Friction, done well, is not resistance. It’s reassurance. And in banking, reassurance is everything.

Design leaders are often asked how to measure design. But the truth is, not everything that counts can be counted.

Good is everywhere now, fast, cheap, and forgettable. The only work that stands out is great. That’s where the value lives.

Leadership isn’t about holding the pen longer or louder than anyone else. It’s about creating the conditions where other people can do their best work. For me, that means leading through clarity, growth, and trust: simplifying the chaos, opening space for people to grow, and helping design earn credibility as a true partner in shaping outcomes.

AI can generate endless options in seconds. But the real value of design isn’t in making more—it’s in knowing what to keep. That skill is taste. It’s not a gift. It’s trained, practiced, and earned. And in a world of infinite choice, taste is the value only designers bring.

At CIBC, we built DesignOps from the ground up through the Experience Council—a volunteer group where designers shaped how we worked. We replaced outdated PDFs with living sources of truth, anchored by the True North Design System, and introduced new rituals and principles that built confidence and impact across the team.

Designers grow in both skill and direction. The T-shape balances depth and breadth, but eventually it splits into a Y-shape: one path deepening craft, the other leading people. Coaching is about helping them see both paths clearly and choose the one that fits their strengths.

Pretotyping is the step before prototyping, the scrappy way to test should we build it? before can we build it? It’s fast, cheap, and often overlooked, but it saves teams from building things nobody wants.

Brands make bold promises, but it’s design that decides whether people believe them. A brand isn’t just a logo or campaign—it’s an operating system that shows up in products, services, employees, and even micro-interactions like paying a bill or resetting a password.

Design stirs emotion and sparks conversation, but without a shared vocabulary those conversations often stall. At CIBC, we introduced 21 UX Laws to move beyond clicks and folds, giving stakeholders and designers a common language to explain choices, measure outcomes, and build trust.