Hagit Kaufman, Wix's VP of Brand and Design, explains how designers earn influence by delivering business value, not just aesthetic work. She warns new managers to keep designing hands-on or risk losing what makes them valuable to their teams.
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Hi everyone and welcome to Ready for Takeoff, the new micro podcast series from wix, all about hyper growth. I'm your host Rob Goodman, executive producer for content at wix. In each episode, we go deep on one single topic in under 15 minutes, sharing insights and lessons learned from the leaders that built wix as we talk about everything it takes to build a world class global organization. Today we have VP of Brand and Design at wix, Hagit Kaufman. Hagit is one of the founding members of the company and one of the first designers to join Wix. She now leads Wix's team of more than 300 designers around the world. In this episode we're talking to Hagit about what it means to bring value to your company and how to cultivate that value so you can have a seat at the table for those big decisions your team and your entire organization will face. We also talk about advice for emerging design leaders. Here's Hagit on what it means to have a seat at the table.
I think I always add a seat at the table because I always put a value in the conversation around the table. So I always give the designer perspective and I always give the user perspective because I am a user and I use the product the most. So my things are valuable and someone can use them and they are part of the conversation all the time.
Do you think that's kind of the key to being included and having design be critical to a business is just show that value, bring that value and then in the right environment it should always then be part of the process?
Definitely. And when I hear you say it, I hear that it's not for designer, it's for every profession. If you want to have a seat in the table, you have to bring the value, the right value. You have to understand what is the thing that you bring in. So I understand that I have, you know, the aesthetic view and I see the all product under my team so I can give you the right perspective when you come to vision the next product or when you come to create it.
Next up, Hagit shares the advice she gives to young managers on her team and starts off by describing how she approached managing in her early days.
I think I came into managing too quickly and I wanted to be a designer a bit more or to keep doing both for a while if possible. So I always say to my young managers, keep yourself some project to design yourself. Find something that you can do to keep the passion of a designer in yourself. Don't become a manager that moves stuff from one place to another because then you would be not important anymore. You don't have the right value to bring in if you are not an experienced designer.
So how are you thinking about bringing value to your organization? Are you demanding a seat at the table just for the sake of it? Or are you bringing a unique perspective that will be the most valuable to your company and to those key decisions that your organization needs to make for your customers and your teammates too? We'd love to hear from you. So drop us a line on social media WIX and share what's working well for you and your teams. Ready for Takeoff is brought to you by wix. Now if you don't know about wix, we're the all in one platform for running your your business online, trusted by over 210 million people around the world. With WIX you get incredible security, reliability, performance and SEO. No matter the kind of business you run or the size, with Wix anything is possible. So visit Wix.com to start building and growing your business today. Thanks so much for listening. You can find more episodes and information on our website@wix.com readyfortakeoff and if you've been enjoying this show, make sure to subscribe or follow wherever you're listening right now. That way you get new episodes as soon as they're released. Ready For Takeoff is hosted and produced by me, Rob Goodman at wix, with production by Lindsay Jean Thompson at wix. Audio engineering and editing is by Brian Paik at Pacific Audio. Music is composed and performed by Kimo Maraki. Our executive producers from WIX are Susan Kaplo and me, Rob Goodman. We'll see you next time.
