The Four Archetypes of the Complete Design Leader (with Peter Merholz)

“Many designers don’t realize the challenges their leader faces.”

Peter Merholz is the VP of Design at Snagajob and co-author of “Org Design for Design Orgs”. He previously co-founded Adaptive Path, which is now part of the Capital One Design. In between all of this, Peter was also Funsize’s first client during his time at Groupon.

It’s been a couple of years since Peter’s been on the Hustle Podcast and we’re really excited to have him back. On this episode, Anthony and Peter chat about designing design teams, Peter’s new talk “The Four Archetypes of The Complete Design Leader”, design job titles, why Product Management is the new User Experience, and more.

More on Peter’s Four Archetypes of Design Leadership:

As designers become design leaders, they need to leave behind what made them successful and embrace new approaches to their work. And when they realize just how much there is to do, it can feel overwhelming. In this talk, Peter draws upon 20 years of leading design teams to provide a memorable framework for understanding all aspects of the role. As a Coach, you manage down to get the most out of your team. The Diplomat manages across, developing relationships with functional peers. The Advocate manages up, championing their team's work to executives and other stakeholders. And the Architect figures out the tools and frameworks necessary to support the design organization as it scales.

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