Leadership is just another
design problem.
Let’s solve it together.
“Working with Jesse has been a transformative experience for me.
As someone aiming to refine and elevate my skills in design leadership at the C-suite level, Jesse’s coaching offered precisely what I needed to succeed—insightful guidance on developing leadership through influence and expertise.”
— Head of Design, financial services industry
I’ve been leading UX design teams and advising executive user experience leaders for more than 25 years—as a UX consultant, agency founder, and in-house UX design leader. I’ve seen organizations of all kinds from the inside out, from huge multinational companies all the way down to small community organizations. Today, I apply all of that experience to private design leadership coaching, helping leaders evolve their skills to deliver better outcomes.
Private leadership coaching
Too many design leaders feel they have to leave their creative selves behind when they reach the executive suite. In private one-on-one sessions over a 6-month program, we’ll tap into the creative spirit that enables your growth and success.
Small group coaching
Design Leadership Studio is a 6-week deep dive for you to get directed guidance on your leadership challenges with insights and support from a small group of fellow design leaders.
Monthly roundtable discussions
Once a month throughout the year, I’m bringing together groups of up to 20 design leaders for a series of topic-focused conversations to illuminate a broader perspective on design leadership.
“I came out of my six months with Jesse a much stronger and more confident leader. Jesse created a safe space for genuine connection and the ability for me to be vulnerable and get to the root of what thought patterns and behaviors hold me back. I have a crystal clear vision for what I want for my future and thanks to Jesse I know I will realize my full potential!”
— Head of Design, enterprise software industry
Less noise, more signal.
Less reaction, more intention.
If you’ve decided it’s time to stop trying to find your place within someone else’s vision—and time to start defining and moving towards a vision of your own—working with me can help you get clarity on your long-term objectives and turn them into actionable near-term tactics.
Congratulations, you’re in charge—now what?
Every UX design leader faces a new level of challenge when they become the head of design. To the business, you’re the face of design as a function, and its fate in the organization is now bound to your own. Within the design team, you’re now managing other managers, with their own needs for power and autonomy. And both are looking at you as if to ask: Whose side are you on?
Read “Head of Design: Day One” »
Finding your own authentic leadership style
Many become executive design leaders without ever having had good mentors or models for effective leadership—but lots of negative examples they’d like to avoid. Conflicting advice from management gurus who don’t understand the particular needs of design leaders can only confuse things more. Getting clear on how to lead means getting clear on your own strengths, and optimizing for them. More on private coaching »
Building solid partnerships and healthy teams
Engaging the leaders around you is essential for any UX design leader’s success, and for executives it can be critical. Your team’s effectiveness relies on your ability to develop trust and goodwill across the organization, not just within your team. But your designers need your help as well, to develop the team cohesion and resilience necessary to take on the unknown and unexpected together. More on executive leadership skills development »
Public client testimonials from LinkedIn
“Jesse’s guidance has been a guiding light, illuminating the path toward effective, empathetic, and impactful design leadership. I am deeply grateful for Jesse’s mentorship, which undeniably propelled me towards becoming a more resilient, influential, and visionary design leader.”
Faz Besharatian on LinkedIn
“Jesse always made me feel supported and heard. Instead of trying to emulate the leaders of other fields around me, I’ve been able to explore what fits me. Jesse’s guidance helped me feel less alone when it comes to the things that are important to me.”
Tarryn Lambert on LinkedIn
“Professional guidance on my career path has been a game changer. Being intentional and acting to find someone that is there to support my particular vision and context has been tremendously positive. Thanks Jesse!”
Selene Castilla on LinkedIn
Satisfied clients. Real results.
People love both the process of working with me and the change it can create in their lives. Here’s what they have to say about it:
Jesse is an incredibly supportive and thoughtful coach who leads with empathy and heart. I left our sessions feeling both seen and heard. He helped me identify key blockers to achieving my goals and adjust my mindset and strategies to tackle them.
—Principal designer, online media industry
The impact of Jesse’s coaching has had real results – I’m being recognized at work, and suddenly finding myself influencing a cultural shift at my organization in just a few short months.
—Senior Manager, financial services industry
“Experiencing Jesse’s sustained focus and listening in our regular 1-on-1 sessions was life-changing. Receiving his perspective on my day-to-day life as a design professional was just a bonus. I’ll continue learning from our time together for decades to come.”
—Research lead, consumer electronics industry
Read more client testimonials here ☞
Book your free Exploration Session
In this free one-hour Zoom session for potential clients, we’ll explore your situation and your goals together to discover how coaching can help you achieve them. Here’s what one client said about just this one free session with me!
“Jesse has some sort of sixth sense for leadership situations. Through a single conversation he was able to untangle a bunch of disparate symptoms, insightfully put things in order, and guide me to a diagnosis of a months-long issue. This uncovered a clear path to a solution and was probably the most productive hour of the entire year!”
Latest writings on design leadership
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How AI is evolving design practice: Andrew Hogan on Finding Our Way
Designers have been caught between speed and quality since long before toolmakers started telling us we didn’t have to choose. But with AI-driven automation making its way into design processes, that tension is surfacing in unexpected ways. “People feel like they’re a lot more efficient when they’re using AI in their design process, but they
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Responding to the AI mandate
You’ve seen the all-staff emails. The mandate coming down from C-suite executives regarding AI is overwhelmingly consistent: “Figure out how to use it or you’re fired.” These people are telling you they don’t know what they’re doing. Executive leaders literally do not know how AI tooling might impact their teams, their metrics, their outcomes. There
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Rising above AI mediocrity: Teresa Torres on Finding Our Way
The easier it is to create something, the more important human discernment becomes. But when it’s hard, when technical expertise is necessary to achieve an outcome, that serves as a sort of forcing function. Getting to an outcome requires a significant investment of time and energy to develop the acumen to both understand a problem
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Optimism for the future of design: Dr. Lesley-Ann Noel on Finding Our Way
We didn’t talk much about AI in our conversation with Dr. Lesley-Ann Noel on the latest episode of our design leadership podcast Finding Our Way, but maybe that’s because AI really set the context for the whole conversation. As Dean of Design at OCAD University, Dr. Noel has to keep adapting her programs to prepare
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The AI opportunity for digital design agencies
For most of my early career in the 90s and 2000s, design agencies were the leaders. They could attract the best talent, they had the most mature processes, and they had the ability to try new things and break new ground that internal teams (who were then still small and new) couldn’t muster. Then I
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Talking AI and UX on FOW
Every design leader, no matter what size your team, needs a point of view on AI. Now. Maybe you haven’t yet felt the pressure from your executives (or your team) to articulate a perspective on where this new technology can be applied to create the most value. If so, you are part of what I
Bio
Jesse James Garrett has been one of the most prominent voices in digital product design for more than 20 years. His career highlights include co-founding the groundbreaking UX consultancy, Adaptive Path; writing the foundational book The Elements of User Experience, whose iconic five-plane model has become a staple of the field; and defining Ajax, the dynamic interaction model that transformed web technology and design in the Web 2.0 era. His work has been published in more than a dozen languages and he is a frequent keynote speaker on making designers and organizations more human-centered in their work.
Finding Our Way
Finding Our Way is the new design leadership podcast from Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz, co-founders of Adaptive Path.
Jesse James Garrett 