Workshop

From Instinct to Influence: Design Leadership in Half a Day

Amanda George

Product Design Leader | Zillow, Meta

The best leaders never left the work.

Teams are flattening and leadership is being redefined. Leaders are expected to stay close to the craft, shape the output, and hold a vision the team can build toward. It rewards the exact instincts that made you a strong designer.

But instincts are raw material, not a system. Most design leaders arrive the same way: exceptional at the craft, promoted, handed a title with no framework attached. No model for feedback. No point of view to lead from. No answer when the business asks why design deserves the headcount.

So you lead on instinct. You review every file, solve every problem, carry every decision. That holds until it matters most.

This half-day intensive gives you the system. Define what you stand for, grow people instead of reviewing their files, hold a high bar without becoming the bottleneck, and make the case for design in language the business acts on.

You'll leave with:

🎓 Your Leadership Philosophy, written in the room
💬 A Stakeholder Influence Plan for your org
🎨 Your Design POV and the rubric that enforces it
🌱 A Coaching and Feedback System, 1:1s included
📐 A Critique System that holds the bar without you
📆 Your First 90 Days of Change, whatever your tenure

What you’ll learn

Lead your team with confidence, raise the bar on design quality, and earn your seat at the table as a strategic design leader.

  • Define the values and principles that shape how you lead.

  • Make the mindset shift from individual contributor to leader.

  • Build a leadership philosophy that earns trust and creates consistency.

  • Run more effective 1:1s and coaching conversations.

  • Deliver feedback that helps designers grow.

  • Build psychological safety while maintaining high expectations.

  • Create critique rituals, quality standards, and decision-making frameworks your team can own.

  • Stay connected to the work without micromanaging it.

  • Scale your influence instead of becoming the person everyone waits on.

  • Communicate design in language executives understand.

  • Build stronger partnerships with Product and Engineering.

  • Lead through influence, alignment, and strategic thinking rather than authority.

Workshop agenda

  • Opening: The Leadership Gap

    Why great designers stall when they step into leadership, and the four foundations that close the gap. Set your intention for the session.

  • Build Your Leadership Philosophy

    The shift from best designer in the room to the leader the room needs starts with knowing what you stand for. Define your leadership values and principles.

  • Develop People with Intention

    The strongest design leaders develop people deliberately. Apply coaching frameworks to develop ICs and managers at every level, and build the conditions for psychological safety, trust.

  • Break

    15 minutes

  • Raise the Bar Without Becoming the Bottleneck

    Leaders are expected to shape the deliverable, not just manage it. Stay hands-on and hold a clear point of view while building quality rituals and rubrics your team can own and run.

  • Influence Beyond Your Team

    Make the case for design in business terms that earn executive alignment, and build a stakeholder plan that strengthens cross-functional partnerships.

  • Break

    10 minutes

  • Leadership Hot Seats & Coaching

    Unfiltered discussion of what you're actually navigating, structured peer exchange, and live hot-seat coaching on the situations you brought with you.

  • Closing: Your 90-Day Leadership Plan

    Turn the session into one concrete, personal action plan you can put to work immediately.

Learn directly from Amanda

Amanda George

Amanda George

Contact

Product Design Executive | Former Design Leader at Zillow and Meta

Led teams at
Zillow
Meta
Equinox
R
Huge
See all products from Amanda

Who this workshop is for

  • The Curious Senior Designer
    You're great at the craft. Now you're wondering if people leadership is the next chapter.

  • The Newly Placed Manager
    You're in the role but still finding your way. You're leading on instinct and ready for a real framework.

  • The Experienced Manager
    You've been leading for a while. You're effective, but you know there's another level to reach.

What's included

Amanda George

Live sessions

Learn directly from Amanda George in a real-time, interactive format.

Lifetime access

Go back to course content and recordings whenever you need to.

Community of peers

Stay accountable and share insights with like-minded professionals.

Manager Toolkit

Includes a downloadable Manager Toolkit with resources for providing feedback, 1:1 and team crit templates, a quality rubric and a Designer to Design Leader checklist.

Certificate of completion

Share your new skills with your employer or on LinkedIn.

Maven Guarantee

Your purchase is backed by the Maven Guarantee.

Frequently asked questions

Maven for Teams

Reimbursement

Get your company to pay

Everything L&D needs: email template, receipts, and certificate of completion.

Get reimbursed

Team discount

Learn with your teammates

Save 20%+ when 2 or more teammates enroll in the same cohort.

Save 20%+ with a team

Private cohort

Run a cohort for your org

A dedicated cohort with a custom schedule and curriculum, tailored to your team.

Book a private cohort

$650

USD

Aug 4
·

12–4pm EDT

Enroll