Awkward Silences #184 - Use Context For More Influence with Kristen DeLap of Econify
Mar 3, 2026
Kristen DeLap, fractional COO and operations leader who moved from interior design into product, shares how to gain influence without authority. She discusses decoding decision-making, translating design into business language, using customer stories to explain roadmaps, and treating colleagues like users. Practical tactics focus on ongoing stakeholder engagement, decision literacy, and orchestrating team alignment.
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From Interior Design To UX By Fixing Sales Tools
- Kristen moved from interior and retail design into UX by applying design thinking to sales tools and internal systems.
- At Maharam she helped build an iOS sales CRM and modernized the website without an official UX title, blending roles organically.
Challenging Assumptions Is A Designer's Superpower
- Designers' core strength is challenging assumptions diplomatically to find better solutions.
- Kristen credits questioning standard practice as a major career booster at Maharam and Herman Miller when she pushed for modernization.
Be Curious About Individual Engineering Workflows
- Do be curious about engineers' individual workflows rather than treating engineering as monolithic.
- Kristen notes engineers are at varied AI-tool stages so ask about their dev, testing, and tool practices before collaborating.