Catt's Corner: design leadership conversations with senior, staff, and principal designers

When You Have to Let Go to Make More Impact, with Jen Pearce

July 28, 2026·35 min
Episode Description from the Publisher

This one's for anyone who's ever pitched something five times before it landed, or wondered which things are actually worth catching when you can't catch everything. Catt sits down with Jen Pearce, a staff designer at Mercury who Catt met when she joined Dropbox — and immediately knew was someone worth talking to. Jen has spent the last two and a half years riding Mercury's rocket ship growth from 600 to over 1,000 people, switching teams twice, and figuring out what staff design actually looks like at a company where design has been built in from the very beginning. ─── ୨୧ ─── • ℹ️ In this episode What it's like to grow with a company from 600 to 1,000 people as a staff designer Why vision work is a tool, not a trophy — and how to design it for the audience you're presenting to Why Jen pitched the same idea five or six times before it finally took hold The crystal ball versus rubber ball framework for deciding what to delegate and what to drop What good delegation actually looks like when you're sometimes the only designer on something Why Jen thinks this might be her last job with the title "product designer" ─── ୨୧ ─── • 📖 Resources mentioned The Staff Designer book (Rosenfeld Media): https://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/the-staff-designer The Staff Designer course on Maven: https://maven.com/catt-small/staff-designer ─── ୨୧ ─── • 🌐 Find Jen on the internet LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenpearce

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