Speakers
Julia Whitney
Julia Whitney is a design leader turned executive coach. She works with leaders to help them make the most of what they’ve got. Her client list includes leaders and leadership teams from AWS, Autodesk, Bumble, Condé Nast, The Economist, IDEO and more.
Julia brings her own experience as a board level leader to her coaching practice: She led design teams for more than 20 years, in both the US and the UK, most recently as GM and Executive Creative Director for the BBC’s 150 person User Experience and Design department. She speaks at leadership conferences and is honoured to partner with Clearleft on their Leading Design Retreats and Group Coaching Programmes.
Julia’s passionate about tackling climate change and is on a mission to coach 1,000 climate leaders by 2035.
About the talk
Emotional intelligence: What I wish I’d known
"When I was a Design Leader, I’d heard plenty of talk about the importance of “Emotional Intelligence” at work. I knew that humans were more than the sum of their knowledge and technical skills. I was aware that feelings - excitement, pride, compassion, disappointment, hope, fear - were threaded throughout all of my team’s collaborations and compromises.
But what I didn’t know was what, exactly, I was supposed to do about it.
When it came to working with my own emotions, and with other people’s, I like to think that my instincts served me pretty well. But since becoming an Executive Coach, I’ve learned a great deal more about Emotional Intelligence. I’m painfully aware there are simple things I could have done to lead better, and to work with more emotional intelligence, instead of leaving it to chance."
In this talk Julia will cover a few key learnings from the academic research into Emotional Intelligence; what it means for leading others; and how to apply those insights to your practice of Design Leadership.