2. The Building Blocks of a Design Leader

More than 10,000 articles have been published on the subject of leadership in the past century, and more than 100,000 books are available on Amazon alone. Whereas some publications on leadership are based on research, the vast majority reflect the personal opinion or the passive observation of practicing managers with leadership capabilities. With the intent to address this issue, this chapter provides an empirical analysis of the nature of design leadership and introduces a research-based conceptual model that captures its building blocks and articulates its constituents in detail. In this chapter, you will explore the building blocks of a design leader. You will learn the differentiating design leadership competencies and the interrelation between these abilities. You will examine the business impact of the design leadership capabilities and analyze the social cognitive neuroscientific origin of its emotional substrate. You will also learn how to assess your level of emotional intelligence.