How I Lead

updated Aug 2026

My role is often to establish a loose vision, then work with each team member to turn it into something more.

I work across principal-level product design and director-level design leadership, leading 0→1 products, complex enterprise systems, and the teams and practices that make them possible.

I'm committed to nurturing healthy design cultures, setting clear expectations, and helping people grow. You can expect me to coordinate alignment, set expectations, and coach and hype the people around me. I work best with teams that care deeply, help one another, and communicate openly.

Expectations

My preferred ways to work

You can expect me to

Coordinate alignment

I frequently reach out to other teams and partners for context to ensure we work together effectively.

Set expectations

Part of my day is spent strategic planning, so everyone understands the actionable items, timelines, and scope they are responsible for.

Coach and hype

Helping people achieve career goals and advocating for their promotions is something I feel passionately about. Everyone needs thought partner to bounce ideas around and a good cheerleader to amplify their successes.

I work best on teams that

Care, a lot

I work best in teams that have a strong sense of ownership over everything we are responsible for. This doesn’t mean we’re always excited about every responsibility, but it does mean that we always care about the outcome.

Help each other

I excel within teams that have a shared commitment to helping one another. This could be reaching out to someone when they are having a bad day, pairing up to tackle unfamiliar challenges, or being open-minded when receiving difficult feedback.

Communicate openly

I thrive in teams that operate transparently and honestly. Sometimes that means communicating that a specific task will take longer than anticipated, and sometimes that means telling someone they did or didn’t do something appropriately.

What it looks like

Outcomes tied to my leadership

The principles above matter most when they change how a team works.

My best work as a leader is rarely about directing every decision. It’s about creating enough clarity, trust, and structure for other people to do their best work.

Build teams that scale

At Arista, I hired and led a distributed security design team while helping the broader design organization grow from 6 to 20. I built hiring practices, career ladders, and team rituals that helped us grow without lowering the bar.

Grow people, not just output

I use stretch assignments, pairing, and direct feedback to help designers take on bigger problems. Two designers I coached at Arista eventually stepped into management roles, and I’ve continued mentoring designers across Smartsheet, Lexion, and Docusign.

Design the system behind the work

When teams repeatedly trip over the same problem, I treat the system around the work as something we can design too. At Docusign, I introduced shared planning and critique, brought Research further upstream, and created a clearer path for Content Design to participate before decisions were already baked.

Decision Making

How I make decisions quickly

Erika Hall says, “a design project moves at the speed of decision making.” So I’ve set up some guides to help me make decisions quickly. The core of my decision-making revolves around these four questions:

What's the context

Why do we have to make this decision? Where did it come from, and why is it important? How important is it compared to the decisions we are currently making?

When does this need to happen?

Do we need to decide on this right now? Do other decisions depend on this one? What are the consequences if it goes undecided?

Who needs to be involved?

Who is typically responsible for these decisions? Do we need to include other people to make a good decision? Who might know more about this than us?

What could go wrong?

What factors could lead us to make a bad decision? Is this a one-way door or a two-way door? What other problems might arise if we make this decision?

Other things I care about

Being a positive influence

I strive to positively influence people around me so they can positively influence those around them. I believe we are at our best when we are helping others become their best. For me this means actively listening to peoples’ needs, taking the time to recognize when someone is doing a great job, or reaching out to help when someone is struggling.

Mentoring others

The truest measure of a good leader is the number of people they’ve helped grow. I’ve benefited from a lot of supportive leaders over the course of my career, leaders that provided me with opportunities and safe spaces to learn. I seek to provide similar opportunities and spaces for others.

Fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion

Before we are professionals, we are people. And people need to be heard, be seen, and get paid. I know what it’s like to be marginalized, and I hope to create environments where people are not only included but are empowered and have a voice. Because our collective differences enable us to design better products and solve bigger problems for broader audiences.

Thank You

Thanks for taking the time to read about my approach towards leadership.

I update this page periodically to reflect new insights on how I prefer to work, make decisions, and lead those around me. I was inspired by others to write down my leadership style, and I hope this inspires you to write your own.