How to be a good design leader? / Todd Wilkens / Episode #136

The answer was simple... "It gave me the opportunity to start doing things the way I really thought they should be done." That's what Todd Wilkens said when I asked him why he decided to take on a leadership role. I think that every service design professional out there wants to have more influence on the decisions that are being made. Because you are the one who is fighting to do the "right thing" for your users. Who can argue against that right? Well in reality it's not that easy. When you want more influence, moving into a leadership position is almost a must. But what does this even mean? And is it a career step that you should consider? In this episode Todd takes us along his transformational journey from being a design practitioner to becoming a design leader. You'll learn about the mistakes he made along the way and now is slowly recovering from. I have to admit that this is quite a unique perspective that hasn't been shared on the Show often. So if you're interested in having a greater influence on the decisions around you, this is an episode you definitely don't want to miss. What I took out of our conversations was how we should hold on tightly to the things that designers do really well. Especially when we move into a different role within the organisation. --- [ GUIDE ] -— 00:00 Welcome to episode 136 03:00 Who is Todd 04:45 60 second rapid fire 06:45 What's in store 08:45 Start of the journey 12:15 The opportunity 17:30 Making the jump 23:15 New responsibilities 28:00 Lessons learned 32:15 A better approach 39:30 Tradeoffs and compromises 42:45 What to look for 46:45 It will change you 48:15 The first step 51:15 Closing thoughts --- [ LINKS ] --- * https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddwilkens/ --- [ HOW TO EXPLAIN SERVICE DESIGN ] --- Learn what it takes to get your clients, colleagues, managers, CEOs and even grandmas as excited about service design as you are. https://servicedesignshow.com/free-course