This is what my design leadership looks like.

People who work with me know that I am wont to quip, “The alternative to good design is always bad design. There is no such thing as no design”— right before I tell you how important it is to take a human-centered design approach to your problem.

I am a sit-on-the-floor kind of designer who enjoys working directly with users to get deep into their methods to understand what their needs are. As someone who has spent a lot of their career building enterprise software, I believe deeply understanding people, their mental models, and their goals is key to success. I also believe user experience is almost always a core business differentiator and will prove it—yes, even in B2B SaaS.

Despite spending most of my career designing software, I don't believe that user-facing technology is always the right answer. In fact, I believe that more often than not, the best interface is no interface. When solutionizing, I focus on always looking for the most impactful solutions, which can be technology, but is often as much about the processes, interactions, and context around technology itself. I believe every designer should care as much about these things as they do about the components in their design system. After all, “no product is an island.” A good designer designs a great product. A great designer understanding that having a great product is not enough, and designs a cohesive experience no matter how a customer engages with a company, our services, and our products. 

Finally, I am also someone with a bias toward action, but I've learned that the often best way to achieve meaningful change is through stacking incremental successes over time. This practical approach shapes how I think about problems, solutions and impact. To me, design is a science, not an art; it is a distillation of the scientific method where we hypothesize, test, and iterate toward solutions. And, as with any scientist, I believe designers must be adaptable and accountable for results.

I've learned that building a high-impact design organization requires thinking beyond just hiring great individual contributors; it's about creating systems that let exceptional work happen consistently and at scale. I do this by building skill-complete design teams that maintain deep domain expertise while staying connected to our broader mission, because I believe specialization without isolation drives better outcomes. At the same time, I emphasize a deep understanding of our business, and I expect every individual on my team to be able to speak to not just what they're doing, but why it matters and how it fits into our broader strategy.

I also believe that how we work is as important as what we create. This means I invest heavily in creating the infrastructure that allows great work to happen consistently. I'm intentional about building systems that turn good design into impact, from prioritization frameworks that align with company goals, cross-functional processes that eliminate friction, and team structures that work with the nuances of each organization. The systems I build depend on the size and maturity of the business—early-stage companies need lightweight processes that can evolve quickly, while more mature organizations require more structured frameworks that can handle complexity and scale across multiple teams. If we can't operate effectively within complex organizations, no matter the size, even great design work will have limited impact.

Finally, I view a large part of my role as a design leader is to ensure that design is involved in strategic conversations from the beginning—not just when execution decisions need to be made. It is important to me to build strong relationships with executives and cross-functional leaders so that when big decisions are being made, the user perspective is already part of the conversation. Most importantly, I try to absorb organizational complexity so my teams can focus on impact, taking on the responsibility of navigating shifting priorities and alleviating uncertainty. The result is a design organization that doesn't just execute well—it actively shapes where the business goes next.

My approach to people management centers on understanding what uniquely drives each person and creating opportunities that align with their growth aspirations. Rather than prescriptive management, my goal is to share institutional knowledge and strategic context that enables people to make better decisions independently. My support style adapts to what each person actually needs. Where some thrive with autonomy and benefit from being a thought partner, others need more structured guidance or help navigating organizational complexity.

When managing, I stay as close to the work as needed, balancing modeling craft excellence and design leadership while ensuring indepdence and learning opportunities for the individual. The goal is to develop people who can tackle challenges beyond what they thought possible while building capabilities that will serve them throughout their careers, whether that means transitioning from management back to individual contributor work, leading strategic initiatives, or connecting with external mentors who can teach them things I can't.