How to Lead in CX Design

Building resilient CX Careers – Watch On-demand

Today, CX professionals, including those in customer experience management roles, are expected to move beyond operations and become strategic partners in a business. For CX design leaders, this means shaping vision, aligning teams, and creating a culture where customer experience is at the core of every decision.

Over the past 18 months, many in the CX world have been dealing with burnout, overwork, and change. This has been amplified by shifting priorities, restructures, advances in technology, and relentless pressure to perform. You have likely felt that your resilience is being tested.

While many in the CX community talk about ‘toughing it out,” we here at the CX Collective hold a different perspective. We want our community to be thriving, not just surviving. We know that great customer experiences don’t just happen by chance. It’s driven by intentional design and strong CX leadership.

Resilience in Design Leadership

As experience designers, we are disrupters in an organisation. Our approach and practice directly challenge what organisations perceive as normal, possible, and valuable.

Customer experience leaders juggle how business and people align. They are faced with the challenge of keeping the customer at the centre of decisions, even when budgets are tight; expected to evolve and adapt to constant change, and maintain team morale. They are the ones who have to make the tough calls and deal with the fallout from the setbacks (failed initiatives, resistance to change) while keeping teams motivated and engaged.

It's a lot!

When priorities, budgets, and preferences are constantly shifting, how can customer experience leaders balance data, structure, decisions, and business needs with what we know is right for the customer, against an environment that ultimately disagrees?

It comes down to two things: courage and resilience. 

If you’ve ever worked in a high-pressure environment, you know that leadership can set the tone for the direction of an organisation. Organisations where staff feel valued, supported, and connected create more consistent outcomes for the customer— even when the conditions for design are less than ideal.

And it is resilient leaders who create resilient teams.

Resilience is about knowing what’s in your control and learning to let go of what isn’t. It’s about building careers that aren’t just skill-deep, but rooted in intentional positioning, purpose, and the people who remind you why your work matters.

Resilience shows up in how we adapt. As leaders, resilience means sustaining the focus on the customer while inspiring our teams and adapting our strategies to meet customer expectations and business priorities. It means leading with steadiness, even when times are tough.

Shaping the Future of CX Leadership

2025 hasn’t been easy in so many ways. The path forward requires a balance between technology and human empathy, navigating data and insights across complex customer journeys, and continually demonstrating ROI. As CX leaders, we need to ensure our employees are well-trained and engaged, and our company is cultivating a customer-centric culture.

And we have to do all of this while still dealing with budget cuts, staff shortages, and continuing to prove our own value as a design leader. 

Wouldn’t it be great to be able to talk about this with others who are on a similar journey?

In a profession like CX design, where collaboration and shared insight are critical to creating meaningful work, we need a space to connect with like-minded leaders, share experiences, and grow stronger together. A space to exchange ideas, challenge our thinking, and find support among peers.

That’s why we created the Design Leadership Summit. We’ve built a day around conversations, ideas, perspectives, and questions—not keynotes and lectures. Participants help shape the narrative. That’s what makes the Design Leadership Summit such an exciting event to be part of.

At the Design Leadership Summit, you won’t be sitting back passively; you’ll be connecting, reflecting, discussing, and learning alongside like-minded peers. This is a space for design leaders who want to go deeper than theory, who are ready to explore resilience as both a personal practice and a shared leadership asset.

Most importantly, you’ll walk away with more than just knowledge. You’ll leave with lasting relationships, tools you can apply immediately, and the energy to lead with courage and resilience in environments that don’t always make it easy. And with the ongoing support of the summit community, the conversation won’t end when the day does.

If you’re ready to grow your leadership practice, strengthen your resilience, and be part of a collective shaping the future of design leadership in Aotearoa, the Design Leadership Summit is where you need to be.

Learn more about the Design Leadership Summit. Download the Info Pack.