5 UX leadership lessons I learned from the best bosses of my life

Editor’s Note: This article was originally written in 2015. It’s been updated to reflect how the leadership lessons I learned early in my career still guide the way we collaborate and lead UX projects at Standard Beagle.

Why leadership in UX is different

UX leadership isn’t about hierarchy. It’s about creating a space where people feel safe to experiment, contribute ideas, and work through uncertainty. It’s also about listening, collaboration, and applying empathy in ways that extend beyond the user.

Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of working for some truly exceptional leaders — people who showed me what it means to lead well, and how that kind of leadership can transform teams and outcomes.

Their example gave me the foundation for my own UX leadership lessons — lessons I now apply every day as I guide my team and work with clients.

Here are the UX leadership lessons I carry with me every day.

Lesson 1: Listen like it’s your job (because it is)

There’s a principle in agile project management that’s always stuck with me: the idea that leaders should serve the team, not the other way around. The job of the manager is to clear the path so the team can do their best work.

I once had a boss who embodied that perfectly. Her name was Rocky, and she was my manager at my very first corporate job as a web designer.

Rocky didn’t micromanage or hover. She listened. She handled the paperwork. She made sure I had what I needed. And when I needed someone to back me up—really back me up—she stepped in without hesitation. She made it clear: “I’ve got you.”

That kind of leadership is the gold standard.

Now it’s my turn to be Rocky. My job is to serve my team—to take on the grunt work, handle the hard conversations, and support them so they can focus on solving problems and creating great user experiences. When they know I’ve got their back, they can do their best work.

Lesson 2: Great leaders give you the tools to grow

I once worked for someone who didn’t micromanage me. She gave me the tools and support I needed to figure things out. When I needed help, she offered guidance. When I didn’t, she trusted me to work through it. That quiet encouragement built my confidence more than any performance review ever could.

She gave me the tools I needed to grow: guidance when I asked for it, encouragement when I doubted myself, and the space to try things my own way. I never felt like I was being judged. Instead, I felt like I had a coach who wanted me to succeed — and who believed that I could.

That kind of leadership helped me develop confidence and independence early in my career, and it became one of the most important UX leadership lessons I’ve carried forward. And it’s exactly the kind of environment I try to create for my team now.

I don’t want to hover. I want to provide support. I want to give people the clarity, tools, and trust they need to do their best work and be there to back them up when they need it.

Lesson 3: The best leaders talk honestly and openly

Before I moved into UX and web design, I worked as a web content producer for a local TV station. The station’s general manager remains one of the people I respect most in my career—not because she was the most outgoing or charismatic, but because she was real.

She held quarterly town halls to talk about station business, even when things were hard. She didn’t sugarcoat anything. She didn’t yell or panic—but she also didn’t pretend everything was fine when it wasn’t. She spoke clearly, directly, and with complete honesty. No BS. No games. Just transparency.

I stayed at that station longer than I probably should have, and a big reason was her leadership. I knew where I stood. I trusted her.

Now, as a UX agency founder, I still think about the way she navigated that fine line between honesty and reassurance. I’m learning how to do the same—how to be transparent with my team without creating unnecessary fear. But I know one thing for sure: I never want to lead with spin. I’d rather speak with the same grace, strength, and honesty I saw in her.

Lesson 4: Respect first, always

The best bosses I’ve ever had led with respect. They didn’t use intimidation. They didn’t yell. When something went wrong, they offered guidance — never belittlement. And when things went well, they acknowledged it. That tone of mutual respect made a bigger impact than any pep talk or performance review.

But my understanding of respectful leadership started even earlier. At home.

My father was one of the best managers I’ve ever known. He spent over 30 years in leadership roles at the CDC, and what stood out most wasn’t his title or experience. It was how deeply he respected the people he worked with.

He made it a point to celebrate his staff — not just with words, but with actions. Throughout the year, he’d ask my mom to bake homemade treats, and he’d bring them to the office for birthdays, milestones, and holidays. It was a small gesture, but it was sincere. He wanted people to know he appreciated them.

That has stayed with me.

As a leader today, I want my team to know how much I appreciate their effort. At the end of each day, I often say, “Thank you for your hard work today.” It may be simple, but I mean it every time. And I believe that respect comes through in how I lead: not by micromanaging, but by trusting my team to do their best. That trust is respect in action.

Lesson 5: Empathy isn’t just for users — it’s for teams too

We talk about empathy constantly in UX—empathy for users, for stakeholders, for customers. But the best UX leaders also practice empathy internally—for their teams, for their collaborators, and even for themselves.

One of the best bosses I’ve ever had was Steve, who ran the skate shop I worked at after leaving my job in TV news. It was a small business in its early days, and Steve once told me he’d wake up at 2 or 3 a.m., worried about the bills and whether the shop would survive.

But you’d never know it.

He didn’t bring that stress into work. Instead, he radiated positivity. He was confident, upbeat, and genuinely fun to be around. Working with him was energizing—because even though he was carrying a heavy load, he didn’t pass that weight onto the rest of us.

That’s something I think about all the time as a founder.

I struggle with it—I have no poker face, and my team probably knows when I’m anxious. But I try hard not to let my internal worries affect the people around me. I want them to feel energized and excited, not stressed. I want them to feel supported and safe doing their best work, even when things feel uncertain behind the scenes.

Bonus Lesson: Hire for character, not just skill

Years after I left the TV station where I worked as a web content producer, I was starting to build my own company. I attended a networking event for entrepreneurial women, where experienced mentors were paired with those just starting out.

To my surprise, one of the mentors was my former GM—the same one who had led our team with honesty, transparency, and no BS. When I reached her, she gave me a big smile and said, “I can mentor you!”

I already knew exactly what I wanted to ask her.

“How do I find the right people? How will I know who’s a good fit?”

She didn’t hesitate:

“Cindy, hire for character. Make sure they are a good person and have the right ethics and strength of character. You can teach them to do the work. You can’t teach character.”

That advice has never left me.

At Standard Beagle, I’ve taken that to heart. It’s less important to me that someone knows every tool or checks every skill box. If they have a solid foundation and the right attitude, I can teach them the rest. But you can’t teach someone to be kind. Or honest. Or to show up for the people around them.

How these UX leadership lessons show up in our work

When we run projects at Standard Beagle — whether it’s redesigning a health tech product or conducting deep-dive UX research for a SaaS platform — these leadership principles are embedded in how we work.

These UX leadership lessons are more than personal insights. They’re the foundation of how we approach client relationships and team collaboration at Standard Beagle.

• We listen actively to both users and stakeholders
  
• We empower our team to own their contributions
  
• We build respectful client partnerships
  
• We lead with empathy, especially in high-stakes or high-uncertainty environments
  

These are are more than soft skills. They’re essential for delivering results and creating products that work for real people.