IDESN 2775 Ethical Practices in Design Leadership
To lead in design, you have to weigh the needs of many different, often conflicting groups, and guide a team towards resolution. You have to know when a situation calls for compromise and when it calls for holding firm to an organization's mission and values. And you have to embrace the ethical responsibility to design a better world for all people, including making difficult decisions, and taking action to honor those ethics. This course examines the ethical practices associated with becoming a professional design leader. We'll explore the construct of leadership, frame it within a broader picture of the design industry, and dive into differences in roles both with and without authority. We'll dig into tactical and practical aspects of leadership, including working with cross-functional teams and managing stakeholders' expectations, to more abstract ideas around values, ethics, and systems. You'll dissect the many ways leadership exists and begin to define the type of leader you want to be.