Janaki is a thought leader, innovator and author who was named a Women of Influence by the Silicon Valley Business Journal in 2016. She is a proven leader in building, coaching and inspiring high-performance design teams, leveraging design thinking, customer empathy and co-innovation.
Janaki is also the co-author of Gamification at Work – Designing Engaging Business Software. She was a co-instructor at Stanford's Graduate School Business LEAD course and an inventor of over 20 patents. During our interview, she shared how she became Chief Design Officer, how to prove your value to C-suite executives and what skills to develop to become CDO. What emerged from our conversation was a powerful narrative about building trust, driving innovation and leading with authenticity in spaces where design is still carving its path.
Our favourite insights from this conversation are below. But this is just the beginning. Our full conversation dives deep into:
Watch the complete interview to discover how Janaki has been transforming culture in one of the world's largest financial institutions:
You can also watch or listen to the full episode via Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
Maria Guidice, who you've interviewed before, is a very close friend of mine and an amazing leader. She wrote a book called "Changemakers" and interviewed me for it. One of the quotes I think about a lot is "No one hires a design team to maintain the status quo." Even if a product team hired you and said "All I need is just for you to give me a bunch of screens. I know exactly what I need to do" - their expectation is that you are going to make it better somehow through using your power of design.
'When I'm leading my team through changes, I ask myself: "What do they need from me right now?" They don't need me to add fuel to the fire or complain. That is not productive. That is not constructive. They need hope. Organisational changes, as hard as they are, there is a good reason for them, so we have to get a little bit of objectivity there and say: "Here is the reason; this is the future that we are trying to go towards".'
'I approach every meeting, every team interaction with one question: "Can I pull from myself what they need to give it to them?" But I also need to take time for myself because I get depleted if I don't. When I'm depleted, I have nothing more to give. So, I make sure to take time to replenish my batteries. That way, I can show up as the leader my team needs for whatever change comes next.'
We'd love to hear: Which of these insights resonates most with your leadership journey? Share your thoughts and tag @FutureLondonAcademy - let's keep this conversation going!
Remember: Great design leadership isn't just about what we create - it's about how we inspire others to create their best work.
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