Finding Our Way

By Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz

What's Finding Our Way about?

UX design pioneers and Adaptive Path co-founders Peter Merholz and Jesse James Garrett discuss the evolving challenges and opportunities for design leaders.

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Finding Our Way episodes:

05.18.2024
47: Seeking Balance (ft. Koji Pereira)
Koji Pereira, Chief Design Officer for Brazilian fintech Neon, joins Peter and Jesse to talk about his career journey from Brazil to Silicon Valley and back again, finding the balance between speed and quality, and strategies for making the design...
05.05.2024
46: Leading with Clarity (ft. Vuokko Aro)
Vuokko Aro, VP of Design for the UK's popular digital-only bank Monzo, joins Peter and Jesse to talk about shifting your design approach as your company scales, building a true peer relationship with product leadership, and creating a sense of...
04.24.2024
45: The Phase Shift
Jesse and Peter grapple with the prevailing discourse around design leadership, the shift occurring from what design has been to what it is becoming, the ego death necessary for leaders to embrace their potential, and the opportunity for professionalism.
03.25.2024
44: The Mindful Executive (ft. Christina Goldschmidt)
Christina Goldschmidt joins Peter and Jesse to reflect on her first 60 days on the job as the newly appointed VP of product design for the music industry giant Warner Music Group. She offers thoughts on getting up to speed...
03.09.2024
43: Leading Enterprise UX for LEGO Group (ft. Rebecca Nordstrom)
LEGO's Rebecca Nordstrom leads the team designing the software they use to produce those billions of little bricks. She joins us today to talk about bringing UX to the factory floor, measuring success when user adoption is mandatory, and the...
02.23.2024
42: Leading From Trust (ft. Cynthia Savard Saucier)
Peter and Jesse are joined by Cynthia Savard Saucier, co-author of the book Tragic Design and VP of UX for the Canadian e-commerce giant Shopify. We talk about what's worth fighting for and what's not, sharpening the business acumen of...
02.05.2024
41: Leading Experience Design for the Military (ft. Colt Whittall)
In this episode, "mission critical" takes on a whole new meaning when you're the Chief Experience Officer for the United States Air Force. The first person to take on that role, Colt Whittall, joins us to talk about getting things...
01.19.2024
40: The Cross-Trained Design Leader (ft. Rajat Shail)
Hardware design, software design, package design, experience design. Rajat Shail oversees all of it for home automation company Vivint. Rajat joins us to share what he's learned about managing design as a holistic function, the benefits and pitfalls of using...
05.31.2023
39: Reflections on the State of Design Leadership (Season 3 finale)
In this episode, Peter and Jesse reflect on the conversations they had with senior design leaders, the themes that emerged, the challenges facing design leaders today, and our hope for a brighter future.
04.12.2023
38: The Craft-led Design Executive (ft. Tim Allen)
n this episode, Peter and Jesse speak with Tim Allen, Global Head of Design and Research for Instacart, about his craft-forward approach to design leadership, how psychological safety enables innovation, partnering with strong operations leaders, and how growing up Black...
03.20.2023
37: From Design Leadership to Product Leadership (ft. Che Douglas)
In this episode, Peter and Jesse speak with Che Douglas, who has shifted from VP of Design to VP of Product for Booking.com, the world's leading travel website. Che talks about the cultural and functional relationship between product and design,...
03.06.2023
36: The Chief Design Officer as Corporate Executive (ft. Jehad Affoneh)
In this episode, Peter and Jesse speak with Jehad Affoneh, Chief Design Officer of Toast, on topics ranging from the what it means to be an executive, how accountability is shared across functions, the importance of aiming metrics at...
12.19.2022
35—The Actualized Design Executive (ft. Daniela Jorge)
In this episode, Peter and Jesse speak with Daniela Jorge, Chief Design Officer at PayPal, about vision, delivering on an end-to-end customer experience, growing and developing the next generation of leaders, taking advantage of design skills such as facilitation, and...
10.09.2022
34: Design leadership to support organizational transformation (ft. Rachel Kobetz)
In this episode, Jesse and Peter speak with Rachel Kobetz, Global Head of Design for Expedia Group, about how at the core of her role is organizational transformation, how intentionality is at the core of every action, and the importance...
09.18.2022
33: Leading Design in a Product World (ft. Greg Petroff)
In this episode, Jesse and Peter are joined by Greg Petroff, Chief Design Officer at Cisco Secure, and former design executive at GE, ServiceNow, and Compass, who shares with us his experiences in elevating Design's voice in the product development...
09.05.2022
32: The Intentional Design Executive (ft. Kaaren Hanson)
Kaaren Hanson, Chief Design Officer at Chase Bank, joins Peter and Jesse to discuss her approach to being a design executive, including what components need to be in place for success, how she coaches her teams, what she's learned to...
08.25.2022
31: Sustaining yourself as a design executive (ft. Katrina Alcorn, GM IBM Design)
In this episode, Katrina Alcorn, General Manager for IBM Design, joins Peter and Jesse to uncover various aspects of being a design executive, including where to spend your time and energy, how to maintain culture and cohesion at scale, and...
05.25.2022
30— Mailbag: UX maturity, conflict fatigue, and getting past imposter syndrome
(This is our last episode for a couple months. Talk to you in August!) In this episode, Jesse and Peter field questions from listeners, which lead to a range of discussions, including leading in immature organizations, the power of playing...
05.14.2022
29: Listening with Intent (ft. Indi Young)
In this episode, Jesse and Peter speak with their friend and former colleague Indi Young on the eve of the release of her forthcoming book, Time to Listen. The conversation ranges from our time together, to how she approaches her...
04.29.2022
28: The Leadership Ceiling (ft. Tim Kieschnick)
In this episode, Jesse and Peter talk to Tim Kieschnick, who established the UX practice at healthcare giant Kaiser Permanente, and then went on to spearhead human-centered design in the organization, about his illuminating framework he calls The Leadership Ceiling,...
03.20.2022
27: Choose Yourself—Making up your career path as you go (ft. Abby Covert)
In which Peter and Jesse are joined by information architect and author Abby Covert, who shares her story of moving from independent consultant, to Etsy's staff information architect, to product manager, and then independent writer and teacher. She shares what...
03.12.2022
26: Chief Design Officers and Design Executive Effectiveness (ft. Gordon Ching)
In which Peter and Jesse chat with Gordon Ching about the emerging role of the Chief Design Officer, design executive effectiveness, the power of brand, the importance of taste, and other matters.
01.22.2021
25—The Reckoning
In which Peter and Jesse take stock of emerging themes from prior conversations, trying to make sense of the crucial challenges of design and design leadership. This will be the last episode for a while, probably until autumn. Please stay in...
01.05.2021
24: Delving into digital design—craft, teaching, lessons from architecture, standards and certification (ft. Jorge Arango)
In which Peter and Jesse chat with Jorge Arango about the state of digital design, his background in architecture, teaching the next generation of designers, the seduction of prototyping, the potential advantages and drawbacks of certification, and more.
12.10.2020
23–Make UX truly human-centered by addressing trauma, power, and other necessary and uncomfortable realities (ft. Vivianne Castillo)
In which Peter and Jesse speak with UX researcher, educator, and humanity advocate Vivianne Castillo about what it takes to be truly human-centered, the necessity of addressing trauma, what UX can learn from human services professionals, and practices and rituals...
11.17.2020
22: “Right problem, right solution, done right”—The Vanguard of User Research (ft. Jen Cardello)
In which Peter and Jesse talk to Jen Cardello, head of UX Research at Fidelity Investments, about her team's uncommon organization structure (within an independent insights team, peered with Market Research, Analytics, and Behavioral Economics), and the tools they use...
11.05.2020
21—Creativity, banishing inner critics, impostor syndrome, and systemic racism (ft Denise Jacobs)
In which Peter and Jesse talk to creativity consultant and author (and former front-end developer!) Denise Jacobs about just what is creativity, how to maintain being creative as a leader, banishing your inner critic, taking charge in how you get...
10.27.2020
20—The business model is the new grid, and other mindbombs (ft. Erika Hall)
In which Peter and Jesse talk to strategic design and research consultant Erika Hall of Mule Design, learn about how "the business model is the new grid," why most design is simply just styling, and the importance of asking questions.
10.20.2020
19 – Growth mindsets, vulnerability, sociopathy, totalitarianism… that escalated quickly (ft. Billie Mandel)
In which Peter and Jesse speak with Billie Mandel, design leader, team coach, and UX educator, and we somehow get from team dynamics to leadership qualities of vulnerability to sociopathy to totalitarianism in surprisingly short order.
10.08.2020
18: How Agile and Scrum ruined product management, and other things (ft. Melissa Perri)
Product management consultant and educator Melissa Perri joins Peter and Jesse to talk about the view of design from the product management side of the table, the true value that product managers bring to the process, and how designers can...
09.29.2020
17 – Design leadership lessons from bicycling (ft. Sally Carson)
In which Peter and Jesse talk to Sally Carson, Head of Product Design at Duo Security (now part of Cisco), about her journey, from bike messenger to multimedia designer to design lead. Along the way, we discuss executive relationships, handling...
09.15.2020
16 – How can a designer grow in their career without becoming a manager? (and more)
Jesse and Peter return from their hiatus and dig into a few emerging trends we've seen in product design teams, including (00:25) the rise of the senior individual contributor, (13:44) the increasingly tangled relationship between design, engineering, and product management,...
07.24.2020
15: Mailbag—Funding models; from output to impact; personal safety and security
In which Jesse and Peter answer questions on funding models, shifting from output to impact, demonstrating value, and the challenges of being a design leader right now. Questions addressed: (01:00) "How does a good business fund design activity?" (09:28) "How can one handle...
07.15.2020
14: “If your team’s work isn’t good, you didn’t set clear expectations,” and other Design Leadership Truisms
In which Peter shares some of his Design Leadership Truisms (inspired by the work of Jenny Holzer), and Jesse reacts. Truisms discussed: (03:29) “People are not their job titles.” (04:50) "If your team's work isn't good, you didn't set clear expectations." (08:32) “Bad design...
07.09.2020
13: Facing Systemic Racism in Design
In which Jesse and Peter discuss their relationship to systemic racism, as individuals, as leaders, and as members of the design and UX communities.
07.01.2020
12: Ands Not Ors (ft. Maria Giudice)
In which we are joined by Maria Giudice, founder of Hot Studio, former design executive at Facebook and Autodesk, for a whirlwind discussion of her career, design leadership, and coaching. Topics: Frank Frazetta; Working Girl; art school; white designer dudes;...
06.24.2020
11: The Leadership Plateau and the Marketing Vortex
In which we address the how to grow as a design leader when the opportunities thin out, and then take a hard turn and address the culture of marketing and the problems it poses for designers. Topics: Imbalance of leaders...
06.16.2020
10: We Have Trust Issues
In which we grapple with the multifarious concept of trust, in light of how important it is for leaders to establish, build, and maintain it in their relationships. Topics: Leadership coaching, psychological safety, resilience, conditions leading to trust, Michael Jordan's...
06.09.2020
9: Consultancy Rat Blues, Part 2
In which we continue to grapple with in-house vs design consultancy distinctions, and see promise in the creation of senior strategic design roles within some companies. Topics: working in teams; working like a consultancy; Metropolis; the lie of design schools; the...
06.05.2020
8: Consultancy Rat Blues, Part 1
In which an email from a design leader self-labelled "Consultancy Rat" spurs a wide-ranging discussion on strategic design leadership, product management, and the differences between in-house and consultancy design. Topics: consulting vs in-house design; FAANG+; the bifurcation of UX design; product...
05.26.2020
7: Leading From Home
In which we discuss the challenges of relationship management when leading from home, and then start a potentially promising discussion on the subject of trust.
05.19.2020
6: Defining Your Charter, Part 2: The How
In which we break down the components of a team charter, and the ways it helps design leaders, particularly with people matters of recruiting, hiring, and retention.
05.15.2020
5: Defining Your Charter, Part 1: The Why
In which we look at the purpose behind defining purpose, and discover some unexpectedly useful new frames along the way.
05.06.2020
4: Management Leadership Jazz
In which reflections on the coronavirus pandemic spark a freeform conversation ranging from Trump to Jobs on management, leadership, power, uncertainty, and more.
04.29.2020
3: Range and Craft
In which a discussion of David Epstein's book Range leads to a consideration of craft, practice, and the medium of leadership.
04.29.2020
2: Elements Turns 20
In which we learn more of Peter's recent adventures in design leadership, and we reflect on 20 years of Jesse's Elements of User Experience.
04.29.2020
2: Elements Turns 20
In which we learn more of Peter's recent adventures in design leadership, and we reflect on 20 years of Jesse's Elements of User Experience.
04.29.2020
1: The Story So Far
In which we learn a little of Peter and Jesse, their past history together, and their more recent history apart.
04.29.2020
1: The Story So Far
In which we learn a little of Peter and Jesse, their past history together, and their more recent history apart.

What's Finding Our Way about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Finding Our Way episodes:

47: Seeking Balance (ft. Koji Pereira)

46: Leading with Clarity (ft. Vuokko Aro)

45: The Phase Shift

44: The Mindful Executive (ft. Christina Goldschmidt)

43: Leading Enterprise UX for LEGO Group (ft. Rebecca Nordstrom)

42: Leading From Trust (ft. Cynthia Savard Saucier)

41: Leading Experience Design for the Military (ft. Colt Whittall)

40: The Cross-Trained Design Leader (ft. Rajat Shail)

39: Reflections on the State of Design Leadership (Season 3 finale)

38: The Craft-led Design Executive (ft. Tim Allen)

37: From Design Leadership to Product Leadership (ft. Che Douglas)

36: The Chief Design Officer as Corporate Executive (ft. Jehad Affoneh)

35—The Actualized Design Executive (ft. Daniela Jorge)

34: Design leadership to support organizational transformation (ft. Rachel Kobetz)

33: Leading Design in a Product World (ft. Greg Petroff)

32: The Intentional Design Executive (ft. Kaaren Hanson)

31: Sustaining yourself as a design executive (ft. Katrina Alcorn, GM IBM Design)

30— Mailbag: UX maturity, conflict fatigue, and getting past imposter syndrome

29: Listening with Intent (ft. Indi Young)

28: The Leadership Ceiling (ft. Tim Kieschnick)

27: Choose Yourself—Making up your career path as you go (ft. Abby Covert)

26: Chief Design Officers and Design Executive Effectiveness (ft. Gordon Ching)

25—The Reckoning

24: Delving into digital design—craft, teaching, lessons from architecture, standards and certification (ft. Jorge Arango)

23–Make UX truly human-centered by addressing trauma, power, and other necessary and uncomfortable realities (ft. Vivianne Castillo)

22: “Right problem, right solution, done right”—The Vanguard of User Research (ft. Jen Cardello)

21—Creativity, banishing inner critics, impostor syndrome, and systemic racism (ft Denise Jacobs)

20—The business model is the new grid, and other mindbombs (ft. Erika Hall)

19 – Growth mindsets, vulnerability, sociopathy, totalitarianism… that escalated quickly (ft. Billie Mandel)

18: How Agile and Scrum ruined product management, and other things (ft. Melissa Perri)

17 – Design leadership lessons from bicycling (ft. Sally Carson)

16 – How can a designer grow in their career without becoming a manager? (and more)

15: Mailbag—Funding models; from output to impact; personal safety and security

14: “If your team’s work isn’t good, you didn’t set clear expectations,” and other Design Leadership Truisms

13: Facing Systemic Racism in Design

12: Ands Not Ors (ft. Maria Giudice)

11: The Leadership Plateau and the Marketing Vortex

10: We Have Trust Issues

9: Consultancy Rat Blues, Part 2

8: Consultancy Rat Blues, Part 1

7: Leading From Home

6: Defining Your Charter, Part 2: The How

5: Defining Your Charter, Part 1: The Why

4: Management Leadership Jazz

3: Range and Craft

2: Elements Turns 20

2: Elements Turns 20

1: The Story So Far

1: The Story So Far

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