Who owns the vision?

The biggest challenge to better design isn't getting better designers. The problem is organizational... Great design at places such as Apple isn't about "empowering decision makers" or whatever that lame B-school buzzword is. It's about awarding massive power and self-determination to those with the most cohesive vision -- that is, the designers. Those are the people with the best idea of what customers want. That's the essence of "design thinking." If you were to summarize just how ugly -- and self-defeating -- the alternative can be, AA's Web site would be a smoking gun.