Orbiting the Giant Hairball

When I posted about Design Thinking my career in September, the journey has been - as expected - some highs, a few lows, and a lot of clarity. 

There’s a silver lining to witnessing the transformation of design and experience from the sidelines.

I’m ready to get back in, and now I know what I need to say.

So much has been focused on what we do/don’t do in our field. We debate whether Design Thinking is dead, whether what AI can replace, the intractable “ROI of Experience” 

LinkedIn post: 

If you’ve had a hard time making sense of why this is happening,

I made this video for my future employer. 

When things are bad, companies retreat to their power core.

My dream job, the one that I aspired to around 15 years ago when I was this home in Experience and it fle, is to be a CXO of a mid-sized company.  

If there’s one thing I love about @tim letscher (there’s a lot to love) it’s that he’s been an incredibly astute passer of wisdom at just the right time.

He’s introduced me to meditation (Sam Harris’s Waking Up app), to Stoic journalling, and books like The Lion Hunter’s Guide to Life.  He’s often shared these gems during a conversation where, as an empathetic listener, he sees where I’m at, looks within his mental library of life hacks, and suggests the perfect solution.  He’s gifted in this way.

The book he sent me over the holidays is worth sharing here because it gives me a way to anchor some thoughts I’ve been challenged to share on LinkedIn.

It’s called Orbiting the Giant Hairball, and if you’re a design leader in 2024, I strongly suggest you read this book.

George worked at Hallmark, and he heard that there was a group called “X” that was making edgy stuff. Hallmark being such a strong, traditional brand, the CEO didn’t like what they were doing BUT it was making them heaps of money. So they were given permission to explore and, pardon the pun… push the envelope on how to grow Hallmark. 

He called it “Orbiting the Giant Hairball” and reading this book, at this time, crystallized the explanation of what it is we do, and given the current state of tech, goes a long way in explaining why designers aren’t seen as vital the current climate.

Many of you have heard me say “If it’s a question of designing the lamp or keeping the lights on, keep the lights on”.  In times of uncertainty, company executives retreat deep inside to the hairball, where it’s familiar, safer.  And, in turn, employees that see this, they smartly follow suit. Keep your head down, do what we always do. Get it done. Let me be 100% clear here: No one here is evil. This is human nature, and for many campanies with serious short term solvency issues, it’s a tough but necessary move to pare down. 

It’s not ‘just’ the Experience Strategy, Research and Design teams that are hit hard. Many others have been disproportionally hit. But I believe our community is one of a few that are meant to orbit the hairball.  YES, we need to support existing efforts. YES, we need to ensure the current CX and EX are vital.  But if a company wants to grow, or change, or transform to remain relevant, and retain loyalty in this globally competitive, companies need us to straddle the core business but stay far enough outside the orbit of it. 

With decades of seeing the best and worst support of design leadership, there’s a hard truth that is indisputable - unless you have entrenched monolopy  business/product is literally the only choice for customers, be warned: transcending the confines of corporate gravity is not just a choice but a necessity. Design leaders must possess the agility and vision to navigate beyond the gravitational pull of traditional corporate structures, enabling them to chart new territories and foster innovation.

Operating outside of corporate gravity entails breaking free from entrenched mindsets and bureaucratic inertia. It requires daring to warmly challenge the status quo, to question orthodoxies, and to embrace ambiguity as an opportunity for growth. Design leaders help cultivate a culture of experimentation and risk-taking, where failure is viewed not as a setback but as a stepping stone towards progress. You should WANT this for your company. Today “experimentation and risk-taking” are used as perjoratives. 

Moreover, operating beyond corporate gravity demands a keen understanding of the broader ecosystem in which the organization operates. Design leaders must forge connections with external stakeholders, from customers and partners to industry experts and thought leaders. By tapping into diverse perspectives and insights, they can infuse their strategies with fresh ideas and unconventional approaches.

Crucially, operating outside of corporate gravity means prioritizing human-centric values and outcomes. Design leaders must champion empathy, inclusion, and sustainability, ensuring that their initiatives resonate with the needs and aspirations of people. By placing  customer humanity at the heart of their endeavors, they can create experiences and solutions that are not only innovative but also meaningful and impactful.  

In essence, design leaders who operate outside of corporate gravity are catalysts for transformation. They inspire their teams to think boldly, to challenge assumptions, and to push the boundaries of what is possible. By transcending the gravitational pull of the status quo, they pave the way for a future where creativity, empathy, and purpose converge to shape a better world.

I have spent 20 years Orbiting the Giant Hairball.  I owe my career to @Lynn McMahon for seeing that I didn’t fit the traditional mold of a management consultant. She saw my potential, and gave me the first set of keys to a never-used Usability Lab and sent me in orbit. She knew that, and supported it.

I will always stay within an orbit that keeps me tied to the power core of a business. I know how to tranverse the Hairball. But the more I’m given real agency to orbit, the more I offer. The more I’ll do. The better opportunities to grow your hairball. 

Many C-suites/ELTs are gifted at sounding positively evangelical in their noble beliefs in the importance of customer-centricity.

They invest in design and experience talent, hire CDO/CXO/Heads of Design/Experience.

Those leaders seed their teams with top talent.

They might not even fully understand the value of design as a business growth engine, but at some point they’ve been convinced this is a vital asset.

In good times, this fuels top-line growth.

But when market conditions stifle growth, and layoffs not only become common, but are now talked about on earnings calls as efficiency gains, it’s clear that a race to the bottom-line.

Then they have an earnings calls, where they must answer to their shareholders.

Shareholders … not so much.

Because a lot of what Design does takes time. With the incredible advances in tools and methods that have grown over the years, it’s far less time than even a decode ago.

But often the biggest, boldest moves take are not on the same timeline as shareholders 

If given the choice between a solid Quarterly return and a transformational experience initiative that might take a year or two to fully realize, who can blame a shareholder for seeking personal gains now over long-term company investment.

YOU CAN ONLY CUT THE BOTTOM LINE SO FAR. 

Then you bottom out

You destroy the culture.

You expect that that