Avoid These 3 Mistakes When Pitching Design to Leadership
From This is HCD – Human-Centered Design, UX & Service Design Thinking Podcast by Gerry Scullion
March 30, 2026 · 6 min · Season 10
About this episode
Gerry discusses three common mistakes designers make when pitching to leadership and offers alternative strategies for effective communication.
We are building an independent global network of people doing human-centred work. Create an account, join our newsletter, learn, listen, connect and network - for free → https://www.thisishcd.com/signup ________________________ You've done the research. You have the insights. You walk in confident — and it falls flat. In this episode, Gerry unpacks three mistakes designers make when pitching to leadership, including why leading with your methods kills buy-in before you've even started, and what to do instead. ________________________ BRING THIS IS HCD INTO YOUR ORGANISATION → Train my organisation https://www.thisishcd.com/training → Video Courses https://www.thisishcd.com/courses → Private Community (Coaching, Courses, WhatsApp) https://www.thisishcd.com/circle-community → Gerry's consultancy (Service Design and Design Research) https://humana.design/ ________________________ BECOME A DIRECTORY MEMBER (IT'S FREE!) and get all of this → FREE Introduction to Journey Management course with Marc Stickdorn & Gerry Scullion https://www.thisishcd.com/learning/introduction-to-journey-management → Discover & Connect with others https://www.thisishcd.com/directory → Claim partner…
People in this episode
Host: Gerry Scullion
Topics covered
- design
- leadership
- pitching
- human-centered design
Keywords
- buy-in
- methods
- insights
Mentioned in this episode
Products: Introduction to Journey Management course, Designing for Social Impact with Service Design
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