18 JUN 2024 · Any podcast episode that begins with “I was born in Dalton, Georgia, the carpet capital of the world…” must be a good one!  Throughout Season 2 of this series, host Doug Powell is speaking with guests who have established themselves as leaders in design and then have become leaders in a completely different space. Nobody embodies this leadership journey more than Doug's guest for this episode, Bill Grant. Bill is the founder and president of Grant Design Collaborative, the award-winning design firm he has led for over 30 years, and he’s a former national president of AIGA, the professional association for design in the U.S. Bill is also serving his second term as mayor of Canton, Georgia, the small town outside of Atlanta where he lives and works.     In this wide-ranging conversation, Bill discusses his early influences as a designer, and how he has brought his core qualities as a designer into public service and civic leadership with remarkable success. In a time when many small towns are struggling, Canton is thriving under Bill Grant’s leadership, and now proudly carries the moniker of the coolest small town in America. 

4 JUN 2024 · One of the best design books of 2023 was https://www.chroniclebooks.com/products/centered, a remarkable collection of essays, interviews, and stories compiled and edited by my guest for this episode Professor Kaleena Sales. This amazing book spans geographical regions and cultures from Alabama to India, and from Kurdistan to Zimbabwe, illuminating designers, techniques, ideas, and artifacts that have previously gotten little or no attention by the established western design community. The book provides important context for all leaders building inclusive, human-centered design teams and programs.  Kaleena Sales is Associate Professor of Graphic Design and Chair of the Art & Design Department at https://www.linkedin.com/, a historically black university in Nashville. Her research and writing are rooted in racial justice and equity, with a specific focus on the ways culture informs aesthetics. Kaleena and host Doug Powell are joined in the second half of the episode by one of the contributors to Centered, Sadie Red Wing, a Lakota/Dakota graphic designer and advocate from the Spirit Lake Dakota Nation. Sadie teaches at https://www.linkedin.com/ in the Graphic Design and Indigenous Visual Culture programs.

21 MAY 2024 · Episode 2 of the new season is a continuation of our discussion with Kate Aronowitz of Google Ventures and Robert Fabricant of Dalberg. In part two, we dig deeply into a pair of articles written by Robert for Fast Company about the state of design leadership by examining the wave of contraction that has happened across the tech industry, and the emergence of grass-roots communities of designers seeking connection and guidance. 

14 MAY 2024 · Season 2 of https://www.linkedin.com/feed is underway! This opening episode is a special two-part discussion featuring design leaders https://www.linkedin.com/feed of https://www.linkedin.com/feed and https://www.linkedin.com/feed of https://www.linkedin.com/feed.  In part 1, we dig into Kate’s and Robert’s design backstories, and discuss the growth and expansion of design as a practice and a profession in the last two decades, including the important issue of leadership succession. We also begin to explore Robert’s recent https://www.linkedin.com/feed articles about the state of design leadership. Part 2 of the episode will post in your podcast feed early next week.

30 APR 2024 · Season 2 of This is a Prototype: The Design Leadership Podcast is coming soon!  The practice and profession of design in scaled companies continues to evolve in unexpected ways, and the role of the design leader in that evolution is more important than ever to the success of our teams and organizations.  In Season 2 of This is a prototype, host Doug Powell continues to speak to the top design leaders in the industry about their life and career journeys into design. And he broadens the scope to explore cultural intersections in design; how design leaders are driving change in their communities; and how emerging technologies are changing our practices and our teams. Doug's guests in season 2 will include: Kaleena Sales Sadie Red Wing Kate Aronowitz Robert Fabricant Rich Hollant Bill Grant Jonathan Hanahan  ...and many more!

5 DEC 2023 · My guests for this Season 1 finale episode are https://www.linkedin.com/in/doreenlorenzo/ and https://www.linkedin.com/in/mbiyimoh-ghogomu-1b900672/. Doreen Lorenzo is a pioneering design leader who is the Assistant Dean of the School of Design and Creative Technology at University of Texas, a role she started in 2016. Prior to joining UT, Doreen was the longtime President of Frog Design, one of the largest and most established global design consultancies in the world. Doreen is a columnist for Fast Company where she writes the Designing Women column profiling brilliant women in the design industry. Mbiyimoh Ghogomu is the co-founder and CEO of https://www.tradeblock.us/home/discover, the marketplace for collectible sneakers. Founded in 2019 the company has amassed more than 250,000 users and over a million sneakers available for trade on its digital platform. Tradeblock has raised more than 10 million dollars in VC funding. Mbiyimoh founded the company with childhood friends Tony Malveaux and Darren Smith after starting his career as a content design intern at IBM Design. This episode was recorded live at the offices of https://argodesign.com in Austin, Texas. Supporting partner for the live event was https://www.pearl.us.com, the digital platform for proactive, effective, and inclusive hiring.

20 NOV 2023 · My guests in this episode are two legendary design leaders, https://www.linkedin.com/in/annwilloughbydesign/ and https://www.linkedin.com/in/mauroporcini/. Ann Willoughby is an https://www.aiga.org Medalist who has been a leading voice in design for over five decades. In 1978 she founded Willoughby Design, one of the first woman-owned design firms in the US. In addition to her leadership of this award-winning firm, Ann has been an advocate for countless community organizations and academic programs throughout her career. Mauro Porcini is the first-ever Chief Design Officer of https://www.pepsico.com where he is infusing design thinking into the company’s culture and leading a new approach to innovation by design that is impacting it’s vast portfolio of products and brands. Mauro is also the author of the book https://www.amazon.com/Human-Side-Innovation-Power-People/dp/1523002883/ref=asc_df_1523002883/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=564685171189&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=15244288722044142360&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9028278&hvtargid=pla-1673722434404&psc=1&mcid=700a921301013eedbb96eaa3051dc7bf&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI1KPQsIvTggMV6zfUAR0uxgxZEAQYASABEgKOZfD_BwE. We cover a remarkably wide breadth of topics from the important role leaders play in the building of company culture, to how designers respond to emerging technologies. Ann and Mauro share some delightful and inspiring stories about the people who have shaped their journeys as leaders. I open the episode with a special bonus segment: A short clip of a conversation I had recently with https://www.linkedin.com/in/omari-souza-b483187/, founder of the https://www.thesobd.com, which is happening for the first time ever as a live, in-person event March 15-16 in Nashville, Tennessee.

7 NOV 2023 · Executive design recruiter https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomscottt/ is the founder of https://verified.beehiiv.com, the publisher of the weekly newsletter Verified Insights, and the host of the new podcast, Verified Insider. Tom recently interviewed me for a future episode of Verified Insider, and in this episode I combine my interview of Tom for my podcast, with a preview of his interview of me for his podcast. Tom and I discuss the reasons design leadership roles are often not set up for success—from inadequate funding and resources, to scoping of the mission, to lack of clarity around what value design can actually bring. Tom explores the critical role recruiters can play in helping companies shape their vision for design leadership.

24 OCT 2023 · https://www.linkedin.com/in/rama-gheerawo-5567483/ is the director of the https://www.rca.ac.uk/research-innovation/research-centres/helen-hamlyn-centre/ in the UK, and the author of a book that should be on all of our reading lists, https://www.amazon.com/Creative-Leadership-Born-Design-Designing/dp/1848225105. In his book, Rama asks not only whether designers can actually be leaders, but whether we can in fact be better leaders because of our creative capabilities and qualities. If you’ve listened to any previous episodes of this podcast, you know that this is one of the central questions I’ve been asking with all of my guests. In this episode, Rama and I go deep on the epidemic of impostor syndrome among design leaders, and we explore his framework for creative leadership that’s built on the principles of Empathy, Clarity and Creativity. Rama also shares with us some inspiring world leaders who embody these principles.

10 OCT 2023 · “How is design infiltrating business in a new way? How is it reaching every inch of the of the business?" —Nicole Gull-McElroy What are the central stories in the design industry today, and how is the business media covering them? In this POV Edition, I speak with journalist Nicole Gull-McElroy, who reports on the intersection of business and design for Fortune, Fast Company, and Wired, among other publications. Nicole was the lead editor for Fortune’s “By Design” newsletter, and last January she wrote https://www.fastcompany.com/90841632/what-do-the-big-tech-layoffs-mean-for-designers examining the effects of designer layoffs in the tech industry, which is one of the tangents we explore together in this wide-ranging conversation. ---------------------- https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-gull-mcelroy-3995a41/ is a freelance journalist based outside of Philadelphia. Having completed her MS in journalism at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, Nicole started her career covering breaking news at various daily newspapers throughout the South and Midwest before taking staff jobs Inc. and Men's Journal magazines. She's written for Fortune, WIRED, and Fast Company, covering the ways business and design intersect, and for a time handled the Business x Design newsletter at Fortune.