How I work

My brand of international design leadership revolves around the knowledge that successful design teams are built on a foundation of empathy and curiosity.

Add to this a belief that building products and services that outperform even the most bullish projections is a choice that starts with team make-up and ways of working.

To achieve this I focus primarily on two areas:

1. Understanding shifts and movements

Continuously studying the larger underlying shifts and movements happening across our cities and societies (long before they become trends) is fundamental to good design and good design leadership.

An understanding of current affairs, urbanism, ecology, culture, technology, finance and more is key in order to have lasting impact. Done right, this provides a team's true purpose, guides its hiring, and ensures that relevant work gets done.

2. Listening to people

Regardless of people's backgrounds, abilities, age, orientations or formal qualifications (or lack there of), the art of listening saves time, improves fact finding, translates abstract issues to concrete actions, and builds cohesion.

This applies to team members, as well as clients, audiences and those who are not identified as a project's audience but who will be directly or indirectly be affected by what is being designed.

Sustained success

By identifying what is needed, desired and possible (see point 1 above) and doing so in an inclusive manner (see point 2) I help design teams grow, and their products and services evolve, through unexpected yet viable human centred means.

Done right change is positive, tangible, measurable, actionable and an evolution of what came before it. Ultimately this is the foundation of sustained success in design leadership.