Dinner with Design Leaders: How Setting the Table Sparks Innovation and Growth

Sometimes it’s as simple as setting the table for dinner.

Picture this: it's a chilly winter evening, 6:30 pm, and instead of winding down, you're gearing up for an appointment you wouldn't dare miss. Tonight, you're dining with friends and colleagues who, like you, navigate the highs and lows of leadership across various industries.

Why the excitement? As you ascend the leadership ladder, opportunities to discuss topics like recruiting, talent development, acquisitions, market insights, and the state of education become scarce. These gatherings fill that void, offering a creative space for meaningful conversation.

About 6 or 7 years ago, I started meeting with Mauro Canziani almost monthly. We'd grab lunch or coffee, catch up, challenge each other, and exchange tips on everything from solving issues to what to read or listen to as we grew.

We've debated the pros and cons of joining an MBA program, but neither of us has taken the plunge yet. Instead, we’ve explored discipline-specific training opportunities, led a community together, and even planned a design training course where we taught over 100 students. Some joined our teams, some became leaders themselves, and many are now part of our circle of colleagues and acquaintances.

This journey has been delightful for many reasons, but one key aspect is sharing a meal. We started with coffee shops and casual restaurants, but soon we enjoyed meeting at places where food was more than just a sandwich. We even had home dinners where one or both of us would cook.

And that’s where hospitality kicks in. How do you make those moments an experience of fun, pleasure, creativity, debate, and idea exploration, while keeping the whole experience in focus?

Post-pandemic, with a growing need to connect and share experiences, we scaled up our experiment. Last year, we created the UX Dinners—yes, not the most creative name, but efficient. I hosted two dinners at home. One thing we discovered is that we often forget to take pictures because we’re so engaged in great conversations.

For the first two editions, we were five participants: Mauro Canziani , Inés Carriquiry , Valentina Estévez , Germán Rivas , and myself. Just last week, Mauro hosted dinner at his place, and this time Carlos Gaucher Etorena joined us.

We had a fantastic time, touching on multiple topics, and Mauro prepared delicious fillings for our burritos. I’m already looking forward to the next one. Coordinating it isn’t too hard. Sure, picking a date that works for everyone can be complex, but what isn’t these days?

Could it easily be the UX asado (barbecue)? Absolutely! It’s just a matter of finding the right place. Could we meet at a restaurant? Sure, especially if the group grows, it would make things simpler. But what should never disappear, regardless of the setting, is that round conversation where everyone adds their perspective.

This makes me wonder:

• Have you tried something similar? How did it work? For how long? How frequent?
• What did you learn? Were attendees engaged? Did you ever feel the need for more structure, space, or frequency? Less frequency?
• How big are your groups? How do participants join in? How do you organize the topics? How do you ensure everyone has a voice?

Here are some key takeaways from this edition:

• Creating the spaces you need is sometimes simpler than it seems.
• As with most things in life, start small, then grow.
• Diversity always adds to the blend. Those who have joined these dinners lead design teams in service provider agencies as well as enterprise software or fintech, banking, and logistics products and startups.
• Identifying friends and colleagues with whom to grow and challenge your thoughts and next steps is always useful.

?? Thank you

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Andrés Richero has over 20 years of experience at the crossroads of Design and Software. He heads a global team of Design and Research professionals for an enterprise software platform. For the past decade, Andrés has focused on Design Leadership, Community Building, and Practice Development. Proudly, he's Uruguay’s top mentor on ADPList.