Important Considerations for Hiring Senior Executive Design Leaders

Hiring a senior design executive like a VP of Design, a CDO (Chief Design Officer), or DEO (Design Executive officer), can be tricky for most companies. These are new roles and they require very specific mindsets and a lot more ability to influence and inspire than most senior executive leadership roles.

Design as a competency, in most larger companies, still has to “earn” a seat at the cross-functional decision making and strategic influencing table. This is why it is important to find an empathetic senior design executive. They have to inspire their entire team to help “prove” the value of design by being diligent collaborators, bold and curious customer advocates, and talented creatives. But that is not enough, they also need a solid track record of making good, data-informed business decisions.

Senior executive design leadership roles do more than just set the tone for the design organization. They establish the culture of design for the entire company.

It is great to see that there are a few companies, like Salesforce and IBM, that have embraced and understand that giving design a voice at the highest executive level yields better customer and business outcomes.

When your organization is ready to make this leap, remember this when hiring for the role. Just being talented creatives, proven innovators, or good business leaders alone will likely not create the impact and value your business needs. The right candidate needs to be all of those things and more.

#Inspiration #innovation #design #culture #ux #businessmindset #influence #strategicdesign #visionary

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