Program Curriculum
Understand Your Business

Building trust with product stakeholders

Strategies to influence the vision

Live Coaching Sessions

Lead Product Designer, Carta
Learn strategic frameworks for selling a bold vision to risk-averse stakeholders and align people in a common direction.
Develop skills needed to strategically influence product strategy, communicate and influence the product direction.
Join monthly live group coaching calls with Julie Xu. Practice and apply your skill in a group of peers who will keep you accountable and inspired.
Workshops are 1-3 hour courses that go deep on a strategic skill without a significant time commitment.
How do you define strategy and get buy-in from product partners to align in the common direction? How do you communicate how prioritizing a specific user need & design would impact business outcome? How to set goals to drive alignment and reinforce strategy to motivate team members to contribute?
This program focuses on helping you develop strategic skills as a designer so that you can Influence and collaborate on product strategy and roadmap. An impactful program to help you learn to identify gaps and opportunities across your product that drive real business impact.
We believe that the human dimensions essential to start any successful project and that this is where splendid emotional relationships between the company and people are born.
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Lead Product Designer
DATE TO BE ANNOUNCED
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Julie is a Lead product designer at Carta. She leads design on a new equity advice product for employees. Prior to that, she worked at Snapdocs, where she led design on the consumer and settlement teams. She helped scale the design team by 5x, and spearheaded the creation of their first design system.
MODULE
Lead Product Designer
DATE TO BE ANNOUNCED
-
Julie is a Lead product designer at Carta. She leads design on a new equity advice product for employees. Prior to that, she worked at Snapdocs, where she led design on the consumer and settlement teams. She helped scale the design team by 5x, and spearheaded the creation of their first design system.
MODULE
Lead Product Designer
DATE TO BE ANNOUNCED
-
Julie is a Lead product designer at Carta. She leads design on a new equity advice product for employees. Prior to that, she worked at Snapdocs, where she led design on the consumer and settlement teams. She helped scale the design team by 5x, and spearheaded the creation of their first design system.
MODULE
4
Lead Product Designer
DATE TO BE ANNOUNCED
-
Julie is a Lead product designer at Carta. She leads design on a new equity advice product for employees. Prior to that, she worked at Snapdocs, where she led design on the consumer and settlement teams. She helped scale the design team by 5x, and spearheaded the creation of their first design system.
What's included?
We dive into specific frameworks, templates and real-life scenarios, providing opportunities to practice using clear techniques to communicate effectively to influence the roadmap and product direction.
Julie Xu
Lead Product Designer, Carta
Julie is a Lead product designer at Carta. She leads design on a new equity advice product for employees. Prior to that, she worked at Snapdocs, where she led design on the consumer and settlement teams. She helped scale the design team by 5x, and spearheaded the creation of their first design system.
Testimonials
I was navigating the transition from Sr. to Staff level and looking to figure out how to grow without transitioning to management. Frank was transparent, clear, and concise in the way that he codifies his advice on how to expand your role within an organization. It articulated a lot of loose ideas that had been floating around in my head. I feel more confident and secure in my capabilities as a product designer that can lead without needing to go down the traditional management path.
"I am more confident and comfortable being vulnerable at work, to advocating for myself and I have a much better understanding of how to engage in discussions about career promotions with my manager. It is important to always be advocating for where you want to be. In this program, I got a toolbox of resources and lots of support from design leaders like Frank Bach and the community."
I am very glad my manager encouraged me to take this course. I more recently was promoted as a Design Product Lead and Imposter Syndrome really sunk its claws deep. Being part of this immersive workshop felt like "Design Therapy" with fellow designers. I now know I'm not alone in this journey. Creating a safe space together, Frank and our cohort have already provided the awareness of this Lead Foundational Toolkit I didn't realize I had within me all along.
I took the UX leadership workshop with Courtney Kaplan. I found the workshop to be full of useful guidance, interactive conversations and frameworks for improving my design leadership presence. The ongoing follow-up coaching workshops and discussion forums have been especially powerful for me to check back in and hear from peers in a similar space.
RETHINK's coaching programs are the most thoughtful and structured I have ever experienced. They matched me with the best mentor I could have ever asked for.I am forever thankful for the structure that was put in place to foster fruitful conversations and to connect more meaningfully allowing a friendship to grow from it.
“Developing Confidence to Influence and Lead, with Frank Bach helped me ask those hard questions, understand perspective in my career and how to value my diverse background.”
Becoming a RETHINK member has been the best boost for my career as a design leader, helping me build my brand across the industry. I was able to leverage the resources on the platform, connect with the design community and get shared perspectives from other leaders on design management and more. I found a safe space for connecting with the community in a meaningful way. It has helped me to foster meaningful relationships, some of them turned into a friendship
Becoming a member of and mentor with RETHINK has been such a boost to my confidence as a growing manager. I was inspired by an in-person event in SF to become a mentor, which was scary and exciting as someone transitioning from IC to manager. I was so nervous to take on that role with other senior designers, but Julie and her team created a perfect match — so perfect, in fact, that I ended up hiring my mentee after the program ended and I consider her a close friend!
Since then, the RETHINK community has been an incredible resource for me. I love that I can turn to this group of talented and vulnerable leaders when I need inspiration or help with the struggles of managing a remote creative team. I really can't say enough good things about RETHINK!
I didn't have the mentorship or support I needed for career growth. I longed for a design community outside of the design team at work. I felt like I was hitting a dead end. I don't have a traditional design background and was tired of justifying my design experience and skills. The workshop validated I've come a long way as a designer in the short period of time I've practiced. My previous experience made me a better designer. I also have learning and growth to do and I was given the tools to improve.
Difficult conversations with my manager and stakeholders came easier when I applied the framework I learned through the workshop. I was able to ask the hard questions to understand what was specifically holding me back from growing and identified what was out of my control. It gave me the confidence boost I needed to start looking for a new job. After working with Courtney Kaplan & RETHINK I was able to land a product design role on a new design team. I absolutely love my new team and the work culture. I am working on impactful projects and feel confident as I navigate a new company culture and product team.
I became more self-aware about my skills and how to approach areas of improvement.I learned how to properly track my work, measure my progress and ways to manage my career growth.
I was in the process of preparing for job interviews, and the storytelling tactics we learned about both data visualization and presentation frameworks really helped. I am now in charge of driving a new initiative for my team, and the storytelling skills I learned from the workshop has been immensely helpful in terms of getting the team on the same page and excited about the vision. I really enjoy the diverse background and experience of the speakers as well as the breadth of the topics we covered
RETHINK programs gave me great insight into the next steps of my career, as well as many resources to help carry me through the next few months.I feel like I left the program with exactly what I needed - a plan to upgrade my career over the next few years.
An impactful program to help you learn to identify gaps and opportunities across your product that drive real business impact. We dive into frameworks, real-life scenarios, providing opportunities to practice using clear techniques to communicate effectively to influence the roadmap and product direction.
ACCESS OUR MEMBERSHIP COMMUNITY
You have to make difficult decisions every day with imperfect information on problems you’ve likely never faced before. Learn from the experience and mistakes of other product and design leaders who’ve been there, done that.
Attend an intimate workshop-style program that will enhance your perspective on better collaboration. Join practical sessions (one per week) to solidify what you're learning and apply the frameworks and concepts in action.
This program is designed to facilitate peer learning and interaction. Going through a program, you will connect with a group of curated design peers facing similar challenges like you is the best way to ensure transformation for your career. We're keeping the cohort small to ensure you master the concepts we're teaching, learn and get support from peers.
Get personalized feedback from other learners in intimate design peer groups. For the 6 weeks programs you get matched with a mentor and a small group of 2-4 design peers with complementary skills and knowledge for mentorship and ongoing structured meetings for peer learning, to support you and keep you on track to achieve your goals.
Join our member-only community. Get 1 year access to Leadership Circle where you'll continue to be supported via ongoing events and accountability after the program.
Ask Questions
Get support on your challenges
Build your network
This program is structured as: “Learn → Practice → Get Feedback". Each week you get a worksheet to practice, actionable methods and tactics to summarize the concepts and help you immediately put them into action.
Frameworks, worksheets and resources
Lectures, homework and practice sessions
FAQs
To make the most out of this program recommend to set aside 2 hours a week to attend the workshops, complete the homework. Once every two weeks you'll meet with your mentor and your group.
- Meet with your group: 1 hour/ every two weeks. A total of 3 meetings.
- Attend Live Workshops: 2 hour/ week.
- Apply the Concepts: 20 - 30 minutes / week to reflect on materials and practice on your own.
You are welcome to put into it as much time as you can. This is an investment in your career growth.
Most live sessions will happen on Thursdays at 9:30am PDT. Click here to convert that time to your own time zone.
There will be 6 live sessions with one per week, for 6 weeks. Although recordings of the talks are available we highly recommend you join live for the full experience.
Attending the program is an investment of $1,395 USD which includes access to all workshops from the program and an annual membership to access RETHINK Leadership Circle. If your company would like to purchase 8 or more tickets, please contact us at hello@rethinkhq.com. We can provide an invoice if needed.
Yes. Many of our program applicants are able to expense the program tuition to their company. The return on investment compared to a conference or other opportunities is much greater. You get structured content, hands-on learning, lasting community, and actionable strategies to help you develop practical leadership skills for effective collaboration with your cross-functional teams. Contact hello@rethinkhq.com for further questions.
Yes. A certificate of completion is available after the program. That requires you to attend all 6 live sessions and meet with your small group 3 times over the course of 6 weeks. Contact hello@rethinkhq.com for questions.
We offer scholarships for underrepresented groups or people who need financial support to attend. This is possible because of partnership with Pinterest and also kind people who donated to the scholarship fund: Aniruddha Kadam, Al Hertz, Liz Heidner, Shara Rosenbalm. If you need financial support to attend this program please reach out to hello@rethinkhq.com.
You’ll have lifetime access to the program materials to help you successfully lead and influence at work.
Starting with the 6-week live program, you’ll also have access to Leadership Circle, the talk recordings from the events in the program, member-only events, and our community for ongoing support for a total of 12 months.
Leadership Academy is a 6-week professional growth program investing in the next generation of design leaders. After you apply, your application will be reviewed and you will find out in 5 - 7 days if you qualify. You'll receive next steps and a link to pay for the program.
When the program starts, you'll get matched with a mentor and a group of 2--3 design peers to for mentorship, accountability and discuss challenges. You'll also join workshops and live sessions (six live sessions, one each week) to learn from experienced design leaders.
Additionally, you'll be part of our Leadership Circle for 12 months. There you'll get to connect with other design leaders, and peers for advice, guidance, accountability, and much more.