Wolfgang Bremer shares a candid look at design leadership, the weight of trust, and why real impact goes far beyond pixels 🚀 — revealing how humility and humanity shape design at scale 🌍. ====== Episode Chapters: 00:00 – Learning Patience Through Fatherhood00:30 – Welcome and Introduction02:10 – Early Design Projects and Bootleg CD Covers05:30 – How Parenthood Changed His Communication and Leadership10:00 – The Importance of Explaining “Why” at Home and Work13:44 – Families, Work, and Where We Spend Our Energy19:00 – Why Trust Should Be the Default in Teams22:30 – Building Connection and Trust Through One-on-Ones28:30 – Structured vs. Unstructured Approaches to One-on-Ones36:00 – Knowing When to Lean In and When to Step Back43:00 – Leadership as Asking Better Questions46:20 – Leadership Compared to Doing the Dishes53:00 – Designing the Environment for Teams to Thrive58:00 – Overcoming Misconceptions About Design’s Role1:01:22 – Lessons From a Career in Global Design Leadership1:06:21 – Closing Reflections and Where to Find Wolfgang ====== Who is Wolfgang Bremer? Wolfgang Bremer is a seasoned design leader whose career spans mobile, enterprise, and automotive design 🚗. He was recently the Vice President of Design at Elli, a Volkswagen Group brand focused on electric mobility, where he grew a cross-functional team and embedded design into business strategy. He has:  ✅ Led global design teams at Volkswagen, SAP, and HERE Technologies  ✅ Designed early mobile experiences at Nokia  ✅ Spoken at conferences across Europe, North America, and Asia  ✅ Advocated for people-first design and building trust at scale  ✅ Believes leadership is sometimes… like doing the dishes ====== Find Wolfgang Bremer here: LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/wolfgangbremer/ Website → https://bremer.co/  ====== Subscribe to Brave UX Like what you heard?  🎙️ Subscribe to Brave UX for more conversations with world-class voices in UX, design, and product leadership. Your support helps others discover the show! Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/no/podcast/brave-ux-with-brendan-jarvis/id1552607805  Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7j2ocni6A00fzgHkj6TtCK  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheSpaceInBetweenPodbean: https://braveux.podbean.com/ ====== Follow Brave UX for more great content! LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-space-in-between/  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brave_ux  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thespaceinbetw__n/ ====== Hosted by Brendan Jarvis: Brendan Jarvis on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanjarvis/  The Space InBetween Website: https://thespaceinbetween.co.nz/