With AI at the Top of Global CEO Agendas, Design Executives Are Taking Strategic Roles
Strategic design leadership is an edge companies are missing.
April 9, 2025
GenAI is accelerating faster than any technology before it—and most companies are chasing it tactically. The advantage isn’t only in the data models. It’s in the ability to design ecosystems, systems, workflows, and experiences that make AI useful, usable, and aligned with business intent. Strategic design is the edge many companies are missing to compete effectively in the age of AI.
In 2025, a perfect storm is forming. GenAI adoption is surging, and geopolitical uncertainty—from volatile U.S. politics to escalating trade tensions—is pressuring business stability and continuity. Every major enterprise is confronting the same question: Where do we disrupt and where do we defend? Where do we lead, and where do we invest?
Design leaders are stepping into this moment but to shape how AI systems behave, where to invest, and how to protect long-term advantage. As one Fortune 100 Chief Design Officer put it, “This is the moment to double down—not retreat—on design’s role in business strategy.”
When we first began our AI research, we weren’t certain where—or how strongly—design leadership would show up in the enterprise conversation. But the data has clarified something critical:
Strategic design executives who are serving in Fortune 500 companies see their influence rising, and growing demand for their leadership.
Design leaders are bringing a rare combination of systems thinking, behavioral insight, and customer fluency that is proving indispensable in shaping AI strategies with real business consequences. In a world where technical capability is no longer enough, design is becoming the connective tissue between vision and execution.
The stakes are high:
- 96% of NYSE 100 CEOs say AI is their top growth opportunity
- 75% plan to pursue M&A to acquire new business model capabilities
“Artificial intelligence is the clearest example of the new growth agenda in practice and CEOs overwhelmingly see AI as the best way to focus on revenue and cost simultaneously,” said John Romeo, CEO of the Oliver Wyman Forum. “The challenge, from a return-on-investment perspective, is deciding where to lead and where to follow.” Source: Oliver Wyman NYSE 100 survey.
Design leaders help cut through hype to focus AI investment where it matters. In an AI-saturated landscape, they help companies build moats, not just features. Strategic design is becoming the key lever for staying relevant, resilient, and trusted.
This shift isn’t just anecdotal—it’s showing up in the data. In our latest Design Executive Council 2025 survey of 25 Fortune 1000 design executives:
- 50% reported increased influence in GenAI and agentic AI roadmap decisions compared to traditional product planning. These aren’t marginal gains. They signal a structural shift: design leaders are no longer being brought in to refine interfaces—they’re helping shape how intelligent systems behave, what gets prioritized, and how enterprise investments get aligned across functions.
- 41.7% said the influence remained neutral, which in many cases may reflect stability or varying maturity across business units. A small portion noted “Highly influential” or “Neutral to increasing” influence depending on context.
- Importantly, there was no meaningful segment indicating a decrease in influence, showing clear upward or sustained trajectory.
Unifying the enterprise: example in banking
Consider the case of a Fortune 100 bank where AI investments were well-funded but progress had plateaued. Multiple business units were running isolated pilots—each with their own tools, goals, design languages, and governance frameworks. What looked like momentum on paper was, in reality, a patchwork of disconnected efforts creating organizational drag and customer inconsistency.
The Chief Design Officer recognized the risk early. AI was being implemented without a shared vision, and teams were unintentionally duplicating efforts while overlooking systemic customer needs. Instead of waiting for alignment to come from the top-down, the CDO formed a cross-functional AI Design Council—bringing together leaders from product, engineering, compliance, and marketing.
Design facilitated the process, not just the visuals. The council didn’t start with features or UI—it started with customer journey models, behavioral use cases, and risk scenarios to ground the group in shared context. This common foundation exposed redundancies, surfaced unmet customer needs, and revealed compliance blind spots that had been overlooked. This will result in significant cost and time savings, and legal and reputation risks mitigated.
Advancing the experience vision: example in healthcare
Another case from a Fortune 100 healthcare company illustrates how early design input reshaped the organization’s understanding of its strategic opportunity. Rather than starting with a roadmap or requirements doc, the design team used scenario modeling and immersive storytelling to engage senior business leaders. They crafted a set of AI-driven experience narratives—dynamic, contextual, and emotionally resonant—that brought future-state possibilities to life.
By leveraging generative tools to visualize these scenarios, the team didn’t just present a vision—they activated imagination. Executives saw, often for the first time, how AI could move beyond automation and into transformation: improving care journeys, streamlining diagnostics, and building trust with both patients and providers.
This storytelling approach not only aligned cross-functional teams, but unlocked faster decision-making around budget, scope, and rollout. It reframed AI from a technical asset to a strategic enabler of next-generation healthcare experiences.
The healthcare Chief Design Officer shared: "this is a moment where the door swung wide open, and were were invited like I've never seen before."
Design leaders are masters of the how and where
These examples aren't outliers. They're signals of a broader shift: design is moving upstream into the core of AI governance, customer strategy, and enterprise transformation. Design leaders translate ambiguity into structured direction. They understand that AI is not simply a technology to scale—but a system to shape.
In this moment of volatility, companies need strategic design leadership more than ever. The stakes are high, and leaders must engage their design executives with intent and sufficient influence to help companies realize the significant growth opportunities in front of it.
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For more examples on Strategic Design Leadership, read additional case studies.
