Becoming an effective design deader is possible, and it takes practice to reduce uncertainty in that transform.
Design Twitter is at it again. The debate over who is or isn’t a designer is in full force. “We’re all designers.” “Only designers are designers.” “There are no designers.”
This is not a new debate, and personally, I do not understand what or who this debate serves, but I know this debate does not help me. It does not spark joy.
If you’re a design leader, is this really a debate at your organization? Are your business, product, and engineering partners having this debate? Is this debate reducing your levels of anxiety or stress? Increasing them? If you are a design leader, are you struggling daily with other things, like self-doubt?
Strong Design Twitter voices are seemingly able to navigate any issue they are confronted with. Often though, their proposed solutions lack nuance and often come from a very privileged place. I don’t believe this debate is helping with the pragmatic and applicable ways design leaders can overcome self-doubt.
As a result, this Design Twitter debate seems to compound insecurities in individuals rather than level-up the design community as a whole.
Self-doubt is a real thing. Over the years, I have met many capable and brilliant designers who were crippled by it. Even as they transitioned into design leadership roles, self-doubt, and imposter syndrome not only remained, it magnified. I, too, can relate.
Effective transformation from designer to design leader starts and ends with nuance. The most effective design leaders I know leverage nuance to overcome self-doubt in five steps:
- Ground oneself with objective feedback
- Practice new skills every day
- Ask for help
- Get help in safe spaces
- Rinse and repeat
Sounds easy, right? But where to start if you haven’t already?
We are all transforming into something, and transforming into a better design leader is possible. I believe helping design leaders with pragmatic and applicable ways to transform can help overcome self-doubt. I think introducing new types of training and education for design leaders is needed.
This is why I launched CDO School. Our courses are designed to help design leaders move from self-doubt to confident with pragmatic and applicable approaches. Graduates have gone on to become a better partner, a better collaborator, and a better leader — with or without Design Twitter approval.
CDO School is not for everyone, but it might be for you. If you know someone who might benefit, I hope you’ll share this with them.
