The Emotional Architecture of Design Leadership‍

Leading with clarity, empathy, and regulation in the fast-moving world of product design.

The Zoom screen was filled with frustrated faces. Our Synapse team—a neurologist, family caregivers, and recovery coaches—had been circling the same problem for two weeks: how do you make complex brain injury data meaningful to exhausted family members without overwhelming them?

I could feel the tension building. The neurologist wanted comprehensive clinical detail. The coaches focused on practical interventions. The caregivers needed simplicity above all. Everyone cared deeply, but we were stuck in our own expertise silos.

The problem wasn't the data complexity. It was our team's nervous system.