Episodes
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“We keep thinking that things are supposed to be static, but it’s always changing. It’s about reinvention and seeing the beauty in that.”
As we’ve discussed throughout Season 2 of this series, we’re in the midst of a challenging time for the global design industry that is causing many established design leaders to face unexpected change and uncertainty — many for the first time in their career.
My guest for this episode, Jenna Date, is a pioneering design practitioner, entrepreneur, educator, consultant and executive design leader. With deep experience leading design and innovation programs in the healthcare industry, Jenna also spent a decade teaching at the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. More recently she has relocated to Burlington, Vermont where I met her on a recent visit to that city.
Jenna has navigated changing circumstances many times in her long career, and she brings a refreshing candor to our discussion, openly sharing the challenges and joys of professional and personal reinvention. Together we discuss the emotional strain we’re seeing in many of our design leadership peers, the increased need for supportive community connections, and specific tactics for approaching mid-career job searches. -
Throughout this season of the series I’ve been speaking with leaders who have used their design superpowers in community and civic leadership roles, and in this episode I continue that thread in my conversation with Richard Hollant.
In 1988 Richard founded CO:LAB as a design consultancy with a focus on brand design and product launches. Over time the firm moved from its original home in Boston, to Hartford, Connecticut, and has shifted its focus from brand design to social impact work, engaging with community and cultural organizations in Hartford and across Connecticut. CO:LAB has won awards from PRINT, HOW, and Cause/Effect among others, and Richard has been featured in Business Weekly, Communication Arts, and Fast Company. A longtime leader in AIGA, the professional association for design in the US, Richard was appointed Commissioner of Cultural Affairs for the City of Hartford in 2017, and during the Covid pandemic he was tapped by the Mayor of Hartford to lead the strategic reopening of the arts, culture, and recreation throughout that city.
In 2019, Richard founded Free Center—a collection of rehabilitated community spaces providing free access to arts, culture, trauma healing, and advocacy programming in forgotten neighborhoods across Connecticut. -
Missing episodes?
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I caught up with my guest for this episode, Daniela Marzavan, in the middle of an 8 week design road trip she is taking through Europe with her partner and 2 children—she’s calling it the Traveling School of Design Thinking.
Based in Portugal, Daniela, is a self-described “pracademic”, fluidly straddling the line between design practice and design education. Daniela is fluent in 7 languages, and puts many of those languages to use in a practice that takes her across Europe and around the world working with universities, startups, scaled enterprises, NGOs, and governments, infusing these organizations with design thinking, innovation, and human-centered ways of working. Daniela is the co-author of the new book Creativity for a Sustainable Future, which seeks to harness the power of creativity as a driving force for positive change in complex environmental, social, and economic problems.
We covered a lot of territory in this discussion, and I really enjoyed getting Daniela’s refreshing perspective on the trends she is seeing in the global regions she’s working in—trends that don’t always match what we see in parts of the design industry dominated by North American tech companies. -
“I think that this idea of cross-functionality may be a legacy framework.”
Throughout this season of the series I’ve been looking at the impact of AI and other emerging technology on the future of design and design leadership, and I’ve been particularly interested in examining this through the lens of some of the top academic design programs in the US. I find that looking at how students are learning design in the classroom can be a great predictor for how they will show up in the workplace in the years ahead, which of course will have a major impact on how our design teams and scaled design programs will operate.
My guest for this episode is Vivek Rao, director of the new Masters of Engineering in Design & Technology Innovation program at the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University. A mechanical engineer by training, Vivek spent his early career at the design and innovation consultancy IDEO. He then did his PhD studies in design, innovation, and emerging technology at the University of California Berkeley, before joining Duke in 2023.
We discuss the core idea of cross-functionality—blending design with engineering, business, data, marketing and other disciplines—a quality that Vivek himself embodies, and is instilling in his students. -
In recent years AI has become the dominant disruptive force for businesses and scaled organizations in every industry and global region, and it’s having a dramatic effect on the profession and practice of design. Over multiple episodes this season, I’ll be examining the impact of AI on design and design leadership from a variety of angles.
In this episode I look at how AI is showing up in the academic design environment. How are students responding to the possibilities presented by AI, and by the immediate access they have to it? How are design educators integrating AI into their curricula, coursework, and programs? Importantly for design leaders, what does all of this tell us about the generation of designers who will be stepping into the profession—and into our teams—in the years ahead?
My guest for this episode is Professor Jonathan Hanahan of the Sam Fox School of Art & Design at Washington University in St Louis. Jonathan brings a deeply technical practice and experimental approach to teaching design—an approach that is sometimes at odds with the more traditional craft-oriented graphic design foundation that the Sam Fox School is built on and known for. Later in the episode, we’ll hear about the new cross-disciplinary graduate design program just launched at the school. -
Any podcast episode that begins with “I was born in Dalton, Georgia, the carpet capital of the world…” must be a good one!
Throughout Season 2 of this series, host Doug Powell is speaking with guests who have established themselves as leaders in design and then have become leaders in a completely different space. Nobody embodies this leadership journey more than Doug's guest for this episode, Bill Grant. Bill is the founder and president of Grant Design Collaborative, the award-winning design firm he has led for over 30 years, and he’s a former national president of AIGA, the professional association for design in the U.S. Bill is also serving his second term as mayor of Canton, Georgia, the small town outside of Atlanta where he lives and works.
In this wide-ranging conversation, Bill discusses his early influences as a designer, and how he has brought his core qualities as a designer into public service and civic leadership with remarkable success. In a time when many small towns are struggling, Canton is thriving under Bill Grant’s leadership, and now proudly carries the moniker of the coolest small town in America. -
One of the best design books of 2023 was Centered: People and Ideas Diversifying Design, a remarkable collection of essays, interviews, and stories compiled and edited by my guest for this episode Professor Kaleena Sales. This amazing book spans geographical regions and cultures from Alabama to India, and from Kurdistan to Zimbabwe, illuminating designers, techniques, ideas, and artifacts that have previously gotten little or no attention by the established western design community. The book provides important context for all leaders building inclusive, human-centered design teams and programs.
Kaleena Sales is Associate Professor of Graphic Design and Chair of the Art & Design Department at Tennessee State University, a historically black university in Nashville. Her research and writing are rooted in racial justice and equity, with a specific focus on the ways culture informs aesthetics.
Kaleena and host Doug Powell are joined in the second half of the episode by one of the contributors to Centered, Sadie Red Wing, a Lakota/Dakota graphic designer and advocate from the Spirit Lake Dakota Nation. Sadie teaches at OCAD University in the Graphic Design and Indigenous Visual Culture programs. -
Episode 2 of the new season is a continuation of our discussion with Kate Aronowitz of Google Ventures and Robert Fabricant of Dalberg.
In part two, we dig deeply into a pair of articles written by Robert for Fast Company about the state of design leadership by examining the wave of contraction that has happened across the tech industry, and the emergence of grass-roots communities of designers seeking connection and guidance. -
Season 2 of This Is A Prototype: The Design Leadership Podcast is underway! This opening episode is a special two-part discussion featuring design leaders Kate Aronowitz of GV (Google Ventures) and Robert Fabricant of Dalberg.
In part 1, we dig into Kate’s and Robert’s design backstories, and discuss the growth and expansion of design as a practice and a profession in the last two decades, including the important issue of leadership succession. We also begin to explore Robert’s recent Fast Company articles about the state of design leadership. Part 2 of the episode will post in your podcast feed early next week. -
Season 2 of This is a Prototype: The Design Leadership Podcast is coming soon!
The practice and profession of design in scaled companies continues to evolve in unexpected ways, and the role of the design leader in that evolution is more important than ever to the success of our teams and organizations.
In Season 2 of This is a prototype, host Doug Powell continues to speak to the top design leaders in the industry about their life and career journeys into design. And he broadens the scope to explore cultural intersections in design; how design leaders are driving change in their communities; and how emerging technologies are changing our practices and our teams.
Doug's guests in season 2 will include:
Kaleena Sales
Sadie Red Wing
Kate Aronowitz
Robert Fabricant
Rich Hollant
Bill Grant
Jonathan Hanahan
...and many more! -
My guests for this Season 1 finale episode are Doreen Lorenzo and Mbiyimoh Ghogomu.
Doreen Lorenzo is a pioneering design leader who is the Assistant Dean of the School of Design and Creative Technology at University of Texas, a role she started in 2016. Prior to joining UT, Doreen was the longtime President of Frog Design, one of the largest and most established global design consultancies in the world. Doreen is a columnist for Fast Company where she writes the Designing Women column profiling brilliant women in the design industry.
Mbiyimoh Ghogomu is the co-founder and CEO of Tradeblock, the marketplace for collectible sneakers. Founded in 2019 the company has amassed more than 250,000 users and over a million sneakers available for trade on its digital platform. Tradeblock has raised more than 10 million dollars in VC funding. Mbiyimoh founded the company with childhood friends Tony Malveaux and Darren Smith after starting his career as a content design intern at IBM Design.
This episode was recorded live at the offices of argodesign in Austin, Texas.
Supporting partner for the live event was Pearl, the digital platform for proactive, effective, and inclusive hiring. -
My guests in this episode are two legendary design leaders, Ann Willoughby and Mauro Porcini.
Ann Willoughby is an AIGA Medalist who has been a leading voice in design for over five decades. In 1978 she founded Willoughby Design, one of the first woman-owned design firms in the US. In addition to her leadership of this award-winning firm, Ann has been an advocate for countless community organizations and academic programs throughout her career.
Mauro Porcini is the first-ever Chief Design Officer of PepsiCo where he is infusing design thinking into the company’s culture and leading a new approach to innovation by design that is impacting it’s vast portfolio of products and brands. Mauro is also the author of the book The Human Side of Innovation: The Power of People in Love with People.
We cover a remarkably wide breadth of topics from the important role leaders play in the building of company culture, to how designers respond to emerging technologies. Ann and Mauro share some delightful and inspiring stories about the people who have shaped their journeys as leaders.
I open the episode with a special bonus segment: A short clip of a conversation I had recently with Professor Omari Souza, founder of the State of Black Design conference, which is happening for the first time ever as a live, in-person event March 15-16 in Nashville, Tennessee. -
Executive design recruiter Tom Scott is the founder of Verified, the publisher of the weekly newsletter Verified Insights, and the host of the new podcast, Verified Insider. Tom recently interviewed me for a future episode of Verified Insider, and in this episode I combine my interview of Tom for my podcast, with a preview of his interview of me for his podcast.
Tom and I discuss the reasons design leadership roles are often not set up for success—from inadequate funding and resources, to scoping of the mission, to lack of clarity around what value design can actually bring. Tom explores the critical role recruiters can play in helping companies shape their vision for design leadership. -
Rama Gheerawo is the director of the Helen Hamlyn Center for Design at the Royal College of Art in the UK, and the author of a book that should be on all of our reading lists, Creative Leadership, Born from Design. In his book, Rama asks not only whether designers can actually be leaders, but whether we can in fact be better leaders because of our creative capabilities and qualities. If you’ve listened to any previous episodes of this podcast, you know that this is one of the central questions I’ve been asking with all of my guests.
In this episode, Rama and I go deep on the epidemic of impostor syndrome among design leaders, and we explore his framework for creative leadership that’s built on the principles of Empathy, Clarity and Creativity. Rama also shares with us some inspiring world leaders who embody these principles. -
“How is design infiltrating business in a new way? How is it reaching every inch of the of the business?"
—Nicole Gull-McElroy
What are the central stories in the design industry today, and how is the business media covering them?
In this POV Edition, I speak with journalist Nicole Gull-McElroy, who reports on the intersection of business and design for Fortune, Fast Company, and Wired, among other publications. Nicole was the lead editor for Fortune’s “By Design” newsletter, and last January she wrote an excellent article for Fast Company examining the effects of designer layoffs in the tech industry, which is one of the tangents we explore together in this wide-ranging conversation.
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Nicole Gull McElroy is a freelance journalist based outside of Philadelphia. Having completed her MS in journalism at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, Nicole started her career covering breaking news at various daily newspapers throughout the South and Midwest before taking staff jobs Inc. and Men's Journal magazines. She's written for Fortune, WIRED, and Fast Company, covering the ways business and design intersect, and for a time handled the Business x Design newsletter at Fortune. -
“Leadership is really a generosity of spirit. When you care about not just yourself but you care about those around you, and you’re willing to go that extra mile to make others around you successful, it becomes clear you are ready for leadership.” —Janaki Kumar
Throughout Season 1 of the series, we’ve been digging deeply into the hidden, and often surprising characteristics of leadership. Those leadership qualities—actually those human qualities—that don’t come from a text book or a classroom. That’s one of the themes I explore with my guests on this episode, Janaki Kumar and Stefanie Kubanek.
Janaki Kumar is Head of Design at JP Morgan Chase’s Commercial Bank, and previously was head of the Design and Co-Innovation Center at SAP Labs. A thought-leader on design-led innovation in the enterprise, Janaki co-authored the book Gamification at Work – Designing Engaging Business Software. She has spoken at numerous industry conferences and academic programs, including Stanford’s Graduate School of Business where she teaches Customer Experience Design.
Stefanie Kubanek is a New York and Munich-based designer and design educator whose work is inspired by her native-German roots and global perspective. After initially studying goldsmithing, Stefanie completed her Industrial Design studies at the Royal College of Art, and went on to spend a decade at the London office of Pentagram. In addition to running her own design consultancy, she is now Visiting Senior Lecturer at Cornell Johnson Graduate School of Management in Ithaca, NY, and at Cornell Tech in NYC. -
“I’m incredibly appreciative of the people that took a moment and said ‘here’s some things you’re probably gonna want to learn if you want to go farther.’”—Heidi Munc
Among the core themes that is emerging in Season 1 is the importance of mentorship, coaching, and sponsorship for design leaders. That’s one of the topics I explore in this wide-ranging discussion with my guests, Heidi Munc and Gus Granger.
Heidi Munc is a user experience expert and creative problem solver with over 20 years of experience. As Vice President of User Experience at Nationwide, Heidi leads a team of ~100 user experience professionals who are accountable for all aspects of experience strategy and design.
Gus Granger is an accomplished and award-winning brand strategist and graphic designer who has led both agency and in-house teams in an impressive range of leadership roles across various organizations including 70kft, VSA Partners, and Cyxtera. -
“[Design leadership] requires a level of self-awareness…that is unlike the vast majority of other business functions.”
In episode 3 of This is a Prototype, I take a slightly different approach to the format with the first of what I’m calling “POV Editions.” Here I look at design leadership through a more analytical lens with the help of a single guest who has a distinctive…point of view on the field.
In this first POV Edition, I speak with design strategist, consultant, and community leader Sarah Clearwater, who I met on my recent visit to Auckland, New Zealand. Sarah is the founder of REFRAMR, a boutique design agency, and the instigator of the CX Collective, a vibrant community of designers and leaders in Auckland. She has also published Perspectives on Design & Leadership (available on her website linked above), an excellent report which surveys more than 25 design leaders across New Zealand and contains insights that extend globally.
Sarah and I explore the unique aspects of design in New Zealand, we discuss those important superpowers of design leaders, and we get into the often jarring transition design leaders face when going from “on the tools” to “on the team.”
Sarah Clearwater
Sarah is an accomplished design strategist and change agent who understands how to bridge the gap between design and business, elevate the value and impact of design work and help organisations navigate rapidly evolving markets.
With an international career spanning four countries, three languages, and two continents, Sarah has gained extensive experience in positioning organisations for success through customer-centered strategies. Over the past decade, her client list has included a diverse set of industries, including banking, insurance, telecommunications, FMCG, not-for-profit, government, and education. -
As the early episodes of “This is a Prototype” roll out, some fascinating themes are beginning to emerge, including the surprising power of family in the life and career journeys of design leaders.
In the second episode, I speak to Ashleigh Axios, Chief Experience Officer and an owner of Coforma and previous Creative Director and Digital Strategist in the Obama White House, and Chris Hacker, Chief Design Officer of Hacker Design Group, and previous Chief Design Officer at Johnson & Johnson. Ashleigh and Chris reflect on their early influences and share pivotal moments of success, failure, and learning in their remarkable careers.
How did designing and building the float for the Labor Day parade in small town Ohio plant the seeds for future design leadership? Check out Episode 2 of “This is a Prototype” to find out, and let me know what you think! -
“Throughout my life here, there have been a lot of people who have created safe passage for me as a professional through my design career.” Ruki Neuhold-Ravikumar
In the first episode of This Is A Prototype: The Design Leadership Podcast I speak to Antonio Garcia, Chief Innovation & Strategy Officer at TXI, and Ruki Neuhold-Ravikumar, president of the Kansas City Art Institute. We cover a wide range of stories about what it takes to be a leader in this new era of design, including those many jobs, experiences, and people that shaped our design journeys.
I’m excited to present the first episode of This Is A Prototype, and eager to get your feedback!
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Antonio García is Chief Innovation & Strategy Officer at TXI, a remote-first digital strategy and product innovation firm. Previously Antonio held leadership roles at Rightpoint, Gravitytank, and Firebelly Design and he’s the creator and host of The Dadwell Podcast, exploring the intersection of creativity and fatherhood.
Ruki Neuhold-Ravikumar is the President at the Kansas City Art Institute, a landmark, higher educational art and design institution in Kansas City, Missouri. Originally from Chennai, India, Ruki is a dynamic administrator, educator, thought leader, and award-winning designer focused on reimagining education, improving exposure to creative career pathways, and increasing access to knowledge at cultural institutions. She has previously served in leadership roles at the Smithsonian Institution and the University of Central Oklahoma. - Show more
