In this episode, Stacey Seronick, Senior Design Program Manager at IBM, joins us for a drink and a chat about being a strong mentor for junior designers within a large organization. We discuss how Stacey's matriculation at Bennington College, where she learned the nascent fundamentals of digital design, coupled with a stint as a digital designer at Macworld, gave her a great start in her Design career. We then discuss how she quickly learned the difference between Art and Design, in that the former asks questions, and the latter answers them. We then discuss how the great Phil Gilbert, the former Head of Design at IBM who bet big on Design and grew the team to over 250 practitioners, created a role that Stacey took and made all her own, providing operational efficiency, clarity, and an outcome-oriented mindset for the Design organization. Through this work, Stacey learned how to coach Designers on owning their career, advocating for themselves without being obnoxious, and the benefits of talking and thinking about oneself in the third person. Enjoy!

Drinks: Dorchester Brewing Co. Galaxy Lights New England Hazy IPA, Trillium Brewing Company Vicinity Double IPA, Fresh Filtered Coffee

Links: https://www.ibm.com/design/