Leading Design London 2023 has now finished. Check out our upcoming conferences, coaching programmes and retreats via leadingdesign.com.

Julia Whitney

Julia Whitney is an executive and leadership coach. She helps Design, Product and Tech leaders iterate to excellence, increasing their self-awareness and resourcefulness along the way. Her current client list includes leaders and leadership teams from DropBox, ANZ Bank, Zoopla, Toyota, The Economist, Conde Nast, etc.

Julia regularly speaks at Design, and Product leadership conferences, and has the great honour to partner with Clearleft on their Leading Design Leadership Retreats and Group Coaching Programmes.

Julia brings her own experience as a board level leader to her coaching practice, having 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.

Julia Whitney

About the talk

Emotional intelligence: What I wish I’d known

- Barbican Centre
"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.

Stay up-to-date on new events and opportunities