A Source of Optimism in These Crazy Times
Posted: April 14th, 2009 | Author: Jonathan Bahe | Filed under: Economy, Leadership, Professional practice | Tags: generations, jim collins, mentoring, optimism |In a recent issue of Inc. Magazine, best-selling author and management guru Jim Collins was interviewed about thriving in light of the current economic “crazy times.” As someone who has made it his life’s work to study organizations, Collins exhibits a remarkable - and reassuring - energy about the future. When asked about the source of this optimism, he said,
“A lot of it has to do with the young generation. A general at West Point told me, ‘This is the most inspired and inspiring generation to come through West Point since 1945.’ I see the same thing with the young people who come to work for me. They have a sense of responsibility and service and a lack of cynicism that is remarkable and wonderful. It’s an ethos, and it’s collective. That’s what’s really powerful. It’s connected technologically. It’s not grandiose, but there is a fundamental assumption of being part of a much larger world and a much larger set of aspirations. The world can be a really awful, brutal, turbulent place. And yet I’m hopeful precisely because of this generation of kids. I really think we ought to just give them the keys as soon as we can. Let them run it.”
I think if we were to examine those architectural practices weathering the downturn most successfully, we would see the same optimism for the future - and for much the same reason. Leaders who remain connected to their staff and take time to mentor - and be mentored - are positioning their firms to retain the most talented staff and recruit even more as they continue to grow and succeed.
Firms are only beginning to develop strategies for engaging the collective ethos of the young generation. I am hopeful that as they begin to do so, we can overcome some of the cynicism that at times overshadows our profession and instead put the energy we all share toward improving the future.
Coming from a leading thinker like Jim Collins, this is reaffirming to my work both as a graduate student and with clients across the country. As a member of this young generation, I spend a growing amount of time studying our ethos and talking with fellow designers and architects who see the world in the way Collins describes. The many talented young professionals across the country are constantly energizing me, as are the leaders of firms that allow them to thrive. As with Collins, they too are the source of my optimism and excitement about the future.
I’m interested in any initiatives or cultural qualities of firms that have been successful in beginning to focus on this issue or ideas about how they may do so if they haven’t already. Strategic optimism in the face of the turbulence of daily news is contagious and elevates the profession and all those within it and affected by it.
Jonathan: Very timely article. In anticipation of deteriorating economy, we began refocusing and adjusting our firm through the use of the 80/20 concept. Thankfully for us, this early action has enabled us to not only weather the economic storm, but reorient our 75 year-old culture. The challenge for us is to find those new generation folks and get them in here in a hurry to accelerate our pace of change. Your article has reinforced our resolve.
Thanks again.
A validation of feelings I have as a young designer enrolled in graduate school. It makes me really excited for the future of this field!
These are some great points.
One of the traits I see in this generation is an openness to new ideas and a willingness to question processes that have long been engrained in AE firms. This combined with the ability to more effectively apply technology to solve problems will bring about the transformation needed for AE firms to improve their value proposition in an increasingly complex business environment.
The best firms will find the synergies created by combining the practical experience and knowledge of veteran design professionals with the young, open minded professionals that are creating the new approaches to AE processes.
I guess I will be the leavening influence in the response to this DI blog. More often than not, it is the young designers that are laid off when a firm encounters economic hardships. Although, it is good to stress the importance of grooming new talent, the harsher reality is that most firms do not value them as they should. I am speaking as a designer who has recently been laid off and is having a tough time looking for work in North America. S.
Have Architects lost their relevance?
I received an email from the AIA today urging me to contact my congressman and urge them to hurry up and pass healthcare reform. In the email it said that the AIA has not endorsed any particular legislation, but “…that America’s architects believe that the time has come for affordable, quality, health-care.” Isn’t this stating the obvious? Is there a single architect, or even a single person in the country who would disagree with this? What exactly am I being asked to do, and why?
This email is representative of how irrelevant the profession of Architecture has become. The best thing we have been able to muster as a profession in the last twenty years is to pass awards between ourselves, patting each other on the back in a narcissistic display of mutual admiration, while we artificially inflate the cost of construction and contribute through negligence and inaction to a credit addicted, responsibility defaulting and defunct societal trend. Even our “Walk the Walk” initiative was ludicrous. Sustainable design is an issue that had to be thrust upon us. Had we taken the initiative originally, maybe the process of designing green buildings would be much better today than it is, with a point system that forces the adoption of practices that are of questionable benefit and unknown cost. The only franchise that the profession of architecture has been able to claim is that of esoteric aesthetic effect, which is valued by the public so long as they don’t know what they are paying for it, and thanks to the pervasive use of AIA contracts, they don’t. But that is changing, and with it goes the value of the Architect to society. Our forefathers who lead the profession through the 70’s and 80’s allowed the Architect’s role in controlling construction cost to shift toward the contractors, who in turn became consultants rather than builders. Building is then left to sub-contractors who’s individual roles prohibit them from having a holistic view of a project, and who’s self interests prevent them from pursuing it. We let this happen, we helped it happen. Perhaps we deserve what we get.
[...] blogpost is HERE. « Design Intelligence magazine sees great opportunity for designers in [...]