In management, there are moments that outline not simply what you do, however who you change into. For Afolake, a type of defining moments was her journey with the Aleto Basis X DMG Media Management Programme- an initiative based by Sir Ken Olisa OBE, CStJ, FRSA, FBCS, the primary Black Lord-Lieutenant of Better London and a passionate advocate for variety in management.
What began as a seek for skilled growth turned one thing way more profound: a masterclass in how actual management multiplies itself.
The Starting Coming into with Design Eyes, She first joined as a delegate in 2024, carrying together with her the analytical mindset of a product designer. In her day-to-day work, Afolake was used to breaking down complicated person issues, understanding ache factors, and initiating options till they really labored for actual individuals. She didn’t comprehend it but, however this strategy would change into her secret weapon in management.
The programme was intense. Classes on strategic pondering, emotional intelligence, and inclusive management challenged delegates to look at their assumptions about what it means to guide. For Afolake, every module felt acquainted but international — the problem-solving frameworks resonated, however making use of them to human dynamics slightly than person interfaces required a psychological shift.
“As a designer, I’m continually asking ‘What does the person really need?’ and ‘How do we all know this resolution works?’ ” she displays. “The programme taught me to ask those self same questions on management: What do individuals really need from their leaders?
How do we all know our management strategy is working?”
The true check got here by way of workforce challenges. Afolake’s group was tasked with addressing youth unemployment in city communities — a posh downside with no apparent options.
Whereas different groups instantly jumped to brainstorming, she insisted they begin with analysis.
“We spent the primary two days simply listening,” she recollects. “We interviewed younger individuals, spoke with neighborhood leaders, and mapped out current assets. My teammates have been initially pissed off — they needed to start out fixing. However I stored saying, ‘We will’t design an answer for individuals we don’t perceive.’”
This strategy paid off. Their closing proposal wasn’t simply inventive; it was grounded in actual wants and possible implementation. They gained, however extra importantly, Afolake found that her design background wasn’t separate from her management potential—it was central to it.
The surprising name again:
When the programme ended, Afolake assumed that was it. She’d discovered, grown, networked, and moved on. Then got here the decision in early 2025: would she return as a buddy mentor for the brand new cohort?
The request caught her off guard. “I assumed, ‘I actually simply completed this programme. What may I probably educate another person?’” However after reflection, she realized that query itself revealed one thing essential about her development. The truth that she may even contemplate mentoring others meant she’d internalised the teachings extra deeply than she’d realized.
Accepting the position meant confronting an uncomfortable fact: she now had information and expertise that others wanted. This wasn’t about having all of the solutions — it was about being keen to share the questions she’d discovered to ask.
Mentoring by way of design pondering:
Approaching her new position, Afolake did what got here naturally: she handled mentoring like a design problem.
Every of her assigned mentees turned a novel person with distinct wants, objectives, and obstacles.
She began with what she calls “empathy interviews” — deep conversations to know every particular person’s background, fears, and aspirations. Marcus, a software program engineer, struggled with imposter syndrome in group settings. Sarah, a advertising and marketing skilled, had sensible insights however couldn’t articulate them confidently. James, a latest graduate, was overwhelmed by the programme’s depth.
“I realised that efficient mentoring isn’t about giving recommendation — it’s about serving to individuals uncover their very own solutions,” she explains. “Similar to good design isn’t about imposing options; it’s about creating frameworks that empower customers.”
For Marcus, she developed structured methods to contribute to discussions that constructed on his analytical strengths. For Sarah, they practiced storytelling strategies that helped her talk concepts extra powerfully. For James, she broke down the programme into manageable items and helped him construct confidence incrementally.
The breakthrough got here when she stopped making an attempt to mentor them the best way she wished she’d been mentored, and began mentoring them the best way they really wanted to be supported.
The true studying curve:
Being a buddy mentor wasn’t nearly serving to others — it compelled Afolake to articulate her personal studying in methods she’d by no means needed to earlier than. When Marcus requested, “How have you learnt when to talk up in conferences?” she couldn’t simply say, “You’ll determine it out.” She needed to break down her personal decision-making course of.
“I needed to study my very own management growth way more critically,” she admits. “What has truly modified in my pondering? What frameworks was I unconsciously utilizing? Explaining my course of to others made me perceive it higher myself.”
This meta-learning — studying about how she discovered — turned probably the most worthwhile points of the mentoring expertise. It solidified ideas that had been floating abstractly in her thoughts and gave her confidence in her personal management voice.
The mentoring additionally challenged her assumptions about what new leaders want. She’d anticipated to concentrate on confidence-building and strategic pondering. As an alternative, she discovered herself having conversations about identification, authenticity, and the braveness to guide in another way.
“Sarah as soon as requested me, ‘How do you keep your self whereas turning into a pacesetter?’ That query stopped me chilly,” Afolake recollects. “I spotted that was the true problem — not turning into some generic model of management, however determining what management seems like once you do it.”
Recognition and Actuality Test:
On the programme’s conclusion, Afolake obtained an award for her excellent mentoring. The popularity was gratifying, however what mattered extra was seeing her mentees’ transformation. Marcus had began main technical discussions with confidence. Sarah had proposed a significant initiative at her firm. James had determined to use for a administration position.
“The award was good, however watching them discover their voices — that’s what made it actual,” she displays. “You possibly can’t pretend that sort of development.” The expertise additionally gave her readability about her personal management philosophy. She’d entered the programme pondering management was about having solutions. She left understanding that it’s about asking higher questions and creating areas the place others can uncover their very own options.
Design Meets Management: A New Framework
The intersection of her design background and management growth led Afolake to develop what she calls “Human-Centered Management” — an strategy that applies design pondering rules to management challenges.
The framework contains three core rules:
Empathy as Basis: Simply as designers should deeply perceive person wants, leaders should genuinely perceive the individuals they’re main. This implies transferring past assumptions and actively listening to know context, motivations, and limitations.
Iterative Progress: Each design options and management expertise develop by way of experimentation and refinement. Leaders ought to check approaches, collect suggestions, and alter their strategies based mostly on what truly works, not what sounds good in idea.
Methods Considering: Particular person management actions exist inside bigger organizational and social methods. Efficient leaders contemplate how their choices ripple by way of these methods and work to create optimistic, sustainable change.
“It’s not revolutionary,” she emphasizes. “It’s simply making use of the identical human-centered strategy I exploit in product design to management conditions. The instruments are transferable; you simply need to be intentional about utilizing them.”
The multiplier impact
Maybe probably the most highly effective realization from Afolake’s journey is how management growth creates exponential affect when it’s achieved proper. Her mentees didn’t simply enhance their very own management expertise — they started making use of these rules of their groups, organizations, and communities.
Marcus began operating extra inclusive technical evaluations at his firm. Sarah launched a mentorship programme for junior advertising and marketing professionals. James started volunteering with a youth growth group, utilizing frameworks he’d discovered to assist highschool college students develop management expertise.
“That’s once I understood what Sir Ken Olisa meant about management being a duty,” Afolake says. “Whenever you develop as a pacesetter, you’re not simply bettering your self — you’re creating the potential for others to develop too.”
Past the Programme: Actual-World Software
Again in her product design work, the management growth expertise has essentially modified how Afolake approaches her skilled duties. She’s extra intentional about inclusive design processes, extra strategic about stakeholder engagement, and extra assured in advocating for person wants in organizational discussions.
“I used to suppose my job was to design good merchandise,” she explains. “Now I perceive that my job is to create merchandise that empower individuals and to guide design processes that deliver out the very best pondering from my workforce.”
This shift in perspective has made her more practical as a designer and extra worthwhile as a workforce member. Colleagues have seen her elevated skill to facilitate tough conversations, construct consensus round design choices, and advocate successfully for user-centered approaches.
Trying Ahead: Management as Legacy
Afolake’s development from delegate to mentor to acknowledged thought chief illustrates one thing essential about fashionable management growth: the simplest programmes don’t simply create particular person leaders — they create methods of management that proceed increasing.
She’s now engaged on initiatives that mix her design experience with management growth, together with frameworks for different organizations to create efficient mentoring programmes and workshops that assist design groups combine inclusive management rules into their work.
“The programme taught me that management isn’t about reaching some end line,” she displays. “It’s about repeatedly rising whereas serving to others develop alongside you.”
The true lesson
What makes Afolake’s story compelling isn’t the awards or recognition — it’s the authenticity of her development and the tangible affect on others. Her journey illustrates that efficient management growth occurs when programmes create alternatives for actual contribution, not simply private development.
“I assumed the programme would educate me to be a pacesetter,” she concludes. “As an alternative, it confirmed me that I already had management capability — I simply wanted to learn to use it in service of others.”
Her expertise with the Aleto Basis programme demonstrates how well-designed management growth can create lasting change that extends far past particular person contributors. By combining her product design experience with inclusive management rules, she’s change into the sort of skilled who can drive significant change throughout industries and communities.
The complete-circle journey from delegate to mentor represents greater than private development — it embodies a brand new mannequin of management that prioritizes multiplication over accumulation, genuine development over superficial growth, and actual affect over spectacular credentials.
As she continues constructing her profession in product design and expertise, this spirit of human-centered management stays central to her strategy. For Afolake, management is not only about imaginative and prescient — it’s about duty, authenticity, and the braveness to raise others whilst you rise.
