The horizons in design management are rich and varied. Two cases make it clear that there is always going to be a place for the design visionary. Clearly, however, as the value of design is more universally understood, the focus is less on heroes and more on processes. Branding is a particularly valuable design platform. Contributors also identify other leadership pathways, including “smart design questions,” graphic storytelling, and concurrent design. Perhaps the ultimate leadership strategy, though, is to instill a design culture that pervades all dimensions of a business.

Articles

The Many Modes of Design Leadership
Thomas Walton

Unleashing the Power of Design Thinking 
Kevin Clark and Ron Smith

Creating the Right Environment for Design
Julian Jenkins

Funcastle: Creating a Business Opportunity from a Design Consultancy Assignment
Prashant Singh Kutaula

Design in Business: Views from the Nucleus and the Periphery
Turkka Keinonen

Creating Smart Designing Questions
Richard Kielbon and Gerald Nadler

Branding and Design Innovation Leadership: What’s Next?
Phil Best

Brand-Driven Innovation
Erik Roscam Abbing and Christa van Gessel

Bottom-Up Design Leadership as a Strategic Tool
Ki-Young Nam and Mi-Jin Jung

Developing Products with a Holistic Process
Aidan Petrie

How to Make Sure a Brand Behaves Itself
Mark Churchman and Thomas Marzano

Scripting a Collaborative Narrative: An Approach for Spanning Boundaries
Tom Flanagan