits, by James Clear