UX/Design Leadership Demystified
Updated 5 September 2025
Peter Merholz’s signature masterclass, sharing proven steps that drive design leadership success. Scroll to the bottom for the full course outline.
Peter offers multiple versions of this course:
Independent Online Version
There is an always-available Independent study version of the course:
- ~3 hours of pre-recorded video lessons
- Downloadable deck of all slides
- 6 Downloadable activity templates
- Articles about defining quality, conducting critique, and other key concerns for UX/Design Leadership
- Pointers to additional resources for those who want to dig deeper
$249
Public In-Person Workshops
Peter loves offering this course in-person, usually affiliated with a UX/Design event. It's typically 4 hours, with an even mix of presentation and discussion. Attendees receive:
- Downloadable deck of all slides
- 6 Downloadable activity templates
- Articles about defining quality, conducting critique, and other key concerns for UX/Design Leadership
- Pointers to additional resources for those who want to dig deeper
Peter will be teaching 24 September 2025 in Raleigh, NC as part of the UX Y'all Conference. Learn More and Register →
Internal Training
This workshop is available internal training, on-site or remotely, in either 4- or 6-hour sessions. Past customers include:
If you're interested in bringing this masterclass to your team / org, contact Peter.
Course Overview
All versions of the class use the following syllabus structure. View the video, or read the outline below.
Understand Context
Before taking action, it's imperative that you take stock of the environment in which you find yourself.
In this section, we probe business mechanics, stakeholder motivations, and organizational design maturity.
Develop an Agenda
Too often, design leaders skip this step, and simply react to what comes at them. By taking the time to craft an explicit agenda, you provide yourself a foundation for subsequent action and decision-making.
Mediate The Membrane
Design leaders work at an uncomfortable boundary between creative and corporate value systems. How you handle operating at this interface is key.
Explicitly Define Quality
For a design organization, nothing is more important than the quality of the work it produces. However, most design orgs assessment of quality is "I know it when I see it." By clearly establishing quality standards, not only do design leaders help their teams better understand what's expected of them, they also have more productive conversations with cross-functional peers when making decisions about whether something is ready to ship.
Cultivate Trusting Relationships
Leadership requires building trust with all those whom you engage. We'll use these relationship archetypes to unpack the various interactions you'll have, in order to get the most out of each.
- Coach (managing down, getting the most out of the team you are leading)
- Diplomat (managing cross-functional peers; ensuring design’s voice in the process)
- Champion (managing up; handling executives and stakeholders)
Evolve in Your Career
As you advance in your UX/design leadership career, the responsibilities change drastically. Peter will provide a map to orient you on where you should apply focus, and how to delegate the activities that you need to leave behind.
Maintain Resilience
Every design leader faces resistance as they try to introduce new ways of working that will improve outcomes for users. This resistance builds up, and can prove demotivating for even the strongest people. We end our time together by identified how you can maintain resilience.