My name is Hader Ali, I’m a creative designer and innovator.
Hello, I am a London-based SERVICE, EXPERIENCE, and SYSTEM designer.
As a creative problem-solver, and thrive in the ambiguous world of the front end of innovation.
I love asking questions and getting to the root cause of the problem. Using design thinking (deductive, inductive and abductive) to solve linear and non-linear problems.
I hold two master’s degrees and a Doctorate of Business Administration DBA.
MSc in Innovation, Creativity and Leadership at Bayes Business School.
MSc Design Innovation from Loughborough University London.
Doctorate of Business Administration (DBA) at Durham Business School
My two masters dissertations and DBA thesis focus on employee perception, cognition, behaviour, creativity, and design. Alongside organisational ambidexterity, intrapreneurship, and innovation paradoxes.
My research covers several theoretical frameworks and domain, taking a nuanced, top-down and bottom-up approach to organisational intrapreneurship and ambidexterity.
I take a pragmatic approach to research applying theory to address practice.
Thinking about the right way of thinking about the problem.
Self taught in philosophy reading works of Greek (Plato, Aristotle), Roman (Aurelius), Eastern (Al Ghazali, Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn Sina) and Western (Descartes, Locke and Russell) philosophy. I have a particular interest in thinking about the right way of thinking about the problem.
Creative writer & Illustrator.
Storytelling is a critical part of business. To improve my storytelling skills, and to exercise my creative muscle, I write blogs, and books alongside writing my book I create all the illustrations.
Start-up founder & adviser.
Co-founded, advised and joined multiple start-ups in tech, media, prop-tech, recruitment, executive coaching & online marketplaces.
Corporate entrepreneur and explorer.
As an employee within SMEs and large organisations I developed many linear and non-linear innovation ideas. I have been part of successful and unsuccessful bottom-up innovation projects. I have first-hand experience of the barriers and challenges intrapreneurs face when attempting intrapreneurial activities.
Ex sales & account manager & negotiation skills
I’ve not always been a designer, I started my career as a business development and account manager. Working in sales I acquired valuable skills, such as communication and presentation skills. Moreover, increasing my competence in asking the right questions to get to the root-cause of the customers problem, listening for both strong and weak signals. Coupled with my natural curiosity selling to senior stakeholders has developed my ability to gather customer insights, critical skills for a designer. My sales experience has given me a unique understanding of service and product design from both a commercial and end-users perspective.
My negotiation skills, honed through sales, are crucial as a service designer, enabling persuasive communication, stakeholder management and collaborative decision-making. These skills allow the navigate of diverse perspectives, anticipate objections, and reach mutually beneficial agreements with clients, internal and external stakeholders.