Carol Rossi

Make Research Count: Focus on What Moves the Needle

NerdWallet

Kelley Blue Book

Founder, Carol Rossi Consulting

Learn to reframe your role from research doer to decision driver

Reframe your role

We'll take a peek into the Uncertainty + Risk + Cost model to decide when research is essential and when to skip it.

Know when to run research and when not

Learn to frame potential research in business terms by assessing value and costs, so you're showing your business chops

Improve your business acumen

Go from a designer who presents work to a strategic partner who influences what gets built.

Medium's Top Design Writer. Educator.

Medium

Designlab Learning

ADPList

Substack

National Cancer Institute

Kai Wong

Medium's Top Design Writer. 13 Years Defending Design Where UX Wasn't Valued.

May Cohort

June cohort

Most designers do great work. But when they present it, they say "reduced cognitive load" and executives hear "nice to have." They say "user friction" and leadership hears "fix it later."They leave the room. Nothing changes.This isn't a design problem. It's a translation problem. It's why strong designers get ignored, passed over for promotion, and waiting for buy-in. Or stuck in a job search where the portfolio doesn't land."Selling and advocating for design is 50 to 60% of a designer's job." — Director of UX, Ford"You have to translate usability findings into how it's driving your business KPIs." — Design Leader, MastercardMake the Case gives you the frameworks to translate design decisions into the business outcomes leadership needs. It also comes with AI workflows to help apply them without your evenings disappearing.Built from 13 years presenting design in low-UX-maturity environments, pressure-tested with 30 leaders at Target, Ford, Mastercard, Meta, and Amazon.8 sessions over 4 weeks. 60 minutes each, Mondays and Wednesdays. You'll learn pressure-tested frameworks and how to implement them in the same week.By the end, you'll make the case. And it will land.

Great design Doesn't Speak for Itself. Learn to Speak for It.

Connect your design work to business outcomes

Build the business case for your design work, even without perfect data

Turn research findings into decisions, not just data

Make recommendations leadership can't ignore

Structure arguments that hold up under scrutiny

 Adapt your argument for the room you're actually in

Designers who want to use data to bypass office politics to start having a bigger impact

Designers ready to operate at the strategic level, using evidence to shape what gets built, not just how it looks

Designers in low-UX maturity environments who've outgrown relationship-building as their only tool

Stop over-explaining and start guiding decisions. You'll become the professional who walks into senior rooms and walks out with a yes.

24-Year Banker -> Presentation Expert

JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Commerzbank

Royal Bank

Mary Beth Hazeldine

24 years at JPMorgan, PwC, RBS. Now training executives to win decisions.

Cohort 4

Cohort 5

You've done the work. You know the material. You've prepared the slides.And yet the decision stalls.Polite nods. Reasonable questions. Then: "Let's take this offline." "We'll circle back." "Good discussion."Translation: No decision today.If this keeps happening, it's not because you lack expertise or presentation skills. It's because the way you're structuring your message doesn't match how senior people decide.Here's what nobody tells you: executives make their decision in the first few minutes, then spend the rest of the time looking for reasons to trust that instinct—or doubt it. When you lead with context, build to your recommendation, and back it up with extensive data, you're triggering doubt, not confidence.The unspoken question in their mind: "If they need this much explanation, is the recommendation actually solid?"This course gives you a different approach—a system built on how decisions actually happen in senior rooms. You'll learn to structure your message so that "yes" feels like the obvious, low-risk choice.Not through tips you'll forget under pressure. Through a repeatable system that works even when you're tired, rushed, or facing pushback.

Executives decide before your presentation ends. Structure accordingly

Structure presentations that win decisions

Remove the anxiety before you even start

Build credibility without over-explaining

Choose proof that reassures, not proof that defends

Handle pushback without becoming defensive

Use AI tools without sounding generic or losing authority

<code>You present to executives, boards, or steering committees—and need decisions, not "good discussions." Your credibility is on the line.</code>

You pitch to clients and present recommendations for a living. Stalled decisions cost you deals, revenue, and repeat business.

You're in relationship management, business development, or sales—presenting to win deals, budgets, or strategic alignment.

Most Business Decisions Fail Before They're Made — Here's How to Change That.

Possibilitarian & Decision Strategist

Kathi Laughman

Decision strategist with 40+ years in high-stakes business environments

Cohort 1

The problem isn't that business owners and operators lack intelligence or instinct. The problem is that most are making consequential decisions without a reliable process — and the cost shows up as stalled momentum, repeated mistakes, and choices that made sense on paper but created friction in practice.Most decision frameworks are designed for someone else's business. They're built around generic principles that don't account for how you actually think, what you're responsible for, or what your business specifically needs to move forward.This workshop changes that.You'll work through the five essential components of a decision framework — and learn how to apply each one to the decisions your business is actually facing. Not as a theory exercise, but as a working model you can take with you and use immediately.The result: a framework that fits how you work, catches the breakdowns before they happen, and gives you a consistent way to move through uncertainty with confidence — every time a decision matters.

This workshop gives you a decision framework built around how you work — and the confidence to use it on every decision that matters.

Why frameworks work — and why most fail

A model that works for every business decision

How to define what a decision actually needs to succeed

How to build decisions you can actually sustain

How to catch misalignment before it creates friction

How to see what every decision makes possible beyond itself

You're making important decisions daily without a consistent process — and the gaps are starting to show in your results and confidence.

You're leading a business that has grown, but your decision-making hasn't kept pace. What worked when things were simpler isn't working now.

You've tried frameworks that felt generic or disconnected from how you actually work. You need something built around your business.

Most fear-driven decisions feel rational. That's why they're dangerous.

Decision researcher, speaker, founder

University of Bath

Dr S Shah

Decision Strategist | Speaker | Founder-Educator

Under pressure, smart leaders rarely think they are panicking. They think they are being prudent, responsible, and strategic. But fear of loss has its own logic. It pushes people to protect control, cash, reputation, certainty, status, or stability — and in doing so, they can damage the very thing they were trying to secure.A founder hoards control during a downturn and weakens the team's ability to think. A consultant softens a recommendation until the client loses confidence. A senior professional avoids a difficult conversation and lets the problem grow. Each choice makes sense in the moment. Each protects something real. Each can quietly become expensive.This workshop is not about suppressing fear or pretending to be calm. Calm people make fear-driven decisions too. The work is strategic reframing: noticing when fear of loss has defined the problem, narrowed the options, and made the defensive choice look responsible.Drawing on behavioral science and the neuroscience of decision-making, you will learn to identify protective logic, map the loss you are trying to avoid, test whether a "safe" choice may backfire, and reframe the decision before fear writes the strategy for you.

Diagnose the fear patterns behind your decisions. Apply structural countermeasures that turn your worst moments into your sharpest.

Recognise fear-driven decisions before you make them.

Diagnose the cognitive biases fear activates in your decisions

Apply structural countermeasures to your highest-stakes decisions.

Walk one of your real decisions through the full protocol

The Stuck Founder : Running a business that's stopped growing. Facing a pricing, hiring, or strategic decision that's been open for months

The Senior Operator: Leading through shifts and restructures. Suspects their safest decisions are the most expensive ones.

Professional at a Crossroads: Considering a role change, pivot, or independent move. Has been "thinking about it" longer than is useful.

Agentic AI

Coding with AI

AI Workflows

Claude Code

OpenClaw

Vibe Coding

AI Evals

AI Transformation

RAG & Search

AI for PMs

AI for Engineers

AI for Designers

AI for Marketers

AI for Founders

Product Sense

Product Discovery

User Research

Prototyping

Growth

Analytics

Tech Foundations

Strategy

Influence

Leadership

Career Growth

Machine Learning

LLM Ops

Context Eng

Security

System Design

Figma

Design Systems

Visual Design

Design Strategy

Automation

Content Marketing

Demand Gen

Go-to-Market

Product Marketing

Positioning

Social Media

Brand

B2B Marketing

SEO & AEO

AI for Leaders

AI Governance

Communication

Management

People Operations

Exec Presence

Storytelling

Goal-setting

Personal Brand

Fundraising

Everyone

Operators

Data Scientists

Business Analysts

User Researchers

Customer Success

Project Managers

HR Professionals

Sales People

Lawyers

Finance

Investors

Real Estate

Educators

Creators

Introduction: Meet Carol Rossi

Agenda: From Research Doer to Decision Driver

Why Prioritize? Aligning Research with Business Impact

The Uncertainty, Risk, and Cost Prioritization Framework

Framework in Action: High, Low, and Mixed-Case Examples

The Critical Role of Cost in Decision-Making

Using ChatGPT to Assist in Research Prioritization

Course Details and Discount Offer

Audience Q&A Session

Final Warning on AI and Data Privacy

Executives and senior leaders who set strategy, lead teams, and drive organizational outcomes.

Designers who craft user experiences, interfaces, and visual design.

User researchers conducting interviews, usability studies, and customer research to inform product decisions.

Developing leadership skills — inspiring teams, building culture, navigating organizational complexity, and driving results through others.

Make Research Count: Focus on What Moves the Needle

What you'll learn

Why this topic matters

You'll learn from

Carol Rossi