We need new leaders who can imagine new projects/concepts in order to create new institutions and solutions

My first clue is written on the sentence above that opens this Medium and it's part of my last presentation named "becoming a design leader". As I said, we've been talking a lot about this subject. :P

As we've learned with Matrix, everything that surrounds us and is not natural has been designed by someone (I'm not judging the design quality, just pointing a fact). And, if we believe it's not working, we need (can, should) to redesign it. We need to redesign the atoms and bytes with which we interact, we need to redesign the rituals and ideas which support and empower us. We, designers? Not only, for sure (we can talk more about it later)!

Design Leadership, the ability to guide the new.

For me, Design Leadership is more about how to encourage and engage others to create something meaningful, impactful, and new than just a response to the massive (and growing) number of designers and design teams inside organizations. Yes, it's important. Not essential.

"Only 6% of C-level executives say they’ve successfully managed to embrace new businesses activities without hesitation". Make your Wise Pivot to the New, Accenture 2018

In a world where change is imperative, how can we create an organization ready to navigate this volatile environment? Studying* designers, leaders, and design leaders I've found four types of team relationships with their leaders and vice versa as the image below.

The first type is the so-called ‘hero leader’. This type occurs when we find some creatives who prefer to work in a more isolated way, but that does not mean that they are not available to help others, on the contrary, they are always available to pass on knowledge and develop (few) people. Is driven by action, autonomy, and inspires the team by their craft and abilities.

The second is the 'inspiring leader'. Understand that the best way to lead is by pulling the team to do something new. They are always looking for a new challenge and understand that he/she needs to make way for the team to grow. They use their ability to see and sell the new in order to do so. Leads by inspiration and provocation and is driven by lucidity, envisioning, and autonomy.

The ‘teammate leader’, understands that leadership is contextual and needs to give up space for everyone to play this role. They are partner leaders who likes to spend time with their teams — driven by collaboration, frankness, perception, and responsiveness.

The last is the ‘coach leader’. They get their team ready to walk on their own. Without needing anyone to lead or guide them. They are leaders who likes backstage and prefers to give the stage to the team — driven by frankness, perception, responsiveness, and lucidity.

Regardless of one’s leadership style, it is most important (and advisable) to be able to navigate among the 04 according to the maturity and context of the team.

New teams or teams that are going through several changes as M&A, new market development, country's expansion, will need leaders like 'inspiring' and or 'teammate'. On the other hand, more experienced teams that can navigate alone, but the company is trying new ventures (new offerings, products, services) or new markets, will need a hero and a coach, for example.

The connection of these leadership styles observed two attitudes. They are Engagement Attitude, where leaders inspire and provoke change by selling the idea of new and thus connecting with all the audience. The other is Encouraging Attitude, where leaders guide people to innovate and thus support organizations and people to evolve.

These Attitudes help teams work in a more participatory and integrated way and thereby innovate more. Or, at least risk more. They bring more confidence to individuals and also enable them to live in ambiguity and duality (comfortable space for designers). Essential characteristics for this ever-changing world where nothing more is certain as used to (or we had the impression of) be before.

As leaders will be crucial to understand not only how to navigate these 04 styles but, especially, how to invite designers and non-designers to do the same. Studying a Swiss fashion brand how they use design strategically, the most surprising fact during the visit was that everyone on the production line was considered a designer. As I walked along the assembly line, the CEO introduced each person to me, saying, “He is a designer.”

In the end, I asked if they were trained designers, and he told them they are not. They have a design mindset. “Each one has responsibility for our ultimate goal of having products in use and not in the shelve. Every decision made since the raw material selection is a design decision because it affects the final product quality directly. And they know it,” said the CEO.

The team empowerment was apparent and the ability to work design end to end, also. Design as a final result, as a process, as a strategy, and more important, as an attitude. Being a designer is about attitude. Attitudes can be transmitted to any individual who wants to navigate in an ever-changing environment. Being a design leader is about unleashing these attitudes, encouraging and engaging others to create the new.

I've observed, talked, and worked with over 900 designers for the last 20years and used it as a baseline study for my EMBA thesis at the Berlin School of Creative Leadership.