Episode web page: https://bit.ly/4l9JDil ----------------------- Got a question? Want to recommend a guest? Or do you want to tell me how the show can be better? Send me a voice message via email at [email protected] ----------------------- In this Insights Unlocked episode, UserTesting’s Jason Giles sits down with Dane Howard, Vice President of Product Design at G2, for a powerful conversation on the intersection of storytelling, design leadership, and purposeful innovation. With a career that spans design leadership at Amazon, eBay, and Microsoft, Dane brings a wealth of experience—and a passion for creating human-centered experiences. Dane discusses how G2’s visual customer journey map became a transformative internal tool, using storytelling metaphors like cities and theme parks to create clarity, alignment, and excitement across the organization. He also opens up about his personal “three-legged stool” approach to balancing full-time work, advocacy, and creative passion projects. Whether you're a product leader, UX professional, or design enthusiast, this episode offers actionable insights into how to keep your work rooted in purpose and aligned with customer needs—while also making space for your own growth and creativity. What you'll learn in this episode: Why storytelling is an essential leadership skill in design and CX How G2’s customer journey map turned into a city-wide metaphor that boosted internal alignment Tips on keeping internal artifacts like journey maps alive and evolving The power of framing design work through the lens of customer experience How to balance career, passion projects, and mentorship with intentionality Resources & Links: Connect with Dane Howard on LinkedIn Connect with Jason Giles on LinkedIn G2.com danehoward.com Dane’s LinkedIn article on G2’s Customer Journey Mapping project Learn more about Insights Unlocked: usertesting.com/podcast
Full Episode
Welcome back to the Insights Unlocked podcast. In this episode, Dane Howard, Vice President of Product Design at G2, joins the show for a conversation that dives into storytelling, leadership, and the power of purposeful design. Dane shares how a bold customer journey map became a unifying force at G2 and why blending creativity with intention leads to better experiences.
He also offers some tips and insights for finding balance in our creativity. Great stuff. And if you have a guest suggestion, question you want answered, or you want to tell me one way you would improve the show, please send a voice message via email at podcast at usertesting.com. Thanks. Now onto the show.
Welcome to Insights Unlocked, an original podcast from User Testing, where we bring you candid conversations and stories with the thinkers, viewers, and builders behind some of the most successful digital products and experiences in the world, from concept to execution.
Welcome to the Insights Unlocked podcast. I'm Nathan Isaacs, senior manager for content production and user testing. And joining us today as host is Jason Giles, user testing's vice president of design. Welcome, Jason. Hello, everyone. And our guest today is Dane Howard.
Dane is a seasoned design leader and visionary in customer experience, currently serving as the Vice President of Product Design at G2. With a career spanning leading global companies such as Amazon, eBay, and Microsoft, Dane has built a reputation for blending storytelling, strategic design, and innovation to create impactful customer experiences. Welcome to the show, Dane.
Thanks so much for having me. Dane, really excited to have you. We were talking really quickly prior to the show. We've got so much overlap, but you and I have never actually met in person. So this is kind of a treat for me. It's really nice to meet you. For me as well. You have had a really impressive career leading design and innovation at Amazon and eBay and Microsoft.
Can you tell us a little bit first about what is G2 and what drew you there? And then how does your role allow you to shape the customer experience in new and innovative ways?
Yeah, thanks so much for the question. So G2 is like a marketplace, but it brings sellers of software together with buyers of software. So if you think of it from a marketplace dynamic, one of the founders asked the question, why is it easier to have reviews for a $20 pizza than it is for a $20,000 piece of software?
And from that humble beginning, they built a review site that then turned into a really robust business where we sell data back to sellers. So if you think about in simple terms, we're all connected through LinkedIn. You may have a professional profile or you might want to see who's visiting your profile. And, you know, benefit from a little of that added data.
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