From CEO to DEO

Putting a traditional CEO at the front of a modern workforce is anachronistic. He or she is the outdated, boxy TV in an era of flat screens, the heavy-hulled yacht struggling to keep up in the America’s Cup.

Next, they’ll often list traits associated with military commanders: authoritative, strategic, able to delegate, decisive, prepared to lead, equipped with a big-picture perspective. Finally, they’ll suggest that the ideal CEO has some humanistic touches as well: personable, charismatic, perhaps a dash of compassion.

These traits have served companies well over the past century. When assembly lines traversed the Midwest and shift workers numbered in the tens of millions, CEOs made decisions and met deadlines. When most employees were low skilled or “cogs in a wheel,” companies needed a commander at the top. They implemented order and ensured conformity.

And then the world changed.

We leaped out of the Industrial Age and buried our noses in the Information Age. By the time we looked up from our screens, we were advancing on the Conceptual Age and the business leadership traits we previously praised had started to weaken. They’d become a little creaky. They strained to be relevant.

If we could borrow Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak, we’d use it to visit an executive board meeting chaired by a traditional CEO. We’d see that
he follows an agenda set months before. He points to data from the past quarter. He calls on each department to report on prescribed topics. Still invisible, we’d slip outside and wander down the hall. In a cubicle, we’d find a young manager surreptitiously checking his social networks, future stock prices, competitors’ posts, and more appealing job openings — all updated instantly in the palm of his hand.

This scenario is repeated all around the world where the gap between who leaders are equipped to manage and who actually works for them grows wider by the day. Employees are increasingly higher skilled. They seek challenge and growth over security and predictability. They’re networked both inside and outside their companies. Many have direct contact with customers. They’ve grown up collaborating and iterating in school and in personal relationships. They expect leadership that understands and embraces all this.

How do we fill this gap? Do we try to retrain traditional leaders? Do we decide that women are better suited to the job or minorities or recent immigrants? Do we declare leaders irrelevant and banish the role altogether?

All of these suggestions have been voiced over the past five years. We suggest a simpler solution. Just as we took our cues from MBAs and the military in casting the ideal CEO of the 20th century, we can look to designers — in that term’s broadest definition — to model our future leader, the DEO.

Proposing design-inspired leadership as the answer may sound delusional to some, like a zealous art teacher attacking poverty with a new color palette. But that’s a knee-jerk reaction, based largely on associations of design with discretion, luxury, and logos. A more realistic assessment con rms that design leaders usually possess characteristics, behaviors, and mind- sets that enable them to excel in unpredictable, fast-moving, and value-charged conditions.

Six defining traits of good designers and aspiring DEOs

“Designer” is a broad term, not easily defined or limited. But most designers we’ve worked with, particularly those who have a knack for innovation and leadership, build their practices on key characteristics that help them continually respond to the challenges they face with creative, workable, insightful ideas and implementations. These are the traits we believe are most important for aspiring leaders at any level to embrace and develop.

Most designers aren’t troubled by change; in fact, they openly promote and encourage it. They understand traditional approaches, but are not dominated by them. As a result, they are comfortable disrupting the status quo if it stands in the way of their dream. They try to think and act differently than others. They recognize this ability as a competitive advantage.

Designers embrace risk as an inherent part of life and a key ingredient of creativity. Rather than avoiding or mitigating it, they seek greater ease and command of it as one of the levers they can control. They recast it as experimentation and invite collaborators. A failed risk still produces learning.

Despite their desire to disrupt and take risks, designers are systems thinkers who understand the interconnectedness of their world. They know that each part of a system overlaps and influences another. They know unseen connections surround what’s visible. This helps to give their disruptions intended, rather than chaotic, impact and makes their risk taking more conscious.

Designers are highly intuitive, either by nature or through experience. They have the ability to feel what’s right, by using their intense perceptual and observational skills or through deep expertise. This doesn’t mean they have a fear of numbers. They know that intuitively enhanced decision making doesn’t preclude rational or logical analysis. They use both — and consider each valid and powerful.

Designers have high social intelligence. They instinctively connect with others and integrate them into well-defined and heavily accessed networks. They prefer spending time with employees, customers, and strangers rather than equipment, plants, or spreadsheets. “Everyday people” are a source of strength, renewal, and new ideas.

Finally, Designers can be defined by a new set of initials: GSD — short for “gets shit done.” They feel an urgency to get personally involved, to understand details through their own interaction, and to lead by example. They make things become real.

Not all DEOs have each of these characteristics. Typically, one or two traits dominate while the others are less notable or perhaps absent. A leader who is particularly adept at systems thinking may approach challenges differently than one who is a capable risk taker. A leader committed to always “get shit done” may use their influence differently than one who feels social intelligence is their strongest attribute.

An important behavior of DEOs is to both model and emulate successful practices. That’s why we complemented our research with interviews of leaders we felt embodied our perspective. Leaders who think and act as designers would, regardless of their level in a company.

Each leader is unique with an individual blend of the traits summarized above. You can follow the links below or continue to progress through the book and read them as they appear in different sections.

Carl Bass (formerly President & CEO of Autodesk)

Ayah Bdeir (Founder and CEO or LittleBits)

Chris Anderson (Curator for TED Conferences)

Jesse Ziff Cool (Entrepreneur and Author)

Mark Dwight (President & CEO of Rickshaw Bagworks)

Emily Pilloton (Founder & Executive Director, Girls Garage)

Steve Gundrum (Professional Inventor at Mattson)

Read this book from the start through to the finish, or bounce around to which ever topics seem relevant. This Medium version is designed to our suit readers’ desires, not a prescribed narrative format. We also welcome your feedback, questions and comments — something we could never do from the pages of our books.

Most of all, if our perspective intrigues you, if you think these traits and inclinations might describe your strengths or potential, we encourage you to start building them now. Reading about leadership is like reading about cycling. No matter how well we understand the technique, we won’t get anywhere until we hop on a bike and start pedaling.

The next section in this series is here. To start at the beginning, go here.

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