3. Effectiveness – This is not the best/ right place for designers to lead design, too many distractions.

This insight generally describes an argument that the C-level position is not the best place for designers to lead design, that there are too many matters and practices that impact design’s effectiveness in the company, too many so-called ‘distractions’. The term effectiveness was purposefully chosen instead of efficiency, following a classic definition the effectiveness is […]

2. Necessity – There is no need, design is already represented, these corporations are at the top of their game.

This insight generally describes a corporate context where there is no need for a designer in a C-suite position, design is already represented in some shape or form by one or more executives, these corporations are at the top of their game, so it is arguable that they don’t need a designer in this position. […]

How did you arrive to the list of insights?

Since the 1:1 interviews started with the broader question, we began collecting insights, and these started to populate a list that was clustered into several topics. For every 3 guests that mentioned the same insight, we created a shortlist which at a certain point had 3 main insights. As the conversations with guests proceeded, so […]

So, why there aren’t more designers in the c-suite of large corporations?

The list of insights generated is done so in a statement format, almost as they were stated by the interviewees directly or implicitly. Research and reflection was conducted as if these were hypothesis, in some cases results pointed clearly towards a response, but in others the response was elusive, and in other cases there are […]

Were you satisfied with the sample composition and size in his research?

We believe we formulated a focused research question, and what was apparently a good idea, to research design leadership in F50 corporations because they have a lot of credible public data due to the intense scrutiny they are under, turned out to be a limiting factor for exactly the same reasons. These corporations, exactly because […]

Was there misalignment between the two surveys?

Both surveys had a number of questions in common, and though they were not written in the exact same way, the data collected is comparable and allows juxtaposing and insight generation. The three areas that both surveys addressed were: •           State of design in the company they worked in •           design definitions •           Insights impacting […]

What about the Senior/mid-career designer survey?

We designed a longer survey aimed at senior/ mid-career designers in medium/ large corporations, this time soliciting support from organizations that associate designers in different domains. This survey had forty multiple answer questions covering eight sections: •           Demographic data on the respondent •           The company/ corporation they work/ worked •           Education and training •           Career […]

How did the executive survey go?

We designed, along with an organization specialized in tracking executives in large corporations a short executive focused survey on Designer leadership in large corporations. The survey had to be short due to the nature of the target respondents, large company executives with very little time to spend on non-essential activities, and the partner we co-designed […]

Any recurrent arguments in the conversations?

There are three arguments that have come up since the first time we articulated this inquiry, one is that things are a lot better than they were in the past, the second that these things take time, the third that some of the design managers in N-2/3/4 are in fact important design leaders, managing often […]

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