There's a myth that designers aren't suited for business leadership.
After 20 years leading at Apple, EA, USAA, and Nestlé, I can tell you: the myth is backwards.
Designers have advantages most business leaders lack.
The Creative Leadership Advantage
Comfort with ambiguity. Business problems rarely have clear answers. Designers practice ambiguity every day. Starting a project without knowing where it ends? That's Tuesday.
Systems thinking. Designers see connections—how one change ripples through user journeys, business models, technical constraints. Strategic leadership requires exactly this.
Empathy as strategy. Understanding what motivates your team. What concerns your stakeholders. What markets actually want. Designers are trained in empathy. Most MBAs aren't.
Prototyping mindset. Test before committing. Make it tangible. Learn fast. The best business leaders do this. Designers do it instinctively.
Craft discipline. Caring about quality when "good enough" would ship. That translates to execution excellence.
Skills to Develop
Financial fluency. Read a P&L. Build a business case. Understand unit economics. Not to become a finance person—to hold your own in those rooms.
Organizational navigation. How do decisions actually get made? Formal process is one thing. Real power flows are another.
Executive communication. Shorter. More decisive. Conclusions first, supporting detail if they want it.
Building teams. Hiring. Developing. Feedback. Hard conversations. The human side of leadership.
The Path Forward
- Expand scope intentionally. Volunteer for problems adjacent to design.
- Build relationships across functions. Finance, Sales, Marketing, Operations.
- Develop a point of view on the business. Not just design—the business.
- Find sponsors, not just mentors. Sponsors advocate for you in rooms you're not in.
- Take stretch opportunities. They're uncomfortable. That's the point.
Why Now
Customer-centricity matters more than ever. Innovation is a competitive requirement. Ambiguity is the new normal.
These are environments where creative leaders thrive. The designers who develop business skills now will lead the industry in five years.
Develop creative leadership: