If you're a Chief Design Officer or aspiring to be one, you face unique challenges that often leave you feeling overwhelmed and underequipped. I don't want you to go another day feeling like you're on your own.
You know the struggle of balancing creative vision with business demands, all while trying to grow personally as a leader. Quite frankly, it’s a slap in your face when a company or boss doesn't play an active part in your progress as a leader.
That's where CDO School comes in – a program designed specifically for you when you decide to invest your time learning new skills.
Is CDO School Right for You?
You might be the perfect candidate for CDO School if:
- Your days are consumed by navigating complex decisions, personalities, and organizational politics.
- You're lacking the mentorship and practical experience needed to find your voice as a leader.
- You feel isolated in your role, longing for a community of peers who understand your unique challenges.
- Your communication skills need refining to effectively convey ideas and influence stakeholders.
- You're constantly pressured to make decisions that don't align with your expertise or values.
- For all the talk of metrics, measures, ROI, OKRs, etc., it's all a house of cards. You want to know which metrics are valid, who's using math, and how to start measuring.
- You're tired of feeling inferior due to industry hype and want to model a new approach to design leadership.
- Negotiation has become a constant in your work life, leaving you exhausted. You want the skills, tools and judgement needed to deal with devil's advocates and difficult decisions.
- You want to know YOUR value beyond revenue for the company. You want to prove there's more to success than revenue alone, especially when you're speaking to people who risk averse or want a guarantee in life.
Real-World Experience Backing Our Approach
At CDO School, we don't just teach theory – we bring hard-earned insights from doing a lot of the work you are now. Our instructors have:
- I led design initiatives at Apple during Tim Cook's tenure as COO, successfully securing capital funding through strategic measurement of benefits.
- I built multiple teams and organizations from the ground up at companies like EA and Nestlé, learning valuable lessons along the way.
- I was the executive in charge of Experience Strategy at USAA and served on Forrester's CX Leadership Board. Our team delivered an entirely new approach to Product Strategy, which enabled dozens of teams handling billions of $ to develop 100s of new capabilities.
It's likely I've had to do what you have to do
- We led design at Apple. Not for Steve, but in Tim's org when he was the COO. We designed the first LMS to get capital funding after 4 prev. attempts to get it. How? We tracked & measured the benefits before asking for $$$.
- We came in as the 1st designer at EA (twice) and Nestlé to build/scale orgs from scratch. We sucked at it at first, but got much better with practice. Each time, we were hired to "bring Apple-like rigor" to the biz, but had teach what we were implementing while we were implementing it.
- We were hired as the executive in charge of Experience Strategy at USAA and served on Forrester's CX Leadership Board. We led the team that created an entirely new approach to Product Visions, which enabled dozens of teams handling billions of $ to develop 100s of new capabilities.
A Proven Track Record
Since 2019, over 1,200 design leaders worldwide have trusted me to grow their business acumen and nurture their leadership skills. I've run in-house programs for industry giants like Google, LinkedIn, and ANZ, while maintaining a remarkable 60% referral rate. Why? Because I offer:
- Honest, no-nonsense guidance
- Practical skills instead of empty promises
- A challenging, yet supportive approach to career development
- Learning on your terms, and your schedule
- A priority on safety
The red pill in a sea of sameness
If you're prepared to invest in yourself and grow your design leadership career to new heights, CDO School is for you.
Join us when you're ready.
Transform your challenges into opportunities.
Become the design leader you're meant to be.