An interview with Aaron Irizarry
Aaron aka “Ron” is the Head of Credit Solutions Design in Capital One’s Commercial Bank. Aaron is also the co-author of “Discussing Design: Improving Communication and Collaboration through Critique”. More importantly, Aaron loves connecting with people through food, is a lover of heavy metal, and a lifelong Dodgers fan.
We chatted to Ron ahead of his Conference talk and three masterclasses at Leading Design Festival this March.
We’re excited to have you back at Leading Design. Can you tell us a little about your last Leading Design experience?
Ron: The last Leading Design I attended was in NYC. Prior to that, I spoke once in London. Outside of the location, the events were very similar and at the top of my list of events I have attended. The quality of speakers and the sense of community the organizers cultivate are second to none.
One thing the conference does well is curate the content in a way that is applicable to those wanting to become a leader, new leaders, and seasoned leaders. The variety of speakers from different organizations and backgrounds really helps to bring a depth of content to the event.
What if anything has changed in your world since then?
Ron: As a leader, my scope has changed, I went from overseeing one main body of work and one team, to leading two teams and three bodies of work. To make things even more interesting 1 month after the scope of my role increased COVID hit. As a result in March of 2020, we started working entirely remotely. This brought about a few logistical challenges like meeting rituals and cadences, onboarding new hires entirely remotely and maintaining connection across our teams and partners.
This change has brought about some interesting findings as well. For instance, some planning meetings that the org thought would only work in person, have actually functioned even better remotely.
The world of working remote has also forced our team to put in extra effort into making connections and fostering the culture that we want for our teams, something that we could easily take for granted as we see each other in the office every day.
So to answer your question, yes a few things have changed since the last time I attended a Leading Design event, haha. With the changes and experiences I mentioned in mind I am excited to connect with and learn from other leaders during this year’s Leading Design Festival.
I believe that your workshops are partly inspired by your previous Leading Design talk. Can you tell us more?
Ron: The masterclasses are a deeper and more hands-on dive into the talk I gave at Leading Design in London. The talk focused on setting foundations for successful design teams. When I turned into a workshop I built activities around the content that would help attendees not only grasp the concepts more practically, but also give them a tool to use in their practice.
What has 2020 taught you about design leadership?
Ron: Ha ha, this topic is probably a conference talk in itself… For me it has really centered me on the importance of people and the investment we make in them intellectually, emotionally, as we work on their development with them.
How can leaders pave the way for people from all types of backgrounds to realise their leadership potential?
Ron: It can start with us recognizing our own biases and acting to correct them. From there we can then work to help others see biases in how we show up in our work, all while advocating for more inclusive workplaces, hiring practices and decision making.
What are the common challenges you see faced by new leaders?
Ron: I see two major changes for new leaders quite often…
- They struggle with the transition from maker to manager as their deliverables change from pixels to people. As they now oversee other’s work they are tasked not with creating the best design but leading towards the best outcome. This means that they will need to let go of control and allow for those they lead to execute on the work in an autonomous way, understanding that if their direct report executes the work in a way different than they would, that is ok, so long as it is still moving the work toward the right outcome.
- New managers often don’t get the investment and training needed. More times than not we wait for individuals to become a leader (officially) before investing in them. We should be using our development conversations to understand who is interested in leadership and start investing in their growth in that area leading up to the time when they officially become a people manager. This can help develop the needed soft skills and people management techniques in a way that sets our new leaders up for success.
What do you see organisations still doing wrong regarding design leadership?
Ron: I often see organizations making the mistake of putting people in leadership who aren’t ready or don’t have an interest in being a leader. In some organizations, the only way for designers to grow their career is to go into people management. Organizations need to invest time into an Individual Contributor path for their designers. This opens up multiple paths to career progression in a way that allows for designers to use their skills in the best possible way as opposed to having to fit their skills into a career path that doesn’t suit them well.
How has your leadership style evolved over the years?
Ron: Tons. It evolves every year as I learn from my mistakes, and learn from those that I am leading. A learning mindset is really important, and the more I have embraced a learning mindset the more my leadership style has evolved to support my teams.
Capital One has a record of hiring prominent design leaders. What’s the secret?
Ron: Culture. We are not perfect by any means, but we have a strong culture that supports and nurtures our team members. I have not experienced it like this before.
Lastly, what’s the best thing you’ve read/watched/listened to in 2020?
Ron: I really enjoyed watching The Queen’s Gambit, Gangs of London, and Succession. I listen to a very wide variety of music but always end up with Metal and Hip-Hop as my main go-tos. The new Nas and Run the Jewels records are my favorite hip-hop records to come out this year, and on the heavier side I really enjoyed the new Hatrbreed and Killer Be Killed records.
We’re delighted to have Ron speaking at the #LDFest Conference in March. While his Masterclasses are sold out you can hear him speak at The Conference, tickets are available now.
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