What CEOs need to know about design
written BY HUNTER RAE
Each week, we highlight innovators, leaders and changemakers in the SHACK15 Conversations series and invite them to share their expertise and insights on their career paths. Last month, we sat down with Audrey Crane, Partner at DesignMap, design consultant for some of the world’s most innovative companies, and author of What CEOs Need to Know About Design to hear her take on the how CEOs harness the power and potential of design in building their companies and products.
Audrey’s book has been described as a primer for how leaders can use design as their “secret weapon” in building brilliant products and services. In it, she shares practical tips on optimizing communication between strategic and design teams within an organization.
There were so many great takeaways from this insightful conversation, and we wanted to share some of Audrey’s “secrets” with you! Make sure to check out her book, What CEOs Need to Know About Design, to get a crash course on the “hows” and “whys” of working strategically with design teams and empowering designers to do their best work.
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6 things CEOs need to know about design
1. Shift the “push conversation” to a “pull conversation”
Design wasn’t always an angle of importance in the world of business. It’s actually only recently becoming a deeper conversation. More and more, leaders and CEOs are bringing design into the fold on critical business decisions, rather than leaving it as an afterthought. In Audrey’s words, the conversation is starting to shift from a push conversation to a pull conversation as CEOs are incorporating design into their operations and asking “How do I leverage design in my business to make a difference?” In her mind, this is a very brave question to ask, especially when many CEOs are still not well-versed in the language of design.
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2. Overcome the “language barrier”
On a foundational level, CEOs and designers are coming to the table with different ways of looking at business problems and different “languages” that they speak in their respective roles. CEOs speak the language of business, and designers speak the language of design. It’s human nature to be uncomfortable in situations where we don’t know the language or the process of something new. What CEOs Need to Know About Design lays the foundation for CEOs to start thinking about their place at the table when it comes to design, a language and territory that is often unfamiliar. The key to overcoming this often overlooked barrier is to not focus on specific frameworks and technical terms, but rather on the meaning behind the words. A bit of grace in each direction can be helpful too! Each party allowing for questions and clarification with no judgements goes a long way in the world of communication. Even if you fumble through your words, if the conversation is productive and intentional, it is considered a success!
3. Keep the process intentional
Design is not only an outcome, but also a process. Audrey’s tip is for both parties to be mindful and intentional as they work together. Mindfulness being “Why am I in this meeting?” and “What do I want to get out of it?” and also thinking about “What intention do I have in terms of the end result?” When designers go into meetings with intent and guide the audience through their process, the recent developments, and why these things led to the work they created, leaders not as familiar with the design process have a better idea of what to react to and how to give feedback professionally. This reduces the frustrating interactions that can arise when a team spends a whole meeting debating a shade of blue, instead of focusing on their end goal. Similarly, CEOs can be productive partners for design teams by asking “What are you hoping to get from this meeting?” or “What can I do to contribute right now?” Staying focused on a common goal is what will drive the conversation from just an idea to execution.
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4. Keep in mind the end users, not the aesthetics
Similarly, Audrey shared that intent should always be at the center of the decisions that designers make. Both CEOs and designers can support each other in always keeping the intention of the end user at the forefront. CEOs have a unique view on all layers of the user experience and can ask questions to get at the end goal of how they want their users to interact with their product. Aesthetic decisions should be secondary to that. Instead of debating the specific details of design, focus on the why behind those decisions. Intent should drive every little choice in the creative process.
5. Understand the depth of design
It is often overlooked that every process in a business has some element of design, even if it’s not visual. Audrey believes that designers are often being used for a fraction of their value, especially when CEOs mistake designers as simply the people who picks out colors and fonts. It’s important to understand that design is a broad term that captures everything from the aesthetics of user interfaces to the psychology behind them. So when we’re talking about designers, the first step towards having a productive design team is knowing what they are set to accomplish.
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6. Be comfortable listening to the expert
When leaders have a specific vision for a project or problem, trusting someone else’s vision can be difficult. However, companies hire designers because they are experts in their field and should trust them as such! For CEOs especially, trusting domain experts as experts is important. Audrey’s take is that designers are there to inject more insights, expertise, and creativity into the solution than what companies would have without them. Leaders that micromanage their teams risk hitting a ceiling of their own limited knowledge in design, in turn limiting the success of their projects and the company overall. When CEOs can bring out the best that their teams have to offer in service of their shared vision, they are no longer limited.
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Getting CEOs to understand, empower and deliver on the promise of design without fully understanding design themselves is very challenging. Audrey’s book furthers the conversation on how leaders can best leverage design to create world-class products and brands. If you are a leader or designer who wants to know more, be sure to check out “What CEOs Need to Know About Design,” and stay tuned for the full recording of this SHACK15 Conversation to be released on the upcoming SHACK15 Conversations Podcast!