Organizational Capabilities, Adult Learning & Experience Design
Leading design for McKinsey Academy's digital learning platform — establishing modular, mobile-first capability-building programs that embedded leadership development in daily work and scaled to serve 3,000+ organizations.
Traditional learning pulled people away from work; organizations couldn’t build leadership capability fast enough or prove ROI — Academy, Wave, and OrgLab all needed clearer value and scalable digital experiences.
Design Manager: modular learning strategy, mobile-first product direction, vendor and AI pilots — plus a design team and design ops so offerings could ship and integrate across enterprise products.
Academy's modular, mobile-first offerings scaled to 1M+ enrollments and 3,000+ organizations — with strong recommendation, Academy × Wave activity, and measurable OrgLab savings tied to the work.
These are program and product results across Academy, Wave, and OrgLab. I owned the design strategy, standards, and team practices that enabled these outcomes through modular patterns, mobile-first delivery, and product integration.
Traditional corporate learning often disconnects daily work from long-term development. It requires employees to step away from their work to learn—creating friction and competing priorities. This leaves leaders disengaged and organizations unable to build capabilities at scale.
Three products in McKinsey's People and Organizational Performance practice needed design work. Academy was a learning platform with long content and unclear value. Workshop tools were inefficient and didn't scale. And a mobile solution was ready for improvement. Academy could integrate with the Wave platform for business transformations, and OrgLab needed design work to connect with Wave and improve workflows.
As design manager, I introduced design principles for micro-learning, modularity, and reducing cognitive load. I led user research and learning journey mapping to define a design backlog that enabled a new modular process for offerings.
I applied this approach to Academy × Wave integration for organizational performance and to OrgLab—an application serving the same user segment. Understanding user pain points across platforms benefited all products.
AI-assisted learning shortened skill-application cycles and made leadership development more sustainable.
"Leadership development succeeds when personal goals and organizational strategy intersect."
How might we help individuals and organizations set meaningful goals and develop skills that align with both strategic transformation priorities and personal growth needs?
What I owned, who I led, and who I worked with.
Strategy & research
I designed modular learning programs for Academy that aligned with organizational goals based on research I led about skills and leadership development.
Execution & team
I led 10 designers and coached product managers.
Daily leadership & modularity
I led the team to create a mobile-first leadership development app.
Enterprise products
I led design work across integrated enterprise products and transformation tools.
Business takeaway
Work-embedded learning is an operating model shift. Aligning personal development with organizational goals enabled scalable learning with measurable outcomes.
What I’d repeat on the next engagement
Looking ahead, AI and analytics can tailor pathways in real time — turning metrics from a source of anxiety into signals for growth, when paired with clear ethics and good UX.
Testimonials
Minh Chau
Associate Partner, Director of Product Management
"She is consistently reliable, delivering quality work while remaining open to diverse perspectives and to tackling new and challenging projects. Azul brings a positive energy to the team and a commitment to excellence in everything she does."