Design-Driven Leadership

“Good intentions aren’t enough—mechanisms work better.” This was one of the defining insights from Mrinali Kamath’s talk at UXDX USA 2024, where she shared how she navigated ambiguity, alignment challenges, and resource constraints to lead with design-driven leadership at Ford.

In a world where UX isn’t just about designing products but also shaping business strategy, Mrinali’s journey is a powerful case study of how design thinking can create impact—not just for customers, but for teams and leadership as well.

From Designer to Design Leader: A Transformation in Motion

When Mrinali Kamath joined Ford as a Design Director, she stepped into a company undergoing a massive transformation. Ford was moving beyond its traditional role as an automotive brand to redefine vehicle ownership and user experience.

Rather than episodic interactions at the time of sale or during maintenance, Ford envisioned a future where customers engage with evolving, digital-first experiences—both in the vehicle and through apps.

But transformation brings uncertainty. And for Mrinali, it wasn’t just the company in flux—it was her own professional and personal evolution as well.

She had recently transitioned from Amazon’s Innovation Lab, where processes were established and well-oiled, to a company that was still finding its way through digital transformation. She also faced the biggest transformation of all—becoming a mother, which reshaped her entire approach to work, life, and leadership.

In both work and life, her familiar ways of problem-solving no longer scaled. And that’s where design thinking came in.

The Double S-Curve of Transformation

At Ford, Mrinali and her team found themselves in what their VP, Jay Park, called the "core of transformation."

• Ford 1.0: The company’s long-standing business model of selling traditional gas-engine vehicles.
• Ford 2.0: A new vision focused on intelligent, connected, and sustainable vehicles that evolve with customer needs.

The challenge was navigating the space in between—where existing strategies were no longer enough, but the future vision wasn’t yet fully realized.

Mrinali had to rethink team structures, ways of working, and leadership strategies to drive clarity in an environment of uncertainty.

Applying Design Thinking to Leadership

At Amazon, Mrinali’s role was to tackle ambiguous problems and turn them into innovative products. But as a new leader, she found herself facing a different kind of ambiguity—lack of alignment, shifting priorities, and limited resources.

So, she reframed leadership challenges using the same approach she used in UX:

1. Reframing the Problem

She realized that how a challenge is framed shapes how it gets solved.

Instead of thinking:"We don’t have alignment on product vision."She asked:"How might we use the expertise within our team to create a unified vision for safety and security products?"

This shift in perspective helped her move from frustration to action—an essential mindset for design-driven leadership.

2. Adapting UX Research Tools for Leadership

One of her biggest challenges was misalignment. Teams had multiple competing visions for their products, leading to wasted effort and unclear priorities.

To solve this, she borrowed a UX research tool—SME (Subject Matter Expert) Interviews— and adapted it for leadership alignment.

• Originally, SME interviews were used for deep research, but they took too long.
• She modified them to be quick, small-group discussions focused on surfacing key misalignments.
• Instead of research reports, she used Miro boards for real-time collaboration and feedback.

The result? Instead of months of confusion, her team quickly identified alignment points and knowledge gaps, allowing them to move forward with clarity.

3. Rethinking Research Responsibilities to Scale Insights

A common leadership problem in UX is lack of resources for customer research.

Instead of saying, "We don’t have enough researchers," Mrinali reframed it:"How might we use the resources we have to still gather primary customer insights?"

Her solution was redefining research responsibilities:

• Instead of relying solely on researchers, PMs were trained to lead early research efforts.
• Research was staggered and iterative, allowing insights from one study to inform the next.
• A Miro-based research resource hub was created, allowing 60+ PMs to access research best practices and tools.

By shifting responsibilities and leveraging design thinking, her team completed 31 customer interviews in 3 months—despite limited resources.

Breaking Out of the “Core of Transformation”

Through design-driven leadership, Mrinali built mechanisms that helped her navigate uncertainty, drive clarity, and accelerate impact.

• Reframing challenges led to clearer problem definitions.
• Adapting UX tools for leadership alignment helped teams move faster.
• Empowering PMs with research skills scaled customer insights.

This framework became a repeatable playbook for leading teams through ambiguity.

Final Takeaway: Design Thinking Beyond Products

One of the most compelling ideas from Mrinali’s talk was that design thinking doesn’t just apply to UX—it applies to leadership itself.
“AI will automate a lot of tasks, but two things it can’t replicate? Creativity and empathy.”
As design leaders, we can’t afford to limit our skills to just Figma files and design systems. We must apply them to people, teams, and organizations.

So the next time you face leadership ambiguity, ask yourself:"How might I use design thinking to create alignment, drive clarity, and lead with impact?"
Because great leaders, like great designers, don’t just react to change; they design for it.

Watch the full talk: https://uxdx.com/session/design-driven-leadership1/
Or download our 2024 Post Show Report for insights from all UXDX USA 2024 talks: https://uxdx.com/post-show-report/