Founder of Hey studio on growing as a leader

Join us in a conversation with Veronica Fuerte, Creative Directress and Founder of Hey Studio, a Barcelona-based creative agency known for its colourful, playful geometric designs.

During our interview, Veronica shared insights from her 16-year leadership journey why it's important to hire a coach, keep your team small, and how to succeed by working in your own unique style.

💎 Read our favourite highlights below and watch the full interview to learn more from Veronica about:

👉 How she started her own studio
👉 How to developing side projects using intuition
👉 Why to hire a coach
👉 How to manage teams and be a leader
👉 How to do a review processes
👉 and how to balance creativity with business sense

Keep it small

Veronica Fuerte: "I prefer like to be a small studio, flexible. So when it's needed to grow, I grow with collaborators. And when it needs to be small, we are the size that we are. 

It could be one person or two more. But yes, because when there is a very specific style, it's very important to control it with the people inside. So Imagine if we were 30 people, it's what will be impossible to have this essence of style. If not, we'll be an agency that we do everything, every kind of styles and projects."

Don't take critique personally

Veronica Fuerte: "I think all designers that I know, friends, it's something that it's common for everybody. At the beginning, everything was super personal.  And as well, I couldn't sleep. I'm horrible, you know, but through the years and also with the help of Melissa [coach] and therapy, other things, okay, this is not me. This is not personal.  There is a two sides. One thing is a work and accept the feedbacks, understand why, and empathy. 

Something is now for me, if I receive a critique, it's okay, no problem. Maybe it's good to critique. Maybe I need to listen and why this, no? So I try to be like, optimistic all the time."

Say 'yes' to equity

"I think equity is super important. So the world is more like with female politicians, I think it will be a better world."

Want to go further with your leadership journey?

Learn hands-on from leaders at Pentagram, Wolff Olins, Zaha Hadid Architects, Saatchi & Saatchi, Google, Amazon, and many more on our Design Leaders Programme 

Unfortunately, the browser you use is outdated and does not allow you to display the site correctly. Please install any of the modern browsers, for example:

Google Chrome Firefox Safari