Presenting Designs to get Executive Buy-In

practical skills and tangible tools to accelerate your career immediately

All Lightning Lessons

Presenting Designs to get Executive Buy-In

Hosted by

Ryan Scott

Learn directly from Ryan Scott

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What you'll learn

Identify what design work will resonate

Work that resonates gets shipped. Learn how to decide what designs to show, how to show them, and how to frame them.

Position yourself to get the right feedback

Avoid subjective feedback and pixel-level pushback by learning to anchor your design rationale in business terms

Avoid getting derailed or surprised

Learn how stakeholder maps, the stairstep approach, and the Japanese art of nemawashi will mitigate in-meeting surprises

Why this topic matters

Presenting designs to leadership is high-risk, high-reward. It’s a skill you must master to advance your design career. There is also little room for error. Throughout my career, I’ve taken every opportunity to show my work to leaders. Sometimes it went smoothly—other times it went off the rails. Today, I'm sharing how designers can leverage our creative strengths to gain leadership’s support.

You'll learn from

Ryan Scott

Design leader · Airbnb, DoorDash, Salesforce · Berkeley MBA

Ryan Scott is a multidisciplinary designer who has led cross-functional teams to launch some of today’s most recognizable products. Over 15+ years in tech, he’s presented to dozens of cross-functional founders, leaders, and executives.

As an early employee at DoorDash, he reported to one of the company’s co-founders and spearheaded launches of foundational systems like live order tracking, mobile group orders, and the food photography program.

At Airbnb, Ryan’s work overhauling the checkout flow, messaging platform, search platform, and mobile website was regularly reviewed and greenlit by C-suite execs including Brian Chesky.

After earning his MBA from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, Ryan now coaches and teaches critical business skills to emerging-design leaders.

Previously at