Aiyemobisi ‘Bisi’ Williams—co-founder of Massive Change Network with Bruce Mau—shares her expert advice on how to foster change through collaboration and leading by design.
Design is Leadership: Lead by Design
Design often falls into the ho-hum status of how things look and feel. It’s true, the world notices the sleekness of a smartphone. The coolness of a Tesla. The hipness of a font. But what happens instead when design is lifted a bit higher and seen as a way to save the world?
It sounds grandiose, if not far-fetched, because we tend to think of the planet’s salvation as every problem solved in one fell swoop. But the process of design is really applicable to any challenge, and its tools are available to everyone. So if we all design one thing at a time, one solution after another, we can begin to understand that we truly can design a better future—before it even happens.
To me, that’s inspiring. And at Massive Change Network, the global design consultancy I co-founded with Bruce Mau, this is our first principle. We believe that to succeed, design must inspire. It needs to gather people up in its beauty and bring them along in the embracing vision of a better world.
We believe that to succeed, design must inspire. It needs to gather people up in its beauty and bring them along in the embracing vision of a better world.
It’s an optimism that’s actually fact-based. Our work is grounded in extensive research and close collaboration, incorporating ideas and perspectives from all levels of our studio and our clients’ organizations. It brings a diversity of roles and skills to the table, and at that amazing intersection of disciplines, we look for inspiration. And always find it.
The notion of design is expanding. It’s no longer about how things appear, but how something works. Design (if we dare to confine its wonder to a single word) gives us a process to align who we are with what we do, on every level. And that tends to reveal our Superpower.
Yes, Superpower. Each one of us has one. We possess an inherent strength, a talent, an insight, a piece of the greater solution to make even the most evil thing more beautiful. We just need to know how to use it. We can make the invisible visible, and when we visualize the challenge, the unseen obstacle to a better future, we can begin to articulate it.
To design a good life? That’s magical.
Design sends a message. And today, everything communicates. How we do things expresses who we are. It is ever more important to articulate it, so that you can align that understanding at every level of an organization. When you do that, you assume a mantel of design leadership. And if we don’t do that, if we simply fail to design, we design for failure.
The internet launched an age of transparency. We can no longer hide behind a scripted front because anyone can access information that demonstrates who we are. And that’s a big change: the explosion of information. In minutes, we can see what’s already been done and what others have tried. And because of technology, we can combine our Superpowers and collaborate as never before, even as a team spread across the globe.
Design is a mindset that is available to all.
There is power in numbers. Two heads being better than one is an enlivened maxim in the 21st century. And with innovation as the new normal, change is accelerating. Not only for creatives, but everyone. Anyone can be a designer. We can all take up the tools of design. It’s a skill set, it’s an imperative, and it’s wonderfully democratic, too—design is a mindset that is available to all.
Look, it’s just how I feel. Design is change. And together, we can change the world with design.
Image Credit:
Aiyemobisi ‘Bisi’ Williams portrait sourced from the Massive Change Network website