Interview with Cameron Moll
In the run up to Clearleft’s Leading Design conference in London this October, the team caught up with Facebook’s Cameron Moll to discuss his background, experience and thoughts on the subject of Design Leadership.
Tell us about your first design leadership role. Who did you model yourself on?
My first design leadership role was at a now defunct web agency, aptly named Internet Development Incorporated, in the very early 00s. I had two young children by the time I was creative director, so I suppose I initially modelled relationships with my employees after parenting i.e. caring for others with respect, compassion, and firmness at times. Since then I’ve modelled my leadership after mentors who have been leaders to me in real life, as well as “remote” mentors in books, lectures, and the like.
How did you support your transition from practitioner to leader?
With lots of mistakes. Honestly, you can read all the books in the world on leadership, but until you actually do it you’ll never learn what it takes to be a great leader. Nearly two decades later I’m still learning what it takes to be a great leader and still making mistakes. Experience in the best teacher in my opinion.
What one piece of advice would you give to a new design leader?
I’ll borrow one of the 10 things I expect new hires to know on day one for my answer here, equally applicable to leaders: Do what works best for you and your company, not others. You’d be unwise to not consider the methods, tools, and ideas of others. However, you’d be even more unwise to be swayed by every new compelling or forceful argument that comes along merely because it was spoken by someone notable.
How do you motivate your team?
This is where I offer a cheap answer: it depends. But it really does. Some people are driven and require no motivation, and the best thing you can do is give them the resources they need and get out of their way. Others need handholding or guidance or just a little nudge, and the approach for leading each of these varies widely. Ultimately, the best way that I’ve found to motivate your team is to understand what intrinsically and extrinsically motivates each person and cater to their specific needs.
Do you still get to do any “real” design?
Wait, this is a trick question isn’t it. “Real” as in vectors and pixels, or as in solving complex problems? I’ll assume the first. Until recently, I did day-to-day design work as much as I managed and led. More recently, I do very little designing on the clock, whether Sketch or sketching. But I have opportunities to do this kind of design outside of work with side projects, though I keep these to a minimum nowadays.
What are the qualities of a good design leader?
20% inspire people to be their best. 80% drop as few balls as possible.
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Join Cameron, the Clearleft team and a host of other fantastic speakers at Leading Design, 25–27 October 2017 — book your tickets at https://2017.leadingdesignconf.com/tickets
