Voices of Design Leadership : Insights from Top Collaborative Design Firms

Provides inspiration to architecture and design students and professionals through the insights, stories, and projects of successful design leaders

Voices of Design Leadership seeks to educate, inform, and inspire a new generation of diverse design leaders. The work includes sixteen profiles of design leaders in architecture, interior design, planning, and research, many of whom are leaders at firms that have earned the AIA’s national Architecture Firm Award. The stories and projects from their own professional journeys illustrate multiple paths to design leadership success.

Individually, each person stands on their own as an inspiring and inf luential design leader. Collectively, they express what design leadership can and should look like. Representing a broad diversity of expertise and demographics―including nine women, seven people of color, and five first-generation immigrants―they bring a variety of life experiences and cultural backgrounds to their award-winning work.

Sample topics discussed in the work include:

• The power of diversity
• Finding and developing design talent
• Design philosophy and research investments
• Coaching, mentoring, team collaboration, and community engagement
• Advice for emerging design leaders

Students of architecture, engineering, construction, and real estate will find value and inspiration from Voices of Design Leadership and gain insight into the thought processes of established leaders in their fields. The work also appeals to young and mid-career professionals, clients, and educators exploring the next steps of their own career journeys.

Ken Sanders FAIA is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and a Senior Fellow and Executive Board Member of the Design Futures Council. As a Managing Principal at DesignIntelligence, Ken provides strategic consulting services to architecture, engineering, and construction firms on leadership development, operational excellence, practice integration, and design technology. He is a member of the Board of Directors of NELSON, an award-winning architecture, interior design, graphic design, and brand strategy firm, and a member of the Board of Directors of Clarus, a leading designer and manufacturer of collaborative workplace products.