About
Mario Van der Meulen has spent nearly thirty years in design, the last twenty of them leading it. A CXO and experience design leader, he has built and run design functions across physical products, digital platforms, AI, and service ecosystems, agency-side and client-side, at organisations including frog, Foolproof, Deloitte, and Standard Chartered. Along the way he earned a reputation as a C-suite whisperer and a design politician, the person brought in when the work, the room, and the egos in it all need holding at once. He is the author of Counterintuitivity: Making Meaningful Innovation, and his second book, DesignMinded: Leading Design Without Losing Your Soul, publishes in 2026. A regular keynote speaker on creativity, change, and the design mindset, he is based in Singapore, where he cheerfully calls himself a graphicdesignosaurus: a designer who graduated BC - before computers, and, rather than going extinct, evolved.
Talk & Workshop details
Be[coming] a leader in design
About this talk
From burnout to authentic leadership; how to thrive, not just survive, as a design leader. Being or becoming a leader in design is a transformation, and many fear what they might lose in the process. In his thought-provoking keynote, Mario Van der Meulen shares the mindset, practices, and provocations needed to lead with integrity, creativity, and care, without losing your soul to politics, pressure, or performative ambition. He challenges the 'one-size-fits-all' view of leadership and reframes the journey as deeply personal, uniquely creative, and fully human. Design leadership is evolving. It's not about control as much as it is about capacity, trust, and staying human under pressure. This talk equips you to do just that.
Key takeaway
- What design leadership really is — and why most models fail designers
- How to build trust as your core design output (yes, really)
- How power and presence work when you're no longer the hands-on designer
Lead[ing] the Room You're In
About this workshop
Leading design means managing conflict. In this session you will see how these moments get built, and why the very instinct that made you a good designer can quietly work against you as a leader. Then you do something about it. Facilitators Mario van der Meulen, a CXO, and Lydia Pung, a senior UX designer, bring you through the tensions every designer and team knows, with steps you can try in your next meeting. For design leaders and anyone who leads creative people through ambiguity.
Workshop key takeaways
- What design leadership really is—and why most models fail designers
- How to build trust as your core design output (yes, really)
- Why fear of burnout keeps creative leaders small—and how to break through
- How power and presence work when you're no longer the hands-on designer
- The inner work of leading with clarity, cadence, and care