CAN DESIGNERS LEAD DESIGNERS? What's missing to Designers become Team Leaders? can we divert EGO?

I will start by stating that most of the Designers lack leadership skills! after more then 25 Years of working actively in the Design Business and knowing the Design Academia from inside, i have a clear idea that Design Leadership is not everyone's "comfort zone"! More, i've just meet a few Designers that became great Design Leaders! The fingers of one hand count them all...

Today i only have questions or Food for Thought, i still looking for the right answers or models, i only have a starting Statement:

There is huge different between being a Design Manager or a Design Leader" ... We have Great Design Managers or Design Directors but just a few Design Leaders...

Lets do the following exercise: let's look at a few Leadership definitions and try to question ourselves trough the lenses of the Design Leadership principles:

Peter Drucker - "Leadership is lifting a person's vision to high sights, the raising of a person's performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations." - Can Designers see beyond their one personal vision, imagination and truth? Are we/they able to support and empower the Design teams on the development of a common or shared vision? Can Designers address the issue of Building the Team member persona and performance in depth thinking on each person skills, needs and knowledge? or their interest is only to Transform and Adapt the Team member to his/her own persona, meaning, aiming that he/her do perform towards the Design Leader advantage?

John Kotter - "Leadership defines what the future should look like, aligns people with that vision, and inspires them to make it happen, despite the obstacles." - Do Designer Leaders acknowledge that Leading is about this ability to experiment and build future scenarios and continuously work on the transformation and evolution of our individual and collective/shared vision? Or Design team Leaders confuse concept of Design Leadership with Design Project Management? Are we able to understand the linkage between strategy and operationally? And what about Inspiring, do Design Leaders have a clear understanding that an inspiring leader is more then somebody who promotes a "fun" environment, or that just brings to the team "book examples and cases" to inspire the team member? I even dear to ask: do the Design Team Leaders community ever start to question themselves on their leading persona? who they are as leaders or even who they aim to be as a Leader? Are they savvy on information about Leadership, Group Dynamics, Personality Characteristics for example? Of course Being and Inspiration to other is also connected to reputation, respect regarding your career, your work mainly your experience, but is that enough? Do Designer Leaders know about spotting and anticipating obstacles? are they trained to overcome them?

Henry Kissinger - "The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been." - Do Design Leaders understood that Design Leadership is not the same that Design Management? Are today's Design Team Leaders from Companies or even from the Academia aware that Leading is not the same has getting the job done? Or that is not about managing time tables or just monitoring implementation timings? Today is about Leading the team to Change the rules and behaviours in order to Change the existing Norms of Society, of Design and, of course, Changing Organisations! Do Design Leaders embrace their most importante job of all, being the power of change inside each and every organisations, from Academia to Social Sector and Lead the Disruption from "see of normality"that most organisations have turned into? Do they understand that to achieve such goal you need to get your team to the "Unknown and the Uncomfort zone"?

Napoleon Bonaparte -  "A leader is a dealer in hope." - Do Design Leaders realised that Being an Disruption and Game-changer Leader implies that you leave the focus from dealing with managing competences, skills, knowledge and processes and step-up to managing Cognitive models and Individual/ Collective Behaviours? Are Designer Leaders willing to get educated and trained on such topics? Are Design Leaders able to let hand for the Design skills mastery to became experts on Managing and Leading people by their new skills of Relationship, Network, Connectivity and Engagement, based on Trust, Empathy, Purpose, Meaning, Growth compromise and Impact?

CAN ANY LEADER DIVER EGO?

Two Years ago i have created together with 2 Academics and Friends, Professor Filipe Castro Soeiro e Professor Rui Cruz an Online Master course on Leadership for UELD

We start by defining an initial Conceptual Statement (see figure) focusing on what should be an educational Journey for anyone that wanted to became a Better Leader now-a-days.

We Stated a very clear Departure and Arrival point - From a Individual Leadership Viewpoint to a Social "community" driven Leadership viewpoint, based on achieving four Leadership Profiles: Leading, Influencing, Adapting and Learning, based on the following transformations:

• From Individual goal to New Social Vision
• From Individual Experience to Social Experimentation
• From Individual Mindsets to Collective Mindset
• From Individual Beliefs to Community Driven Beliefs
• From Individual Skills to Social Skills
• From Individual Knowledge to New Social Knowledge
• From Individual Expertise to Master Expertise

To Support the Students Journey we also developed a four step learning ladder:

• Persona (ME - Know Ourself) - Became a more Inspiring and Ignitor Leader
• Relations (WE - Know and Envolve the Other) - Became a more Collaborative and development Leader
• Connect (TRIBE - Create a tribe) - Became a more Opportunity and Expansion driven Leader
• Engage (Networking - Put our team on the Map) - Became a more Influential and Sustainable Growth Oriented Leader

I strongly believe that the same approach and shift is needed to transform Design Managers, Design Project Managers and Design Academia Leaders into Design LEADERS in the full sense of the wording.

I can only give the following example. At DELLI - Design Lusofona Lisboa we have developed and implemented a DESIGN LEADERSHIP model.

The Design Course Directors Luis Alegre and Filipe Luz, initially, and myself has Head of Research worked together and still work continuously on the future oriented vision for our Programs. From our degree to the research center and master course (including the new Master Course Director), all are thought and designed to "look forward not behind" or to "look Beyond Design in itself". Our Students are constantly awaken to the reality of the Design Leadership opportunities in today's and tomorrows market Macro and Micro Scenarios.

Américo Mateus - HEAD OF RESEARCH at DELLI - Design Lusófona Lisboa -

DELLI Research Haus Director

HEI_LAB - digital Human Environment Interactions Vice-Director