Who’s still taking care of the craft?
Design leadership is having its moment, and rightfully so. In enterprise UX, the ability to drive change at scale, align diverse teams, and champion human-centered thinking has never been more valuable. We need leaders who can navigate complex organizations and turn ambitious visions into reality.
But there's something we risk losing in our rush toward strategic thinking: the deep, thoughtful craftsmanship that transforms ideas into experiences people actually use.
And here’s the thing:
Without craftsmanship, even the best vision struggles to land.
Manhattan Bridge Construction, 1909
Everyone wants to be strategic
Walk through any design conference or scroll your LinkedIn feed, and you'll see it everywhere—frameworks, transformation stories, and calls for designers to "think strategically." This shift makes sense. Organizations need design leaders who can speak the language of business and drive meaningful change.
Yet somewhere in this evolution, hands-on craftsmanship started feeling like something you graduate from rather than something you continue to develop.
That's where we might be making a mistake.
Because craft is the work.
A reminder from Jobs
Steve Jobs once said something that resonates deeply with anyone who's tried to build something meaningful in a large organization:
He was right. Vision opens doors, but craftsmanship walks through them. Consider what this looks like in practice:
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In research and strategy: Leadership sees opportunities and opens space for design to lead. Craftsmanship digs into the messy reality—asking the right questions, validating assumptions, and choosing methods that lead to clear, actionable insights.
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In collaboration: Leadership brings the right people together and creates momentum. Craftsmanship guides the actual work—sketching ideas clearly, prototyping interactions, facilitating productive workshops, and creating outputs that genuinely move teams forward.
- In design systems: Leadership creates alignment and builds the processes that make systems successful. Craftsmanship handles the nuanced work—creating flexible components, optimizing token structures, and balancing reusability with real customer needs.
How craft builds organizational trust
In enterprise environments, craft isn't just about making things look good. It's how design earns credibility and builds the trust necessary to get things done.
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When you approach research with clear goals and structured methods, stakeholders see that you're not just exploring for the sake of it—you're uncovering actionable insights that bring clarity to complex problems.
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When you run workshops that generate genuine clarity (not just walls of sticky notes) and follow through with thoughtful outputs, collaborators learn that working with design won't leave them with a mess to clean up.
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When your design system components actually scale and your tokens make logical sense, engineering teams see that design isn't a bottleneck—it's a platform that makes their work easier.
This kind of trust isn't built through presentations or strategy documents. It's built through consistent, thoughtful work that connects design intent to execution.
It’s what shows, not tells, that design can be counted on—not just to envision, but to deliver. And in large organizations, that kind of trust isn’t just nice to have—it’s the currency that gets things built.
Concept testing with low-fidelity screen flows instead of cue cards to improve comprehension and better simulate real-life scenarios
It's not an either/or choice
The most effective design organizations understand that leadership and craft amplify each other. Strategy gives craft direction and purpose. Craft gives strategy credibility and grounding in reality.
Leaders who understand what goes into a comprehensive research proposal or designing a robust interaction pattern can advocate more effectively for their teams. They can protect quality and make better decisions about where to invest time and energy.
Meanwhile, designers whose craft is valued and protected do their best work. They take pride in the details, approach problems with confidence, and build sustainable practices that benefit everyone.
Craft as quiet leadership
Not all leadership looks like keynotes and transformation stories. Sometimes it's quieter, found in the details and day-to-day decisions that shape how teams work.
Designers who consistently deliver thoughtful, high-quality work influence their teams in lasting ways. They raise standards, demonstrate what's possible, and make the work better for everyone around them. This kind of influence—built through competence and care—is leadership too.
Because in the end, craft isn’t the opposite of leadership— it’s the foundation of it.
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TL;DR: Strategic thinking opens doors, but craftsmanship walks through them and builds what's on the other side. The messy, detailed work of turning ideas into reality isn't secondary to leadership—it's what makes leadership credible. Great design happens when vision meets the skilled hands that can make it real.