The books, podcasts, and TV shows that inspire design leaders

Inspiring people come in all shapes and sizes. Some are unassuming while others walk into a room and fill it with a big personality. All of them share something in common: the ability to move others.

I often wonder, what inspires the inspirational? I’ve had the opportunity to dive into this question with high-performing design leaders all year. There have been over a dozen Design Leadership Forum dinners and retreats where hundreds of leaders have gathered to connect and talk shop. Each event features conversations surrounding a major challenge that most design leaders face in their roles. We’ve discussed hiring, collaborating with the c-suite, scaling design teams, and more.

Each event begins with a simple question asked around the room: What’s inspiring you? Here are some of the answers shared at these events:

Books

• Dave Ramsey’s books
• Sprint
• Sapiens
• Design For How People Learn
• Sense And Respond
• Made To Stick
• Thinking Fast And Slow
• How To Win Friends And Influence People
• The Lean Startup
• Power of Habit
• Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos
• Sharp Objects
• The Instapot Manual
• Let My People Go Surfing
• Flow
• Discussing Design
• How To Make Sense Out Of Any Mess
• Radical Candor
• Planning For Everything
• Just Mercy
• Learning From Las Vegas
• Homo Deus
• Donna Karan’s autobiography
• The Undoing Project
• Leonardo
• The Stench of Honolulu
• What Unites Us
• God is Not Great
• Forget a Mentor and Find a Sponsor
• Dragons Love Tacos
• A New Earth
• Creativity Inc.
• Power of Habit
• Time and the Art of Living
• Born a Crime
• The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact
• How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain
• Prescribe Design
• Conversational Design
• Service Design Immersive
• On Writing: A Memoir on the Craft
• Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead
• The Best We Could Do
• Org Design for Design Orgs
• Principles: Life and Work
• The First 90 Days: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter
• The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are
• The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future
• Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance

Podcasts

• InVisibilia
• Hidden Brain
• Planet Money
• Dissect
• Design Story
• The DesignBetter.co Podcast
• Revisionist History
• Design Matters
• Masters of Scale
• 99 Percent Invisible
• High Resolution

Videos/film/TV

• Twin Peaks (on Netflix)
• Todoist series on YouTube
• The Expanse (on Sci-Fi Channel)
• The Runaways (on Hulu)
• Halt and Catch Fire (on Netflix)
• Black Mirror (on Netflix)
• Blockchain and 2500 Years Of Data
• Stephen Pinker’s video on passive voice
• Mike Monteiro videos
• Abstract (on Netflix)
• Ugly Delicious (on Netflix)
• Chef’s Table (on Netflix)
• Childish Gambino’s “This Is America”

Workshops

• DesignBetter.co Design Sprints workshop with Jake Knapp

Articles, blogs, and websites

• Harvard Business Review on the chemistry of leadership dynamics in the workplace
• Stratechery
• Wait But Why
• Ribbon Farm Blog
• Creative Leadership
• ADKAR’s article on change management
• DesignOps at Airbnb
• The Science of Serendipity in the Workplace
• Protopia

These events weren’t random. They were all part of the Design Leadership Forum, a global community of about 550 members (and growing). It’s a place for design leaders to come together, connect, and have honest conversations about some of the most difficult challenges they face in their leadership roles.

Every community member leads others in (or for) teams making digital products. If you want to be part of this community, nominate yourself, and join us at a future member event.