Stop managing. Start making!

I’ve been watching a curious trend lately. Folks with 10 yrs+ in design, implementation, and operations are sliding into product management—a reminder of how delightfully ambiguous skills needed for a successful PM, can be!!

Meanwhile, I have rarely come across anyone pivoting into design after 10+ years elsewhere. Developing taste and the hardcore craft of design isn’t a weekend side hustle you can bluff your way into, late in the game.

But while product management is where career switchers seem to be going to thrive, design management is where creativity is headed to die—buried under layers of delegation and "people management".

Trying to hire design managers lately, I noticed how many have over-optimized themselves into delegation machines to the extent that when asked how AI is redefining their work, the hottest take I heard was: “I use ChatGPT instead of Google to research and write copy.” Groundbreaking

The best design leaders DON'T step back—they step in.

They operate in "creator mode".

They set the vision, shape the work, and stay close to execution so the details don’t drift. It’s not micromanagement. It’s being in the trenches, sweating the details, and pushing outcomes higher.

And in an AI-augmented world where resources will only get scarcer, true leadership won’t be about stepping back. The best leaders will need to set a high bar for originality, storytelling, and emotional resonance—things AI can’t fully grasp ( as yet).

If you’re a design leader clinging to process and delegation, here’s your wake-up call: You can either be a creator or an administrator.

Only one of those will shape the future.