The focus of this research is sharply on the C-Suite, and the executives that sit on it who are often called Top Management Teams (TMT). The focus is not on the CEO nor the Board of Directors for a number of reasons. There seems to be quite a lot of research on CEO’s, from many different approaches, ranging from career path, diversity, ethics, gender, training, skills, salary, etc. While it is great that Designers desire and work towards becoming CEO’s, research says you don’t become a CEO unless you have some sort of executive experience in relevant companies.
These executives are not necessarily in charge of everything going on in these organizations, we agree with descriptions of large organizations driven by executives as much as by external forces.
According to many, the C-Suite should be concerned with establishing a common worldview as the basis for decision-making, broadly prioritizing initiatives, allocating resources and managing dependencies, areas of concern in line with what it is believed design can and should impact, on the other hand the type of activity and broad role Designers need to own in order to shape design growth and impact.