How do the best staff designers influence and lead as individual contributors?

I interviewed Cat Small to answer that question and it turned into one of the most practical episodes yet. She pulls from her 14+ years of experience designing products like Etsy, Asana, and Soundcloud to share techniques you can use to level up your influence and scale your impact as an IC.

Some highlights:

Ways to get out of the execution trap
The key to having “executive presence”
Catt’s advice for better time management
How designers can encourage people to think bigger
How Catt has evolved the way she does async videos
Understanding the different archetypes of staff designers
Behind-the-scenes of the massive “Goals” project at Asana
a lot more

Check out Catt’s course Staff Designer: Influence & Lead as an Individual Contributor (Dive Club listeners get $100 off)
Catt mentions the books Radical Candor & 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership
Micah Bennett was the designer she learned so much from

Catt Small - How to influence and lead as a staff designer

Dive Club 🤿

Catt Small - How to influence and lead as a staff designer