Join 3000+ Designers worldwide who are empowering organisations to transform how they are designing and delivering services.
I’m the founder of the Human Centered Design Network and the creator of This is HCD, the leading human-centered design podcast with over 1.5 million downloads. We empower organisations worldwide with expert design training and coaching for executives, designers and teams.
Before You Launch the Balloons: Seeing the Whole System First
Hello Reader, In 1986, Cleveland set out to break a charitable world record. 1.5 million balloons launched together, rising in a colourful cloud of civic pride. The city was buzzing – volunteers, sponsors, crowds cheering as the balloons lifted off. School children were drafted in to help blow up balloons and everyone was excited to revel in the feel-good factor of collectively helping Cleveland break the world record. And then… chaos. The weather turned, the balloons didn’t drift away but...
Training as Seeds, Capability as the Garden
Hello Reader, Most organisations treat training like a quick shot of espresso. More often than not it's not intentional. But it's usually in the whispers around lunchtime, where people ask for advice on how to incorporate and apply service design thinking and doing into their day to day. A burst of energy, a few new tools, and then… back to business as usual. This is the stuff we want to avoid. But here’s the truth: a single training session is only ever a seed. Seeds are important — they...
Community Update: Pricing Changes Coming 1st November 2025
Private Community Pricing increase effective 1st November 2025 Hello Reader, If you’ve been on the fence about joining our private community, now’s the perfect time to jump in. On 1 November 2025, our annual membership (Personally Funded) option will go from €199 to €299. We’ve thought long and hard about this change, and here’s the good news: everyone who’s already a member keeps their current price for life. No increases. No surprises. Just a thank-you for being part of the journey early...
Charting New Waters: Announcing My Upcoming Book, The Design Compass
Hello Reader, I’ve been holding onto this one for a while, and I’m so excited to finally share it: I’ve signed a publishing deal with BIS Publishers in the Netherlands to write my first book. It’s called The Design Compass (working title) and it will be out in 2026. This book has been quietly brewing for years. If you’ve ever joined one of my courses, listened to the podcast, or been part of a workshop, you’ll know I talk a lot about design not as a neat, linear process, but as a voyage—one...
Part 4 of 4 - Sustaining Yourself and the Team
Hello Reader, Series contentsPart 1 - The Mindset (last week)Part 2 - Tactics for EnablementPart 3 - The Emotional ChallengePart 4 - Leadership Tools Hello Reader, We’ve walked through the arc: the mindset shift (Part 1), the tactics to enable others (Part 2), and the messy reality of leadership (Part 3). Now comes the hardest part: sustaining yourself and your team over the long run. Leadership isn’t about making a single leap into management — it’s about learning how to keep going, to lead...
Part 3 of 4 | Letting Go of Control
The Emotional Challenge Hello Reader, Series contentsPart 1 - The Mindset (last week)Part 2 - Tactics for EnablementPart 3 - The Emotional ChallengePart 4 - Leadership Tools If Part 1 was about the mindset shift and Part 2 about the tactics, Part 3 is about the human cost of stepping into enablement. Because let’s be honest: this isn’t just an intellectual exercise. It’s an emotional one too. Well it is and it was for me. Most design leaders built their identity around the craft. We were the...
Part 2 of 4 | Why Saying “No” Makes You a Better Design Leader
Closed Doors Vs Open Doors Hello Reader, Series contentsPart 1 - The Mindset (last week)Part 2 - Tactics for EnablementPart 3 - The Emotional ChallengePart 4 - Leadership Tools If Part 1 was about the why — making the uncomfortable but necessary shift from doer to enabler — Part 2 is about the how. Mindset alone won’t change much unless you put new practices in place that reinforce it. This is where design leadership becomes less about heroic delivery and more about building the scaffolding...
Part 1 of 4 | Unlock Your Leadership Potential
Closed Doors Vs Open Doors Hello Reader, Series contentsPart 1 - The MindsetPart 2 - Tactics for EnablementPart 3 - The Emotional ChallengePart 4 - Leadership Tools Most design leaders begin where we all do: in the craft. We often get recognised and promoted because we’re good at the craft itself. Back in 2008, I was lucky to have a mentor, Luke Schreur — a software engineer and one of the sharpest, kindest thinkers I’ve known. He told me something that’s stuck ever since: organisations have...
The Young and Old Test: A Simple Check for a Meaningful Path
Closed Doors Vs Open Doors Hello, Reader, Last week I wrote about cultivating teams and why I lean towards hiring optimists — the people who see open doors rather than closed ones. This week, I want to zoom out and look at something a bit more personal — not about who you hire, but about how you measure your own path. I came across something recently called The Young and Old Test. The idea is beautifully simple: • Would the child you once were be happy with the person you’ve become? • Would...
Optimists, Pessimists, and the Secret to Cultivating a Great Team
Closed Doors Vs Open Doors Hello, Reader, Hiring the right people is one of the hardest and most impactful things you’ll ever do as a design leader. I’ve seen brilliant strategies and well-funded programmes stall because the wrong mindsets got in the door. I’ve also seen lean, under-resourced teams punch far above their weight because they were filled with the right people — not just in skills, but in outlook. Over the years, I’ve found myself coming back to one trait, almost unconsciously,...
I’m the founder of the Human Centered Design Network and the creator of This is HCD, the leading human-centered design podcast with over 1.5 million downloads. We empower organisations worldwide with expert design training and coaching for executives, designers and teams.