The Shift UX VIP Leaders Salon
September 23
9:00a - 5:00p ET
Location TBD
Peter Merholz
Independent Consultant & Coach
About this workshop
UX leaders are getting it from all sides. Mandates from senior leadership about incorporating AI into the work. Frustration, anxiety, even outright fear from team members worried about their workload, their processes, their futures. All of it on top of everything already expected of them.
It makes for an emotional roller coaster. The ability to deliver powerful new value is tempered by exhaustion and insecurity — about the job, and sometimes about the relationship to the work itself. Research by Noam Segal for Lenny's Newsletter found that UX and research professionals are the least happy in their work.
Compounding this is the isolation inherent in both the role and the technology. UX leadership has always been demanding and lonely. That is now amplified.
Shift UX advances this premise: roles disappear, but the work matters more than ever. For leaders, that premise raises a harder question. If your title no longer defines your value, what does?
That's the question this salon takes on.
A companion to the Shift UX conference, this all-day gathering brings together UX leaders at director level and above to wrestle with the real challenges of leading with purpose during turbulent times. Facilitated by Peter Merholz, the salon is an opportunity to step back, gain perspective, and lead from a place of clarity rather than exhaustion and reaction.
Target Audience
UX leaders at director level and above.
Takeaways
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Concrete strategies for reshaping how UX is understood, valued, and practiced in your organization.
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A network of peers who understand your situation well enough to still be useful to you months from now.
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Operates under the Chatham House Rule — a safe space to speak candidly about what's working, what isn't, and what feels impossible.
High-Level Agenda
How the day works
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Introductory presentation: Peter opens with a short framing talk drawing on the phase shift we’re all going through, including his recent research with UX executives — a 458-person sentiment survey and a listening tour of twenty UX leaders.
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Where you are: Before anything else, everyone “locates” themselves. Using sentiment patterns drawn from Peter's survey research, you'll plot where you actually are right now, and see who else in the room is there with you.
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Understand your organizational context: What does your organization actually believe UX is for, and what's your evidence? Working from a clear-eyed diagnosis of how UX arrived at this moment, you'll get specific about the beliefs and conditions you're up against, and build a shared picture of the organizational patterns present in the room.
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What are you claiming?: If your value isn't your title, your authority, or your craft, then what is it? You'll articulate your leadership agenda — the change you seek and the impact you're accountable for — and develop it as peers provide candid feedback.
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Power without authority: UX leadership uses relational power, not positional authority. Bring a real, stuck relationship. Your group will work it with you, and you'll work theirs. You'll leave with a repertoire of moves other leaders have already used successfully.
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Expand your value proposition: Organizational change doesn't start with permission, but with action on something under your influence. You'll identify the smallest move that would demonstrate value in your organization, commit to it, and pair with someone who will check whether you followed through.
Speaker