Leadership By Design 2025
Think Like a Leader: 10 Things UXers Should Stop (and Start) Doing to Reclaim Their Power
Every week, working with UXers and product designers at all levels — in addition to those serving on teams of the clients he consults with — Joe Natoli hears the same refrains over and over:
I’m stuck.
I’m lost.
I can’t.
I’m not allowed.
They won’t let me.
They don’t respect me.
They don’t listen.
They don’t care.
After 30+ years in this industry, Joe knows how true all of it is. He knows just how often UXers and Product Designers are marginalised, ignored and left out of critical decisions, even in organisations who publicly trumpet themselves as design- or UX-centric.
And Joe know how much all that hurts, how personally we take it.
And after all this time, he also knows that sometimes, there truly is nothing you can do about that. Sometimes your proposals for UX improvement — additional user research, more design iteration cycles, or user testing — are shot down by folks on the business side of the house whom you’ve never met.
Here’s the thing: almost all of this stems from a lack of leadership; a lack of influence. And what you may not realise is that you actually have more power and influence than you think. And even if you don’t have influence, you are absolutely capable of gaining it — no matter what your job title is.
In this talk, Joe’s going to show you why all that is true. He’ll also give you concrete ways you can overcome these obstacles, change your thinking and recognise the power you don’t realise you hold — and begin using it.
