We love talking about growth mindset, but curiosity without action doesn’t move your career forward. In this episode, Jayneil Dalal shares what he’s learned from interviewing hundreds of designers—and why the people who actually ship, share, and care about craft are the ones who keep growing.

What if the fastest way to grow your career isn’t asking for a promotion—but becoming the designer everyone trusts?

In this episode, I sit down with Jayneil Dalal to talk less about career ladders and more about what actually earns trust inside organizations. After interviewing hundreds of designers on Design MBA and Sneak Peek, Jayneil has seen the same patterns repeat across teams, companies, and seniority levels.

The designers who advance aren’t the loudest or the most credentialed. They’re the ones who care deeply about their work—clean files, thoughtful handoffs, clear communication, and sharing what they learn with others. No one tells them to do this. They do it because they give a damn, and that care compounds into credibility.

We also unpack the idea of “internal brand,” why chasing credit often backfires, and how being generous with your knowledge can quietly change team culture. If you’ve ever felt invisible at work or unsure how to stand out without self-promotion, this conversation reframes what influence really looks like.

Topics:

• 04:54 - Early Curiosity and Interviewing Journey

• 06:17 - The Birth of a Podcast Idea

• 07:23 - Launching Design MBA

• 09:53 - The Value of Execution

• 12:21 - Challenges and Realizations

• 15:36 - Content Creation and Audience Fit

• 19:35 - Learning from Top Designers

• 22:49 - The Importance of Craft and Mentorship

• 38:04 - Advocating for Yourself

• 41:58 - Navigating Internal Branding

• 46:34 - The Importance of Communication Skills

• 48:10 - Balancing Multiple Projects

• 51:36 - Effective Use of AI in Design

• 53:21 - Public Speaking and Presentation Tips

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Most designers hit senior level and suddenly there’s no obvious next step. In this episode, Ran Liu breaks down why the smartest career move may not be straight up, but diagonal. We unpack how to recognize stagnation, build visibility, stretch your skills, and create the kind of opportunities your company can’t (or won’t) give you.

What if the fastest way to grow your design career isn’t a promotion?

What if it's a diagonal move into work that stretches your range and makes you harder to replace?

Every designer eventually hits that moment: you’ve earned trust, you’re doing great work, you’ve reached senior… and then the ladder suddenly disappears. No clear next step. No path to promotion. And maybe no manager who even understands your craft well enough to help. In this episode, I talk with product designer and Ran Talks Design host Ran Liu about why this happens so often—and why the smartest career move isn’t always upward.

Ran shares how she discovered the idea of the diagonal move: a strategic shift that increases your scope, title, or company maturity all at once. She opens up about the moment she realized she was stuck—after years of impact, only to hear “you’re almost there” during promotion season. We walk through how to identify when your environment can’t (or won’t) support your growth: unclear leveling, lack of ownership, inconsistent feedback, and a ceiling that never seems to move.

We also explore the kind of work you need before you make a diagonal move—building the right experience, designing your portfolio strategically, navigating “visibility guilt,” and reframing self-promotion as sharing what you’ve learned instead of bragging. Ran also breaks down practical ways to expand your influence inside your company, build a network that remembers you, and create opportunities even when no one is handing them out. If you’ve ever felt stuck at senior, this episode will show you how to take the wheel again. Give it a listen—you’ll walk away with a new way to think about your career.

Topics:

• 02:59 - The Career Plateau: What's Next?

• 03:14 - Guest Introduction: Ran Liu

• 04:08 - Understanding the Diagonal Move

• 06:22 - Challenges in Career Growth

• 13:28 - Taking Control of Your Career

• 22:48 - Strategic Career Planning

• 32:05 - The Shocking Pay Disparity Revelation

• 32:34 - The Importance of Visibility in Career Growth

• 33:20 - Building Confidence and Visibility

• 34:59 - Leveraging LinkedIn for Networking

• 36:40 - The Power of Community Engagement

• 39:49 - Navigating Internal Visibility for Promotions

• 44:03 - Sharing Failures and Learning from Them

• 46:11 - Daily Habits for Career Momentum

Helpful Links:

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Thanks for listening! We hope you dug today’s episode. If you liked what you heard, be sure to like and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts! And if you really enjoyed today’s episode, why don’t you leave a five-star review? Or tell some friends! It will help us out a ton.

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• ⁠⁠⁠Get a FREE audiobook AND support the show⁠⁠⁠

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We talk about collaboration, but our brains often treat work like a win-lose game. In this episode, I break down Zero-Sum Bias, the belief that someone else’s win automatically means your loss, where it comes from, how it quietly shapes team dynamics, and what you can do to build more win-win outcomes at work.

What if your brain has been keeping score at work this whole time? And the game it thinks you’re playing doesn’t actually exist?

We repeat lines like, “If a stakeholder wins, designers lose,” or “If the PM wins, users lose,” so often that they start to feel like facts. In this episode of the Cognition Catalog, we unpack Zero-Sum Bias, the belief that someone else’s gain must come at your expense, and how that thinking quietly turns collaboration into a contest.

I walk through where this bias comes from, starting with early economic and game theory models like zero-sum games, where wins and losses truly do net out to zero, and how that maps onto our evolutionary history of genuine scarcity. Food, safety, and resources really were limited, so one person’s gain often did mean someone else’s loss. The problem is that our brains still carry that wiring into modern workplaces that are full of shared goals, interdependence, and cross-functional teams.

From design vs. product vs. engineering “tensions” to resourcing, prioritization, and recognition, I break down how zero-sum thinking shows up in everyday UX work—and what changes when you stop assuming only one side can win. We’ll talk about practical ways to spot the bias, shift toward non-zero-sum thinking, and design team habits that reward collaboration over quiet competition.

If you’ve ever caught yourself thinking, “If they win, I lose,” this episode will help you reset the scoreboard and build healthier ways of working together.

Topics:• 02:08 Debunking Zero Sum Thinking• 03:13 Origins and Evolution of Zero Sum Bias• 04:09 Impact of Zero Sum Bias on Teams• 06:18 Strategies to Combat Zero-Sum Bias

To explore more about the Naive Cynicism, don’t miss the full article @ ⁠⁠cognitioncatalog.com⁠⁠

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