A new breed of leaders can help companies unleash the business value of design.
Companies that excel at design grow revenues and shareholder returns at nearly twice the rate of their industry peers. So why aren’t more companies joining their ranks?
To answer the question, we interviewed 200 senior design leaders and 100 top executives and analyzed the answers of more than 1,700 respondents to the McKinsey Design Index (MDI) survey tool. What we found was striking: some 90 percent of companies weren’t reaching the full potential of design, even as, in the past five years, double the number of companies have added senior design roles to their organization.
Of the four areas tied directly to improved revenue growth and shareholder return—which include design leadership, cross-functional talent, iterative processes, and end-to-end user experiences—CEOs must address design leadership first if their companies are to capture the full business value of design. Yet two problems exist, according to our research: a lack of clarity about where and how senior design leaders can contribute, and uncertainty about how much to expect of them in their role.
To elevate the organization’s design ambition, and to clarify the leadership needed to deliver it, top executives must make three interconnected interventions:
Embrace user-centric strategies, improving not only products and services but also the full user experience and, in some cases, the organization itself.
Embed your senior designer into the C-suite while cultivating a collaborative top-team environment in which your design leader will thrive.
Make the most of user data through a balance of quantitative and qualitative design metrics and incentives that enhance user satisfaction and business performance.