UX/Design Leadership Demystified with Peter Merholz — via Zoom
January 20-21, 2026 / 8am-10am PT (11am-1pm ET) both days.
For the first time in nearly a year(!), Peter Merholz offers his UX/Design Leadership Demystified masterclass remotely across 2 two-hour sessions on January 20 and 21, 2026.
While to be a great UX/design practitioner is to be a remarkable craftsperson and problem-solver, to be a great leader shifts the focus on relationships, communication, and business-savvy.
This class is best for:
• Sr Managers, Directors, and Sr. Directors
• Lead, Staff, and Principal practitioners
In this masterclass, Peter will reveal key leadership strategies, activities, and mindsets that will enable you to better advocate for UX/Design in your organization:
• Understand Context
• Develop Your Agenda and Craft Your Leadership Plan
• Mediate the Membrane
• Cultivate Trusting Relationships
• Evolve in Your Career
• Maintain Resilience
Every attendee receives:
• All slides (full-page)
• All discussion notes
• 6 templates for leadership activities
• Additional resources for further study
For a more detailed overview, see below.
While to be a great UX/design practitioner is to be a remarkable craftsperson and problem-solver, to be a great leader shifts the focus on relationships, communication, and business-savvy.
This class is best for:
• Sr Managers, Directors, and Sr. Directors
• Lead, Staff, and Principal practitioners
In this masterclass, Peter will reveal key leadership strategies, activities, and mindsets that will enable you to better advocate for UX/Design in your organization:
• Understand Context
• Develop Your Agenda and Craft Your Leadership Plan
• Mediate the Membrane
• Cultivate Trusting Relationships
• Evolve in Your Career
• Maintain Resilience
Every attendee receives:
• All slides (full-page)
• All discussion notes
• 6 templates for leadership activities
• Additional resources for further study
For a more detailed overview, see below.
Seats are limited
PRICE
Employer pays: $399
You pay (you have a job): $309
You pay (you don't have a job): $209 (limit 10)
You pay (you have a job): $309
You pay (you don't have a job): $209 (limit 10)
Location
Zoom conference
(Details shared after you register)
(Details shared after you register)
Date & Time
January 20+21, 2026
8am-10am Pacific
11am-1pm Eastern
4pm-6pm UK
17.00-19.00 CEST
8am-10am Pacific
11am-1pm Eastern
4pm-6pm UK
17.00-19.00 CEST
Questions? Contact Peter.
Masterclass Overview
Understand Context
Before taking action, it's imperative that you take stock of the environment in which you find yourself.
In this section, we'll discuss using a Leadership Context Map to understand the business mechanics, stakeholder motivations, and organizational design maturity around you.
In this section, we'll discuss using a Leadership Context Map to understand the business mechanics, stakeholder motivations, and organizational design maturity around you.
Develop an Agenda and Leadership Plan
Too often, design leaders skip this step, and simply react to what comes at them. By taking the time to craft an explicit agenda, you provide yourself a foundation for subsequent action and decision-making.
With that agenda in place, Peter will introduce his robust Leadership Plan template, to help you turn that agenda into a reality.
With that agenda in place, Peter will introduce his robust Leadership Plan template, to help you turn that agenda into a reality.
Mediate The Membrane
Design leaders work at an uncomfortable boundary between creative and corporate value systems. How you handle operating at this interface is key.
Cultivate Trusting Relationships
Leadership requires building trust with all those whom you engage. We'll use these relationship archetypes to unpack the various interactions you'll have, in order to get the most out of each.
- Coach (managing down, getting the most out of the team you are leading)
- Diplomat (managing cross-functional peers; ensuring design’s voice in the process)
- Champion (managing up; handling executives and stakeholders)
- Coach (managing down, getting the most out of the team you are leading)
- Diplomat (managing cross-functional peers; ensuring design’s voice in the process)
- Champion (managing up; handling executives and stakeholders)
Evolve in Your Career
As you advance in your UX/design leadership career, the responsibilities change drastically. Peter will provide a map to orient you on where you should apply focus, and how to delegate the activities that you need to leave behind.
Maintain Resilience
Every design leader faces resistance as they try to introduce new ways of working that will improve outcomes for users. This resistance builds up, and can prove demotivating for even the strongest people. We end our time together by identified how you can maintain resilience.
Join Peter on
January 20-21
January 20-21