As a design leader my job is to foster a caring and empowering environment that inspires creativity and enables collaboration.
My approach to design & leadership
I am a big advocate of creating cross-functional teams to enable lateral design. I subscribe to the EPD (engineer, product management, and design) organizational structure described by AirBnB as the ‘3-legged stool that supports the organization‘. I believe each of these functions should be aligned from inception through to launch.
In using established design frameworks and workflows, such as the Design Council’s Double Diamond, I aim to achieve efficiency and predictability in the design process.
I believe in leading by teaching. I am always eager to nurture young design talent and enjoy coaching and empowering the members of my team. I actively participate in the design community through both volunteer work and mentorship programs.
Learn more about my leadership strengths or read some of the testimonials given by former colleagues below.
Areas of Expertise
Design Leadership
Innovation Strategy
UX Research & Strategy
Service Design
Product Design
Content Strategy
Creative Direction
My Design Toolkit
Human-centered Design
Design Thinking
User-Centered Design
Data-Informed Design
Agile & Lean Principles
Design Council’s Double Diamond
Leadership Attributes
My key leadership attributes as indicated by the Korn Ferry Leadership Assessment framework.
This assessment framework provides data-driven insights to determine leadership attributes based on competencies, traits and drivers.
Competencies
Engages & Inspires
Strategic Vision
Develops Talent
Manages Ambiguity
Persuades
You communicate a compelling strategic vision for the organization and inspire others to do their best to achieve organizational objectives. You translate future-oriented ideas into a viable organizational strategy and reward the creativity that generates breakthrough approaches and solutions. You also tend to build a culture that develops talent, ensures leadership excellence, and promotes learning and reflection. You establish an organizational culture that tolerates uncertainty and flexibly responds to change. You negotiate and persuade skillfully and proactively shape stakeholder opinions in order to gain support for key business initiatives.
Traits
Social Leadership
Agility
Energy
You tend to tackle complex challenges with a mix of creativity, flexibility, and careful analysis. When leading others, you likely strike an effective balance between promoting autonomy and building relationships. Your pattern also suggests you approach challenges with a strong level of commitment and drive, and will not back down from obstacles and setbacks. Energy is related to high performance as well as overall career success and management level. It is a quality that brings resilience and achievement orientation in the face of ambiguity and obstacles. A particular area of strength for you within Energy is the degree to which you are comfortable taking charge and directing others. People with high scores in this area tend to excel in high-level management roles that require visionary leadership in times of change and transition.
Drivers
Balance
Collaboration
Challenge
Structure
Independence
You are motivated by new, complex, difficult problems. An ideal environment is one that fosters entrepreneurial pursuits and a high degree of achievement in the face of tough obstacles. People driven by Independence perform especially well in highly ambiguous situations where the role requires navigating change. Independence is a good fit for organizations focused on innovation.
Testimonials
Words shared by former colleagues, team members, and mentors from their experiences working with me.
Senior Leadership & Former Managers
Charles is a progressive and insightful UX leader that understands how to build a customer centric team. I’ve had the pleasure of working with Charles on a number of strategic initiatives that helped transform the organization.
Steve Chow, CTO at PADI Worldwide
Charles goes over an above in his contribution. His cross-disciplinary expertise makes him a valuable asset to both product and UI teams. He brings great ideas to the table, while also being able to build on the ideas of others.
Dominic Jones, Senior Design Manager at Amazon
Charles not only has the ability to run a strong UX and visual design team but he has a strong appreciation for how the products should be built. He helped us reimagine our digital experience and scale design activities across the enterprise.
Christian Nimsky, Former Head of Product at PADI Worldwide
What truly sets Charles apart is his ability to translate concepts into actionable outputs for product design. What’s great about Charles is his passion for design and tech. He’s a top-notch designer, passionate thinker and an amazing strategist.
Brian Yoder, Director of User Experience at Autodesk
Leadership Peers
It is thoroughly refreshing to come across UX professionals that manage to execute their creative vision while still grounding their work with a data-driven approach. I was impressed by Charles’ sound and methodical mindset when building a design framework rooted in research and facts.
Paul Astrom, Senior Solutions Consultant at Adobe
Charles approaches UX problems with a level of positivity and precision that elevates him above the vast majority of designers I’ve worked with. He is a true product designer and sees the broader strategic goals without losing sight of the details.
Lee Hillman, Design Leadership at Amazon