About

How I'm wired

as a leader

Over two decades, I've learned that design leadership isn't just about having good taste, it's about building organizations where taste is developed, understood, and consistently applied at scale. Whether leading design at consumer platforms (Easyjet, Vueling, HBO) or enterprise products (Dow Jones), the principle is the same: exceptional design comes from exceptional people.
I've built design teams from the ground up, scaled them across multiple products and markets, and established the systems and cultures that allow great design to thrive. I've hired and mentored designers at every level, many of whom have grown into senior and leadership roles.
I've led design-product-engineering triads where design is a true strategic partner, embedded design into strategy conversations with CPOs and founders, and built design systems that serve as the backbone for global products.

What I've discovered is this: the real competitive advantage isn't process or tools. It's people, specifically, people who can recognize quality before everyone else does, and the organizational structures that help them develop that skill. That's what I've spent twenty years building.
I believe the best design leaders scale taste through people, not just through systems. Over the years I've gone from designing products to leading the people who design them. I've hired and mentored teams, built design systems from scratch, established processes, and sat at the table where product decisions are made alongside founders, CPOs, and engineering leads. But the thing that has always set great design apart, and that no AI can replicate, is TASTE.
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AI can generate options. It can produce layouts, copy, and code at scale. What it cannot do is judge which one is right. That's a human skill, and it's the one I've spent years developing.

What I mean by TASTE.

AI can generate options. It cannot judge which one is right. That judgment is a human skill, and the one I've spent years developing.

Perception

Seeing what others miss: the tension in a layout, the friction in a flow, the tone that's slightly off. I hire for this instinct. I mentor for it. I celebrate designers who ask "does this actually feel right?" in a critique, even if they can't articulate why yet.

Judgment

Knowing what to cut. Taste often shows up as subtraction, deciding what's better by removing what's unnecessary. I teach my teams that good design is often what you don't include. The discipline to say "no" is harder than saying "yes," and far more valuable.

Coherence

Making UX, copy, motion, and brand feel like one thing, not four competing ideas. This is where design leadership matters most. It's not about one designer's taste, it's about creating a system where taste is consistent across a team, a product, a company.

Cultural awareness

Understanding your era, your audience, your platform. Taste isn't timeless; it's contextual. I hire designers who understand why something works now, and what will feel dated in two years. I build teams that stay curious about culture, not just design trends.

Craft

Because taste without execution is just opinion. This is non-negotiable. I mentor designers on the technical skills that let them realize their taste, whether that's typography, color systems, interaction design, or design-to-dev handoff.