How I lead teams

Building great products starts with building great teams. As a design leader, my first responsibility is to create an environment where people can do the best work of their careers — where they feel challenged, supported, and trusted to grow.

I’ve been incredibly fortunate to work with and manage so many talented designers throughout my career. Seeing their growth, creativity, and impact has been one of the most rewarding parts of my leadership journey.

Lead with care and candor

I strongly believe in the principles of Radical Candor:

• Care personally. I invest deeply in the growth, well-being, and aspirations of each person on my team. I believe people do their best work when they feel safe to take risks, bring their full selves to work, and know that their manager genuinely wants to see them succeed.

• Challenge directly. Honest, constructive feedback is a gift — both in celebrating strengths and addressing growth areas. I give clear, actionable feedback early and often, and I expect the same from my team. We raise the bar together.

Clarity creates confidence

I work hard to set clear expectations, align goals to business outcomes, and ensure everyone understands how their work contributes to both product success and their personal growth. Ambiguity slows teams down — clarity unlocks velocity.

Empowerment with accountability

Great teams need ownership, not micromanagement. My job is to create the guardrails, provide context, and remove obstacles — so my team can operate with autonomy while staying aligned to the bigger picture. Ownership builds confidence, accountability builds trust.

Build systems that scale

From design systems to process frameworks, I focus on creating operational structures that let teams scale their impact without sacrificing quality. Good systems free up creative energy for solving hard problems — not reinventing the wheel.

Collaboration is non-negotiable

I embed design deeply into product and engineering workflows. Great products happen when cross-functional teams are aligned early and stay in sync. I foster strong partnerships with PMs, engineers, researchers, and business leaders to keep everyone rowing in the same direction.

Stay curious

No process is ever perfect. No product is ever finished. I bring a mindset of continuous discovery to both design and leadership — always looking for ways to improve how we work, how we build, and how we serve customers.