Listen to the Podcast Episode Here: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/donna-lichaw-the-leaders-journey

This week's design media review covered a discussion with executive coach and speaker Donna Lichaw on the Design Better Podcast. Donna Lichaw has a background in film (MFA in Radio, TV, and Film) which influences her storytelling approach in tech and leadership. She started in tech and product design, leading to the creation of her earlier book, "The User’s Journey: Storymapping Products that People Love," a book I definitely need to pick up and read sometime in the future. This discussion covers the importance of storytelling and leadership and how leadership and storytelling go hand in hand, an idea I had never considered before. When I think of leadership, I instantly think of management roles. As Donna discussed, management is a job, whereas leadership is a quality that one must earn. Leadership often gets conflated with management, but the two are distinct roles with unique requirements. Another key takeaway from this discussion was that the product isn’t the hero, the user is. For instance, Donna emphasizes that the product is just a tool that enables users to achieve their goals. The user's journey is centered around feeling like a hero, with the product serving as a tool to achieve that goal.

When it comes to leadership, it's important to understand the deeper narratives of the users, just like in product development. The goal is to identify what customers truly want and design the product around that transformation, making them the hero rather than just completing a task. For instance, Donna points out how the original iPhone started as a functional idea but evolved into something that fundamentally changed how people communicate, connecting users to the world in a magical way. It's crucial to find that story and identify the initial idea to come up with design-based solutions that help the customer. As Donna suggests, effective leadership involves seeing yourself as the hero in the situation. She shifted her focus from product stories to leadership stories after an executive asked, "How do I feel like a hero?" She realized that if leaders don't feel empowered, they can't empower their teams. Effective leaders are like superheroes. They have a clear identity, understand their unique powers (skills and values), and have a mission. Superpowers, mission, and self-identity help leaders make an impact on the world and inspire others.

When it comes to the role of narrative in leadership, leaders must handle both their internal narrative and the collective story of the teams they lead. Narrative therapy, a psychological approach, helps individuals reconstruct their stories to empower themselves, which is an essential tool for leadership. To uncover these stories, leaders need to consistently gather data feedback from colleagues, customers, and teams to refine their personal and organizational narratives. It’s about moving beyond assumptions and judgments and relying on empirical data instead.

In discussing conflict and the psychology behind conflict in leadership, it's important to note that psychological safety is crucial to high-performing teams, according to Google's Project Aristotle. Psychological safety is about creating an environment where individuals feel safe to express their opinions without fear of judgment. It doesn't mean avoiding tough conversations; rather, it's about fostering open dialogue in an environment where people feel respected and trusted. To assess psychological safety, you can use the SCARF model, which stands for Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness, and Fairness. These triggers can either help a team thrive or lead to conflict. Conflict often arises when these fundamental needs (SCARF model) are not met. Leaders need to recognize these triggers and work to ensure these basic human needs are being met for optimal team performance.

In summary, Leadership involves understanding both yourself and the people you work with. To be an effective leader, you need to have a clear understanding of your identity, strengths, mission, and the team dynamics around you. A leader's narrative evolves, much like the stories of the products they design or the teams they lead.

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