The design industry has a guru problem

The design industry has a guru problem.
Every designer wants to be the visionary. The one with the portfolio that wins awards and gets shared on Behance.

Meanwhile, businesses are drowning in features that look beautiful but don’t ship.

Here’s the pattern I’ve seen repeatedly:
Guru designer: “We should rebuild the entire information architecture.”
Company: “We need this feature shipped in 2 weeks.”
Guru designer: “It won’t be right unless we do the foundational work first.”

Six months later: no feature shipped, foundational work still incomplete, company running out of runway.

The problem isn’t that gurus lack talent. It’s that operational businesses need realists.

Realists understand:

• Constraints are real (not obstacles to overcome)
• 80% solutions shipped beat 100% solutions delayed
• Implementation feasibility matters more than conceptual elegance

The most valuable designers aren’t visionaries. They’re operators who can:

• Ship within constraints
• Prioritize impact over perfection
• Collaborate with engineering reality
• Deliver incremental value consistently

This isn’t about settling for mediocrity. It’s about understanding that perfect is the enemy of shipped.

I’ve been both types. The guru phase was creatively satisfying but operationally useless. The realist phase generated actual business results.

Revenue beats beauty. Shipped beats theoretical. Pragmatic beats visionary.

Your company probably doesn’t need a guru. It needs someone who can execute within the chaos you’re actually operating in.

Is your design team shipping or philosophizing?