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InsideOut Leadership Community

A space to connect, collaborate, and generate new ideas.

Leading in-house design, experience, and creative operations teams today is more challenging than ever. That's why we created InsideOut, a community custom-built for senior leaders at high-profile brands. Small format roundtables provide space to connect, collaborate and generate new ways to move business forward, faster.

400+

sessions held to date

57%

members attend 5+ sessions

9.5/10

as rated by members

Why InsideOut?

Trusted community

A like-minded group of senior in-house design and operations leaders.

“It's nice to have a community of leaders who you can rely on to help you through shared and unique issues as well as having a forum where you realize you aren't alone.”

Attendee-driven

Session topics are determined by the group.

“…crackerjack curation and moderation across all forums, meaningful and relevant topics and themes that I can leverage or apply in my day-to-day.”

Small groups

Up to 12 leaders gather for an interactive discussion.

“The immediate feedback obtained from other industry professionals at my equivalent level is refreshing. It's candid and refreshingly honest.”

Facilitated

Conversations are managed to keep them moving forward.

“I enjoy the conversations and perspectives very much as well as the learnable moments from others. Susie does a great job moderating and providing structure while keeping the sessions light and fun.”

Actionable

Discussion conclusions are captured and distributed.

“I get a lot out of having meaningful discussions with leaders from other companies and business areas. There are always a ton of links, articles, or topics that I leave each session with.”

Lasting connections

Participants are local, consistent, and want to network.

“This has been a great community for networking, learning – and collaborating with other leaders. Susie does an amazing job keeping everyone engaged, and making sessions fun.”

Example Topics

  • Balancing Continuous Discovery with Continuous Delivery
  • Interview Best Practices
  • Focusing on the Future
  • Lead Your Way Workshop
  • Benchmarking Common Creative Projects
  • Pro Tips: Mentoring to Level Up with Felix Lee (ADPList)
  • Leading Resourcing Discussions
  • The Value of Design Leadership
  • Automating for Efficiency
  • Using Process Mapping to Bring Teams Together
  • How Technology is Shifting the Role of Ops
  • Influencing Senior Leadership
  • Building Culture in Dispersed Teams
  • Showing the Value of Listening to Customers

All the ways to join in.

Roundtables

Facilitated discussions on real-time, real-world challenges identified by members. Sessions are held online with in-person events twice a year in major cities across the U.S. Limited to 12 attendees.

Workshops

Expert-led virtual sessions on leadership topics such as inspiring your team, workplace wellness, and coaching creatives. Sharpen your skills or develop a few more through our communitywide program.

Panels

Moderated conversations with InsideOut members at the vanguard of the design and experience industry. In this virtual series, leaders share their valued insights on business-critical topics and trends.

Women of InsideOut

A series of workshops and roundtables for female members who level the playing field by empowering and uplifting one another. These sessions focus on issues specific to women in leadership.

Lightning Sessions

Share a problem, help a leader. These 60-minute sessions feature two leaders who each share a challenge and get a facilitated crowdsourcing of ideas from peers. Fast, fruitful, and fun!

Inside Connections

Meet senior leaders from around the community in an informal setting. You opt in, and we pair you with a new leader every six weeks for a 30-minute chat to expand your network and learn.

Upcoming Sessions

Date Group Connection
12/05 6:00 pm ET ALL GROUPS InsideOut Virtual Holiday Party!

Insights from InsideOut

Why ghosting is devastating to authentic leadership.

How ghosting impacts workplace culture and strategies for leaders to promote respect, honesty, and integrity in teams.

CommunicationInsideOutManaging People

By Paul Strike

How to deepen relationships and build social capital that sticks.

Discover the intangible yet invaluable benefits of workplace social capital, including trust, shared norms, and enhanced collaboration.

InsideOutManaging People

By Susie Hall

Advice on developing business acumen for your design team. 

Understanding business strategy is critical to creative team success—and leaders have to up-level that knowledge for all.

InsideOutManaging People

By Susie Hall

Listen up, design leaders. InsideOut is now streaming.

Learn from industry experts with our new resource—InsideOut: Design Leadership Insights. Now available anytime, anywhere.

InsideOutManaging People

By Susie Hall

Create a new commitment to team morale.

How leaders can bolster spirits for their teams—and themselves—even in tough times. 

InsideOutManaging PeopleRemote & Asynchronous Work

By Susie Hall

Design leadership is vital—here's how to explain why.

Discover why design leadership is so important and how it can help drive innovation, build trust, and create competitive advantages.

InsideOutManaging People

By Susie Hall

Eight steps to launching a successful mentorship program. 

All parties benefit from mentorship, and doing so is much easier than you may think.

InsideOutManaging People

By Susie Hall

The automation revolution: efficiency in the creative process. 

Smart tools and systems give back time to the whole team, and operations leaders can lead the way.

InsideOutManaging PeopleRemote & Asynchronous Work

By Susie Hall

Leveraging face-to-face opportunities in a hybrid work model. 

Looking for ways to promote creativity among your team members? Learn how successful teams ignited creativity and improved team relationships with these strategies.

InsideOutManaging PeopleRemote & Asynchronous Work

By Aquent

Interested in our community?

InsideOut members are:

  • Senior in-house leaders in creative, design, experience, or operations.
  • Working at a high-profile, well-recognized brand in any industry.
  • Responsible for staff and budget.
  • Seeking a collaborative space to learn from experienced peers.
  • Located in the U.S.