Ajay Aggarwal

Design Thinking Masterclass 2024

HSBC

Coca-Cola

Philips

Dell

Larsen & Toubro

CEO at HDIC | 19+ Yrs in Design Thinking & Innovation | Ex KPMG

Learn the essence of design and how design thinking evolved as a problem-solving methodology.

Understand Design & Origin of Design Thinking

Explore how design thinking drives innovation and business success across various industries.

Apply Design Thinking in Business

Gain practical experience in the design thinking stages through hands-on activities and real-world case studies.

Understanding the Design Thinking Framework

Understand key mindsets like empathy, collaboration, experimentation and more to foster innovation.

Adopt a Design Thinker's Mindset

Design Thinking is a creative approach to finding clarity amidst ambiguity. In this course, you'll be guided through how to apply Design Thinking to your own career exploration. The course itself is broken down into four sessions: Ground, Diverge, Converge, and Plan which will help you articulate your values, explore the career possibilities available to you, design experiments to figure out what you want, and plan your short, medium, and long-term next steps. You'll walk away with more confidence about what you want next and a roadmap for how to get there.

Clarify what you want with the help of Design Thinking

Course syllabus

Our course starts by grounding in where you are. Through a series of exercises, you'll reflect on your values, career experiences, and visions for your future. By the end, you'll be able to articulate what matters to you in your next step. *All live sessions will be recorded.

Module 1: Ground

This session is all about going wide. You'll canvas out three potential paths for yourself, quiet your inner critic, and ask what would have to be true in order to pursue each. By the end, you'll have three distinct paths and a research plan.

Module 2: Diverge

This session is all about making decisions. You'll synthesize what you've learned from your research and address some of your fears in making changes in your life. By the end, you'll clarify the direction you want to keep exploring.

Module 3: Converge

Here's where the rubber meets the road. You'll make an action plan with short, medium, and long-term goals, and design methods of accountability. We'll talk about addressing the inevitable barriers along the way, and you'll leave with clarity and conviction for what's next.

Module 4: Plan

Almost all coursework will take place during the live sessions, but there will be optional resources to continue exploring outside of class. *There will also be the (optional) opportunity to meet 1:1 with Simone

Weekly projects

Course schedule

Curious explorers who are ready for a change in their life but aren't clear on exactly what they're looking for

Overworked professionals who move a mile-a-minute but don't have the space to take a step back and reflect

Passionate generalists who feel pulled in multiple directions but aren't sure which path they want to choose

Who is this course for

Key outcomes

The North Star of this course is for you to go from messiness to clarity. We'll explore different frameworks for clarifying your personal values and career possibilities. You will walk away with conviction for what you really want from the next step in your work and life

A clear vision for the next step in your work/life

This course is actionable. From day one you will be envisioning, prototyping, and refining your path. You will leave with an air-tight action plan for the steps to take to keep progressing and resources that you can return to throughout your career.

An action plan with the short, medium, and long-term steps to achieve your vision

Accountability is everything. In this course you will connect with other folks who are in similar places on the journey. The relationships you form will extend long beyond the last day of class.

A vibrant community of other ambitious professionals to hold you accountable

In the course, you will receive a workbook filled with evergreen exercises, reflection prompts, and resources that you can dust off whenever you find yourself at a similar crossroads.

A buffet of research, exercises, and resources that you can return to again and again

Instead of spinning your wheels, follow a step-by-step process to determine what you value and plan your next move.

Simone Stolzoff

Cohort 8

Cohort 9

This advanced course equips senior design leaders to move from tactical design execution to strategic leadership. You will learn how to align design with business strategy, lead cross-functional transformation, and position design as a key driver of innovation and business growth. What you’ll learn: 1. Shift from tactical to strategic design leadershipMove beyond day-to-day operations by aligning design with broader business objectives and leading with strategic vision to shape company outcomes. 2. Connect design, business, and technologyMaster the integration of business priorities, emerging technologies, and experience strategy to drive innovation, while building the fluency to influence C-suite decision-making. 3. Lead organizational change through designFoster a design-driven culture and lead organizational change by positioning design as a strategic asset. You'll learn to scale your team, build influence, and drive design maturity across the organization. 4. Transform product culture and scale design for growthIntegrate design thinking throughout the product lifecycle to drive continuous innovation. Build scalable operations and systems that support growth while balancing operational efficiency, creativity, and quality in fast-paced environments. 5. Design the future of businessHarness future-leaning capabilities, emerging technologies, and new ways of working to elevate design’s role as a strategic differentiator and build your legacy as a future-ready leader. Plus: 2 in-depth Office Hours with Rachel for personalized guidance tailored to your specific leadership challenges.

Expand your impact and position design as a competitive advantage.


Course modules


Monday, Feb 12


90-minute Live Sessions (2x a week)

Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays


60-minute Q+A (1x a week, optional)

Office Hours w/ Rachel


Online modules with videos and resources

Self study + weekly projects


Senior Design Leaders taking on their first executive role. Ready to expand influence and lead design’s integration into business strategy.

Senior Design Executives leading large teams and portfolios. Leaders aligning design with business goals and scaling cross-functional teams.

Design C-Suite navigating rapid transformation and growth. Leaders using design to drive innovation and lead organizational change.

What you will get out of this course


Position yourself as a strategic design leader by mastering business fluency and aligning design with organizational goals. You’ll unlock new opportunities for executive-level roles and influence high-stakes conversations that shape the future of your career.

Accelerate your career


Learn how to connect design to measurable business outcomes, elevating your function as a key driver of business strategy. By demonstrating the tangible impact of your team’s work, you’ll influence priorities, drive innovation, and secure greater investment.

Amplify your impact


Build strong relationships across the C-suite, foster cross-functional collaboration, and articulate design’s strategic value effectively. You’ll craft a communication strategy that aligns with business goals and positions design as a critical component in key decisions.

Expand your influence and communication


This intensive two-week course is curated for senior leaders with demanding schedules. Recorded sessions are available for flexibility, allowing you to review key lessons at your convenience.

Designed for busy senior design leaders


Shape the future of business. Develop the vision, strategy, and influence to make design a critical driver of transformation.


Rachel Kobetz

Chief Design Officer @ PayPal


DLSE05 - Dec 2024 - Executive

DLSE06 – Q2 2025

Product, UX &amp; Content Design folks seeking to grow and enhance their leadership practice, welcome home! This course, community and live coaching sessions are your guide to stepping into the Leader you aspire to be. Leading teams is a "what got you here" (craft, leading the work) "won't get you there" (leading through others, business results, visionary leadership) moment for many – especially as you scale. It's my mission to demystify what is needed to be seen as a business leader and be known for excellence in craft AND in leadership. From imposter syndrome → confidenceFrom overwhelmed → organized focusFrom tactical work → strategic influenceFrom feeling stuck → career plan Shift from feeling isolated and overwhelmed, to feeling confident and centered in this supportive environment led by sought after coach Alison Gretz. The course lasts 8 weeks, with one self-paced module and a live cohort call weekly. We'll will dig into the 4 common sticking points that hold Design Leaders back as they step up to management and then evolve to Director+. It's by building key muscles and overcoming these sticking points, while also grounding in your own authentic leadership style that will further you as a leader.

Unblock your Growth in Design Leadership

You can go at your own pace and jump into topics that are most relevant to your growth ahead of the cohort.

Self-paced videos & workbook

Each week, Alison will host a live cohort coaching call where we'll dig into REAL WORLD scenarios and transformation.

Weekly Group Coaching

Alison will host an intimate community where we can tackle more Q&amp;A, weekly AMA topics, and peer mentorship.

Community Q&A

Flexible Course schedule

I'm ready to scale up to Director, but I'm feeling stuck and blocked from receiving the opportunities to promote up. How do I grow?

I'm a Director of Content Design, but I'm feeling out of my depth and need to up-level my soft skills expertise.

I want to lead in Design with authenticity and impact – is this possible while still being a respected boss?

I'm struggling with imposter syndrome, and my tough stakeholder relationships are causing burnout.

Does this sound familiar?

Walk away with the soft skills needed to grow in Design Leadership

Direct and frequent access to accredited coach + executive Design Leader Alison Gretz alongside a supportive peer group.

Coaching and advice on your leadership journey

Learn about common pitfalls to avoid, in a space where you can ask questions and identify key blockers or bumps that are in your way.

Ability to overcome the top 4 pitfalls of design leadership

Define and explore how you will show up as a human-centered leader.

Leading in alignment to your values

Each week, Alison will share a value-packed workbook and video/audio recording. Since you get life-time access, many students utilize our frameworks for months and years!

Expand your Toolkit with Workbooks, Frameworks & Tools

You'll leave the course with a clear path forward, broken down into actionable steps.

Design Your Next roadmapping and goals

Rise in your Design Career: Build your confidence & skills, then create your path from craft leader to business leader.

Alison Gretz

Cohort 7

Cohort 10

Many talented Designers struggle for one reason: Your designs don’t speak for themselves. Your designs might be good (or even great), but if you can't convince your stakeholders, it doesn't matter.Great UX will be overlooked, deprioritized, or even dismissed in favor of what's easier in the moment. Sound familiar? The reason is simple: You aren't tying your design to business outcomes. If executives (and other decision-makers) don't see the business value of your work, they won't invest in it. If you struggle to communicate the business impact of your designs: &nbsp;• Your best ideas will get deprioritized or shelved, limiting the impact you have to make a difference&nbsp;• You’ll have to constantly justify your role and fight for recognition, while others (who 'speak business') will get promotions and raises&nbsp;• Your career will hit a wall, because businesses only invest in designers that demonstrate measurable outcomes&nbsp;• Your job security becomes uncertain, because your contributions aren't directly tied to business results. But what if you could speak to the value of design? Imagine instead walking into meetings knowing how to persuade your team to take action.Picture decision-makers nodding as you present data on how design decisions impact business outcomes. The secret? You need Data to back up your Intuition. As one design leader said, "The Difference Between Good and Great Designers is that Great Ones can Use Data to Sell your Ideas." In 2025, top companies aren't hiring Good Designers. They're hiring Great Ones, that know how to communicate how design impacts business outcomes. Design Professionals who can do that jump to the top of the priority list. When you become a designer that communicates how design affects business outcomes, you'll: &nbsp;• Consistently secure stakeholder buy-in, making your design initiatives a top priority.&nbsp;• Have Influence with executives and cross-functional partners who value clear ROI and measurable outcomes.&nbsp;• Accelerate your career growth by showcasing to businesses why your designs are valuable&nbsp;• Become indispensable to your organization as a leader who can speak clearly to both user and business needs&nbsp;• Transform from overlooked designer to strategic partner who shapes critical business decisions. This cohort-based course will provide you with the frameworks, skills, and tools to persuasively connect Design work with desired business outcomes. Here's exactly what you'll master: Week 1: Design what businesses needSpend an hour to save a month's work. Understand what the business needs from designers, and learn how to identify how design decisions affect business outcomes. Week 2: Don't present information: present insights You might have remarkable user findings, but it doesn't matter if no one acts on them. Turn your findings into actionable insights using frameworks employed by Netflix and Meta to harness to drive action. Week 3: Integrate AI into your Design processes AI is a powerful tool, especially when you know how to work with Data. You'll learn how to super-charge your Design process with AI without losing your team's trust. Week 4: Tell a UX story that persuades your team to actWorking with Data allows you to use the powerful tools of Data visualization and Storytelling to make a real difference. No creative writing experience is needed. Investing in these skills means: &nbsp;• Ensuring your UX work is consistently valued, prioritized, and understood in your organization&nbsp;• Becoming an influential designer, that decision-makers seek out to help drive critical business decisions&nbsp;• Accelerating your career growth in a tough job market by speaking to what businesses really need. Why This Course MattersIn today's competitive landscape, the most successful Designers aren’t necessarily those with the best visual or technical skills. They’re the ones who clearly speak the language of business outcomes. If you're ready to design projects faster, show how design affects business outcomes, and persuade your team to take action, you should take this course. --Training Your Team?Email kai@datainformeddesign.online for bulk pricing and personalized course options.

Feeling undervalued? Ideas getting ignored? Design presentations falling flat?

I will have live lectures with Q&amp;A, reviewing this week's lessons. These will also be where I review student's exercise and provide live feedback

Mondays and Thursday

In these lectures, I'll dive into the specifics around Data, Narrative, Visuals, and more. This will be a more detailed videos on the stuff I cover live on Mondays and Fridays

Pre-recorded lectures

These exercises, paired with the lecture, will help you practice the concepts you learn from lectures

Weekly projects and exercises

Senior-level UX designers who frequently need to justify their decisions to PMs, engineers, and executives.

Design Leaders/Managers who must consistently persuade executives and other stakeholders to buy-in to their ideas.

Designers seeking career growth who know their professional advancement relies on demonstrating clear business impact.

Designers building persuasive portfolios to clearly demonstrate measurable business impact to potential employers.

What you'll walk away with 

Have clear frameworks to immediately show your design impact in meetings, presentations, performance reviews, and interviews.

Stop being the "make it pretty person". Start having an impact with design. 

Translate what you find, from talking with users, into the exact language and techniques to secure stakeholder buy-in and approval quickly and consistently.

Consistently get buy-in to create better products

Become an irreplaceable UX leader to your team means gaining influence, trust, and visibility in your organization.

Learn leadership skills businesses want from designers

You'll learn a proven approach to demonstrating design value in your portfolio, LinkedIn profile, and future job interviews.

Have a portfolio of work that showcases design value effectively

The best way to use AI, as a designer, isn't to learn a new tool. It's to improve your existing design process.

Super-charge your UX process with AI, without losing creative control

You won't just learn theoretical concepts. You'll learn how to apply it to your work with 1:1 coaching with a Data-Informed Design expert.

Up to 90 minutes of 1:1 Data-Informed Design coaching

Get Executives to See the Value of Design, Buy-in to Your Ideas, and Advance your Design Career

Lightning Lessons

Design Thinking Masterclass 2024