The Design Strategist as Leader: Navigating the “High-Tech” and the “High-Human” in the Design Enterprise

Design culture celebrates outcomes but sometimes masks the complexities of the design process. The field of design strategy has emerged from the design enterprise and its intersection with business. Design strategists bring added rigor to the design process while bridging the cultures of design teams with the needs of users and clients. Through their mix of skills and ability to navigate different stakeholder demands, design strategists play an important leadership role. Technology provides design strategists with advanced tools that amplify key skills such as imagination, visioning, empathizing, communicating, researching, and sensemaking. However, a key skill in design strategy is knowing when to deploy increasingly advanced technology to engage with stakeholders and knowing when to lean on the uniquely human side of design expertise. As leaders, design strategists succeed when they guide external stakeholders to decision-making and clarity while guiding internal stakeholders to learning and competence. We reflect on the role of the design strategist as leader by drawing from the recent past to the present, where normalization of virtual communication has changed the traditionally hands-on nature of design work. We offer guidance on what to anticipate in the years ahead as technology and AI continue to embed more deeply into the design enterprise.