"Historically, design changed 'things.' More recently, it's changed services and interactions. Looking ahead it will change companies, industries, and countries. Perhaps it will eventually change the climate and our genetic code."
- Rise of the DEO, page 14
"To design is to encourage collective change."- Rise of the DEO, page 14
Before “Leadership by design” can even make sense, design must be demystified. This is my favorite point. Design councils might have official definitions of design, but design is a problem-solving process for creating lasting change.
Transformative change in the 21st century is no longer just about aesthetics, or innovative products, services, and interactions. Design is about transformative change in companies and organizations. All business challenges, even ambiguous ones, are treated as design challenges.
DEOs know that their organizations must be battle-ready and brave enough to get shit done. Customer and client challenges are much more complex these days. Those who dismiss design as some passing fad – or who insist that it stays as another siloed “business” function – will simply doom their company to irrelevance.
"Proposing design-inspired leadership as the answer may sound delusional to some, like a zealous art teacher attacking poverty with a new color palette. But that's a knee-jerk reaction, based largely on associations of design with discretion, luxury, and logos. A more realistic assessment confirms that design leaders usually possess characteristics, behaviors, and mindsets that enable them to excel in unpredictable, fast-moving, and value charged conditions."- Rise of the DEO, page 15
In the 20th century, companies did OK with MBAs and military command style leadership. CEOs thrived on conformity and predictability. CEOs were authoritative, commanded respect, and executed down to every detail in the plan. CEOs thrived on top-down delegation. CEOs were linear thinkers and went by the book. CEOs made convergent thinking their forte. CEOs demanded stability, order, and accuracy. CEOs avoided risk and failure at all costs.
In the 21st century, the DEO surpasses the CEO tenfold. The DEO is a systems thinker. DEOs blend divergent and convergent thinking. DEOs are big-picture thinkers. DEOs are aspirational, rather than authoritative. DEOs permit useful disruption, experimentation, and reiteration. DEOs don’t command respect, they earn it. DEOs are comfortable with ambiguity. DEOs are empathetic with customers and employees. And most of all, DEOs are open to new experiences and adapt as needed.
Giudice and Ireland highlight six defining characteristics of a DEO:
Choose one of these traits and ask yourself, “How might I practice more of this in my daily life?”
"Some believe company culture can be mandated from the top down. Some believe it emerges on its own from the bottom up. A DEO sidesteps this debate. She knows it must be built – iteratively, collaboratively, and over time – from the inside out."- Rise of the DEO, page 86
This is another favorite point. Crafting culture is a lifelong task of the DEO. DEOs know that a positive company culture is a reflection of her purpose, who she is, and why she wants to lead. It’s the ultimate statement of why the organization exists.
Giudice and Ireland define culture as “the unique collection of beliefs and practices that communicate a company’s values, whether or not they’ve been formalized or articulated.” When culture is authentic, it comes with a gravity that attracts the right like-minded people and repels the poisonous ones.
Culture can’t be faked. When culture is faked, the organization is already dysfunctional. It must accurately embody people’s values and processes. No big surprise to see that there’s no step-by-step instructions for building culture. If there was, it would only work for robots, not human beings.
Giudice and Ireland say there are qualities that DEOs seek when crafting culture:
How might you observe your own company culture? Giudice and Ireland suggest “listening tours” with stakeholders. Don’t defend yourself, but be empathetic and try to understand their point-of-view.
Rise of the DEO: Leadership by Design isn’t another book on “how to be a great leader.” This is a primer on shifting the model of leadership towards transformative, collective change. Very few books can communicate this on a human level, but Giudice and Ireland have nailed it.
Researcher, strategist, idea generator and alliance builder, Christopher started her career with the notion that businesses could benefit from a better understanding of people and culture. Her ability to create simple explanations of complex human behavior and to translate those insights into effective design and development strategies attracted a wide range of clients including Microsoft, HP, Pepsi, Levis, Gap and more. As a co-founder and CEO of Cheskin, a firm that pioneered design research in Silicon Valley, Christopher had a ring-side seat to unrivaled feats of creation, innovation and reinvention.
