Changemakers: How Leaders Can Design Change in an Insanely Complex World

by Maria Giudice, Christopher Ireland, Kat Holmes (Foreword)

Today's radically complex problems require people to lead with design. 

Changemakers is an essential playbook for designers and nondesigners who want to drive change at work, at home, and in their communities. Groundbreaking designers Maria Giudice and Christopher Ireland—armed with insights from some of today's top minds in business, tech, and social justice—offer a pragmatic, people–centered approach to change.


Who Should Read This Book?
Changemakers can be designers, leaders, CEOs, tech people, project managers, product people—virtually anyone who wants to embrace and address change. This book will show them how to do it by clearly defining, studying, and addressing change as a design problem to be solved.


Takeaways
A new approach to change is emerging, and design is at the forefront of responding and provoking change. Purpose and passion are essential changemaker qualities. Change involves choosing the right problem and finding an entity open to change. This book will be your guide for creating and maintaining change in your organization—for you, your team, and your stakeholders.
Leaders can design change and affect the world—this book will show them how to become that kind of leader.
Each chapter has critical takeaways at the end of the chapter, summarizing important points.
Each chapter gives the reader a list of extra sources to gain further knowledge.

Genres: Design, Leadership

273 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 17, 2023

About the author

Throughout her illustrious career, creative teams and business leaders have sought the provocative vision and mentorship of Maria Giudice. As founder and CEO of the pioneering experience design firm Hot Studio, Maria built a thriving practice around the principles of human-centered design. Today, former “Hotties” can be found leading teams at Adobe, Google, McKinsey, Airbnb, Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook, and more.

After Hot Studio’s acquisition by Facebook in 2013, Maria led global design teams at Facebook and Autodesk, building digital experiences for millions worldwide. And now, after three decades at the forefront of business and design, Maria has a new mission — building the next generation of creative leaders. Through one-on-one coaching, group coaching, and team-building workshops, Maria unlocks the potential hidden in executives and the people they lead.

A popular speaker at design and business conferences, Maria is also the author of three design books, including Rise of the DEO: Leadership by Design, which has been translated into several languages. Maria teaches design leadership at Stanford Continuing Studies, and also at California College of the Arts, at which she is also a trustee. Maria is a member of several advisory boards.

Reviews

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has lessons for both novice and seasoned professionals who want to spark revolutions in their workplace. The book spans the entire change process from idea through planning and execution, so it is also suitable for a variety of organizations and projects. I found myself taking note of several specific techniques to try in my work, like celebrating small wins even in failure and taking note of the tipping point of change in terms of how many people have bought in.

Two things I particularly liked about this book: The fun and memorable photos that kicked off each chapter, and the comprehensive reading lists that concluded them. It's handy to have a set of related resources curated for you after each chapter so that if something especially piques your interest you can dig in further.

I read Changemakers just for and by myself, but I could see it making an excellent professional book club read, especially for a coaching or peer group.

[Cari · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so comprehensive, and it delivers immediate actions readers can put into motion, no matter their role. Maria and Christopher certainly practiced what they preach by creating a compelling narrative with useful data points. They interviewed 40+ leaders, who shared great advice and lessons learned. Every chapter offers valuable frameworks and takeaways. I read this in less than 24, and my copy is filled with highlights and dog-earred pages, particularly around communication tips and the crucial discovery stage. Highly recommend for anyone who wants to improve their collaboration skills and drive more positive change in their org (and possibly in their personal life)!

[Victor Lameiras · Rating 5 out of 5]

Livro legal e que da uma visão competente sobre os aspectos mais importantes de mudanças em organizações, entendendo o que deve ser focado e porquê. O curso em si foi bem mais legal, acho que por questões óbvias também hahahaha Mas gostei bastante e acho que traz uma abordagem mais processual e técnica pras coisas, com a apresentação de frameworks de priorização, sobre como lidar com os stakeholders, quais são os fatores importantes de serem olhados e etc

[Bianca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting insights and concepts. I particularly like the „further reading“ part, you can see there was a lot of work put into it. Still, it did feel a bit generalistic for me from time to time. I did gain a lot of new methods from it though!

[Melissa Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspiring, visionary with a good dose of practicality

The book promotes an ambitious set of philosophies and processes to enacting change, with solid examples. There were multiple occasions where I could see myself bringing these strategies and tactics into my own teams.