Comments on: Designers: Are you a leader?

By: Chris HP

Chris HP — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 17:13:23 +0000

I can see where Larry is coming from, everyone is telling you that you need to step up and be the big boss man, but that’s why i find this article so interesting. It’s almost saying that to be a leader, you don’t step up, you don’t force your way there. To be a leader, you must serve those you lead.
It’s a had task and you have to take the bad with the good, something a designer is used to. As hellacious as it is to be up until 3am working on a design project or a drawing, the satisfaction received from doing it is worth the sleep deprivation. Designers are breed to put themselves through pain in order to satisfy others (and, in turn, themselves).

By: travis

travis — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 01:42:31 +0000

I agree with your observation that a lot of people think they need to be a leader in order to be successful. Unfortunately there are a lot of people that do not have the qualities that would make them a good leader, in which case they may come off as pushy or bossy.

It is my belief that good leaders are not as obvious.

As to what the author is saying: I think he is trying to make the point that designers are big picture thinkers, and that this ability could benefit some of the high level management.

By: Larry

Larry — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 01:26:40 +0000

I liked the article itself, though the tone of it struck a cord with me. I suppose the overall purpose of the article is to get designers to stop standing in the background and start showing how they can help become helpful in an organization, which is good. This could also probably apply to any other profession I can think of.

The one thing that kinda irked me though – and this is more abstract than specific to the article – is how everyone thinks they’re a leader. Maybe it’s this generation, where everyone’s told “be a leader, be successful” or, more appropriately, “you’re not successful unless you’re a leader.” In almost every professional and social group I’ve seen, there’s always been approximately 90% of the group who considers themselves leaders. Of all these people, I have yet to meet one with any decent leadership qualities.

Don’t get me wrong – I like the article. It just seems to remind me of how people think that in order to be successful in life, you’ve gotta be at the top or in charge of people.

Dunno, maybe I’m off. I’ll get off the soapbox now anyways, and thanks for the plug buddy. Wuwu!