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Esko Lehtme

I am creating now

As a design lead at SEB Baltic, I drive a design area strategy that aligns business objectives with user needs in the financial sector. This approach has resulted in optimized processes, mature design practices within our product development organization, and higher-quality design work.

My writing explores the intersections of design careers, design leadership, and self-development. I share my hard-earned insights from my journey to help others establish effective design processes and build strong teams.

Recent writing

The hidden influences shaping your leadership style

Self-Development

The Leadership Roots reveals how past influences shape your leadership approach. By examining influential people from your life, you will gain awareness on which behaviors to adopt and which to leave behind, creating a more authentic and effective leadership style based on conscious choices rather than unconscious patterns.

Three areas that catalyzed UX maturity

Design Leadership

By focusing on three key areas of UX maturity — awareness, processes, and outcome measurement — we created a powerful catalyst for organizational change. This unexpected combination was more effective than a broad maturity approach.

Eliminating waste in UX workflows with lean process mapping

Design Leadership

Process mapping transformed our UX team by revealing inefficiencies, clarifying responsibilities, and enabling strategic planning. By applying lean principles to our workflow, we reduced project setup time by weeks and gained the flexibility to manage multiple projects efficiently.