When assuming design leadership (strategic design management), an organization (company or institution) chooses to excel through its design policy with an eye to increasing the organization’s operating profit. In order to achieve that, design must be integrated into a series of business activities (as a linking and overall force driving a number of business activities). Design leadership dovetails closely with differentiation and innovation as key strategic themes.

The concept of design leadership is closely tied to non-technological design innovation. It also alludes to the importance of a design vision for an organization. Without such a vision, the deployment of design tends to be limited and generally only creates a scattered image. Design leadership is therefore all about the ability to develop a design strategy and generate innovative design solutions, assume a leading role, and receive acclaim for results realized through design.

This is a core activity of many industrial companies and retailers. And it is not merely about designing product appearance (increasing symbolic value, image, and style), but also about functionality and ergonomics, lower product costs, or reducing the environmental burden. It is also about the capability to successfully set up and manage the total design process within an organization. Such a total design process will in most cases involve a large number of organization functions and departments. Raising design awareness, i.e. building a design culture, within the whole organization, which is also referred to as an organization's 'design DNA' is considered a critical factor here. 
Design management as a separate field emerged among manufacturers of durable consumer goods, where the emphasis was on product development. Today we see this management discipline rising to prominence among service providers, not-for-profit organizations, and public sector organizations, where new design disciplines and methods, such as service design and design thinking are in ascendance. Apart from increasing efficiency, design management targets improvement of the user experience, and aims to initiate interaction with users (participation and co-creation) as a way of building a lasting competitive edge.