Strategic Design
The CEO’s Secret Weapon for Sustainable Business Growth
By Jue Feng I 2025
Photo by Andreas Klassen on Unsplash
Imagine you’re in a boardroom. The CEO is talking about scaling the business, pointing at charts. The CMO is focused on increasing brand reach, discussing campaign performance. The CPO is refining the product roadmap, debatingfeatures. Everyone has a strategy—but something is missing. The user.
That’s where Strategic Design comes in.
What Strategy Means in This Context
Unlike business, marketing, or product strategies, Strategic Design focuses on how people experience a product or service in a way that drives business success. It’s not just about vision, numbers, or features—it’s about making sure the experience works beautifully for both the user and the company.
How It Differs from Other Strategies
- CEO’s Strategy: Growth, market expansion, revenue.
- CMO’s Strategy: Branding, customer acquisition, engagement.
- CPO’s Strategy: Product development, innovation, technology.
These strategies often operate in silos, leading to fragmented decision-making. Strategic Design bridges these areas, ensuring that every business move considers the human experience. I’ve worked in companies where management meetings occur regularly, focusing on sales targets, marketing campaigns, and customer upselling. The Chief Product Officer (CPO) has roadmaps for product releases that align with the CEO’s vision of driving revenue targets. However, they often fail because the product can be frustrating to use. Strategic Design aligns these different perspectives so that the product meets real needs, the brand resonates with customers, and growth is sustainable.
Why It’s So Important
A well-designed user experience can:
✔ Increase conversions and customer retention.
✔ Reduce development costs by preventing usability issues early.
✔ Create brand loyalty by making interactions intuitive and delightful.
Neglecting design strategy? Look at products that promised innovation but flopped—like the original Google Glass, which had cutting-edge tech but ignored usability and real-world adoption. The result? Confused users and lost revenue opportunities.
How to Apply Strategic Design
- Start with User Research – Understand what your customers need, not just what your company wants to build.
- Align Design with Business Goals – Ensure every design decision supports growth, engagement, and retention.
- Prototype, Test, Iterate – Avoid big, expensive mistakes by refining ideas before full-scale development.
- Break Down Silos – Bring CEOs, CMOs, and CPOs into the design process early to ensure alignment.
Strategic Design isn’t a “nice-to-have”—it’s the secret weapon for sustainable business growth. It’s not about making things pretty; it’s about making things work. When design works, business thrives.