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zemanel metamodel

The meta-model

Ten stages, one loop

The model reads clockwise from the designer's Ethos. Each stage is one of the ten factors the research surfaced. Designers hold some of the levers. CEOs hold the rest. Two stages, Access and Effectiveness, only move when both act.

The Executive Designer Meta-ModelA circular model of ten stages in one reinforcing loop, split between the designer's and the CEO's scope of action. Each stage is keyboard selectable.Ten stages,one loopEthosDesirePreparationFlexibilityAccessScarcityAdviceDesign CEONecessityEffectiveness
01 / 10Designer scope

Designer Ethos

What makes a designer a designer is seen, at the same time, as an asset and a liability.

What the research found

Ten tensions surfaced across the interviews and the literature, from Solution versus System to Individualism versus Enterprise. Ethos was kept off the list shown to interviewees, so the conversation would not turn into one about bias.

What it takes

Designers name their own tensions, around their late thirties, as an act of self-knowledge rather than conversion. Non-designers meet them with empathy. It has to start with designers.

“It's true that many times if you promote a good designer to a managerial position you lose a good designer, but that is true for any other professions.”Design coach who has trained hundreds of design leaders

Shapes whether the long corporate journey feels worth wanting.

Discuss this stage

How the loop holds

What makes a designer a designer weakens the desire for a long corporate climb. Low desire means little investment in preparation, which narrows the flexibility a career builds. A narrow record limits access, and limited access produces scarcity. Scarcity shapes the advice that reaches the CEO. An unconvinced CEO questions whether a designer is needed at the top, and with few cases and metrics, the argument for effectiveness stays weak. That feeds the gap between designers and everyone else, where the loop began. Everyone is excused. No one fixes it.

I claim correlation here, not causation. I offer the loop as a plan of action: every stage is a place where someone can step in.

Why a meta-model

There is no single route to the C‑suite, and I didn't want to pretend there is one. A meta-model gives you the concepts, the words and the relationships between them. You build your own model from it. So does a CEO who wants designers at the top, an educator, or a recruiter. I took the idea from Mike Young's meta-model of change (Journal of Organizational Change Management, 2009).

#StageScopeFinding, as named in the research
1Designer EthosdesignerWhat makes a designer a designer is seen, at the same time, as an asset and a liability.
2DesiredesignerDesigners don't want or aspire to this role. It stops them from crafting their practice.
3PreparationdesignerDesigners don't have the right education and training, skillset or mindset.
4FlexibilitydesignerDesigners tend to stick to design, with no experience managing other areas.
5AccesssharedDesigners are not selected for the job, not invited, not mentored and groomed for it.
6ScarcityCEOThere aren't enough qualified designers with the right experience in the market.
7AdviceCEOConsultancies and advisory boards don't influence CEOs positively about the value of design.
8Design CEOCEOThere are not enough design-savvy CEOs and executives who understand the value of design.
9NecessityCEOThere is no need. Design is already represented, and these corporations are at the top of their game.
10EffectivenesssharedThe C‑suite is not the best place for designers to lead design. Too many distractions.