Great Power
Jesus Christ said it. Theodore Roosevelt said it. Stan Lee said it:
When you empower people to do great things and hold them accountable for the great things they do, including successes and failures, everyone wins.
As designers, when we’re given the power (authority) we need (from our clients, bosses, teams, etc.) to affect real change and make UX and other design choices based on available data and our expertise, we’re able to create more usable interfaces and better user experiences. The user wins. The client wins. The company wins. We win.
The catch here though is to wield that power responsibly. When you’re given keys to borrow a car, it’s implied you’ll drive it safely and return it in the same condition. You could, however, drive it like you stole it, wreck it, abuse it, defile it, return it w/ the tank empty, etc. The expectation is though that the owner gets the car back like it was before. However in business, and life really, when given power, trust, authority, freedom, the expectation is that you’ll not just provide a 1:1 ROI, but that you’ll take what you’ve been given and give back something more because, well, that’s your laison d’etre. That’s why you exist—to improve things. Imagine how generous people would become if, whenever something was borrowed, it was returned in better shape? Maybe you washed the car. Maybe you repaired that rattling muffler. Maybe you vacuumed the rugs, or put new tires on it as a thank-you.
Whatever your job, but for me, especially as a designer, it’s paramount that we never add up to the sum of our parts, but that we constantly improve upon that which we’ve been trusted, and make things a little better, nicer, more usable, more friendly, more trusted, more efficient, more profitable wherever we go, whatever we touch.
The Sphinx
But how?
Language is a funny thing. Sometimes interesting insights are gleaned from inverting and transposing words. For example — Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country…When you doubt your powers, you give power to your doubts.…etc. Therefore let’s try:
With great responsibility comes great power.
As we are empowered to do great things, to overcome obstacles, and accomplish new feats, we become imbued with the power necessary to do those very things.
Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t—you’re right.
— Henry Ford
Call it the placebo effect. Call it karma. Call it empowerment. The point is, when you have been given stewardship over a thing, regardless of what lead up to this point, you’ve now been qualified to accomplish the proper handling of that thing. Notice that I didn’t say you ARE qualified because that’s something else. You have simply BEEN qualified, by some powers-that-be, to accomplish a task. And whether you think you can do it or can’t, you’re probably right.
As the new year looms on the horizon, I challenge you to take stock in the powers afforded you. Have you wielded them responsibly this year? Did the entity that entrusted you with these gifts see a fruitful ROI? How will you improve upon your performance next year?
“The power is YOURS!”
—Captain Planet