In September 2021, I joined Microsoft as a Principle Designer. A few months later, I transitioned into my first role into design leadership, as a principle design manager of a horizontal team. My team and I have supported strategy, design systems, common controls, and visioning.

Our team is collectively new to Microsoft, but in two years we’ve earned trust, delivered impact, built strong networks, and created a reputation for craft, empathy, and collaboration.

Listed below are a few things I’ve learned and tried to establish through our team culture.

Design Leadership Learnings

• Win as a team, ok I took this one from my days at Nike. But for real, it takes a village. 
• Take the high road. There’s going to be times that challenge you, take the high road. 
• Listening to and understanding others, is just as important as being understood.
• Support your team like family. You can fight inside, but nobody puts baby (family) in the corner.
• Make your needs, their needs. There can be a reluctance when partner teams feel like something is happening to them. Collaborate and co-elevate with your partners to help them feel like it is happening with/for them.
• Bring in partners, build trust, share in the success.
• Build your network. Design is a small world, be a good human. 
• Network across the matrix, this will help you as a design leader to position your team (To your peers, it will look like you can see into the future).
• Concessions are ok to find middle ground.
• Your value is not your work.
• Trust is currency. 
• Psychological safety is pivotal.
• Increase in collaboration 
• Increase in innovation 
• Increase in candor and direct conversations 
• There is no finish line… shoot I borrowed this one from Nike too. 
• Think big, shoot for the stars, and then scale back. 
• 10x, Bluesky, Innovation, Vision. Whatever you want to call it, vision thinking empowers the team to have fun, get excited about the work, and push for ideas they believe in. It pushes the product to strive to be as good as it can. It helps create a tailwind that sets a heading and course the product or team can rally behind. 
• Don’t stop learning.
• Show up, follow through, be vulnerable. It’s ok to not know the answer, and to show others you don’t know. 
• Keep a growth mindset, trust your instinct, stay open, positive, and support those around you.
• Titles are important for clarity, and to leverage experience - but ideas should not be dependent on them.

In closing

It's interesting to watch leaders approach design leadership in different ways. I approach leadership as a learning journey. I can coach and model for my team, but I want them to know I don't know everything, and that is ok. At the end of the day, I try to show up, be authentic to myself, support them, and position them and our team for success.

One of my favorite quotes on design leadership, is from John Hoke III, Nike's Chief Design Officer.

“As an IC my job was to make lightning strike, as a design leader my job is to create the conditions for others to make lightning strike”

John Hoke III

Note: The learnings listed above are not unique to being a manager. These are things I learned and utilized as an IC, and have been able to adapt into design leadership. As an IC, embrace leading without authority.

To my managers over these last two years:

Salve Retuta Pascual Annice Jumani Jake Thomas Neil Cueto

To my team and partners over these last two years:

Irene Sheen Andrew Wu Sheriff Jolaoso Kristen Sunny Feven D Mehar N