"Could BlackBerry have remained the best-selling mobile phone brand if its leaders, including cofounder Mike Lazaridis, had rethought their strategy to adapt to the smartphone revolution? Can we design another breakthrough moment - like the first iPod click wheel or the simplicity of Google's search box - by rethinking what meaningful interaction really means?"
"Why designers abandoned their dreams of changing the world → Now Earth is a mess, its climate warming rapidly, its seas full of waste. There are microplastics in the glaciers, the air is polluted and forests are being destroyed to make more stuff. If everything is design, then design is responsible for all of it."
"How to be a leader when the vibes are off → It feels different in tech right now. We're coming off a long era where optimism carried the industry. Something has curdled. AI hype, return-to-office mandates, and continued layoffs have shifted the mood. Managers are quicker to fire, existential dread has replaced the confidence that a tight job market for developers provided for decades. The vibes are for sure off."
Path fixation causes companies to miss technological shifts and sacrifice market leadership. Rethinking core assumptions about interaction can enable new breakthrough products. Designers hold responsibility for environmental and social harms that result from pervasive design decisions. Compensation typically reflects value generation and accountability rather than raw knowledge or effort, prompting debate about parity with engineers. Leadership during shifting industry moods requires steadiness, emotional intelligence, and adaptation to AI hype, layoffs, and changing expectations. Independent design platforms elevate diverse voices and foster critical thinking. Supporting curated resources helps sustain community access to practical guidance and diverse perspectives.
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