Context & Clarity for Small Firm Architects

How do you persuade clients to hire you?That's the question we'll start with today on Context & Clarity LIVE.Katharine White MacPhail and I will welcome communications expert, author of "The 3 Word Rebellion," messaging coach, and leader of rebellious movements, Dr. Michelle Mazur to Context & Clarity.Join the conversation this week as we talk about persuading like a rebel (even in a professional services world).Share your perspective, and bring your questions to the conversation this Thursday at 4:00 pm ET.Context & Clarity LIVE is live-streamed on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitch, and YouTube.Mentioned in this episode:All AccessAll Access

It's Memorial Day in the United States, so we won't have Context & Clarity on Clubhouse or in the EntreArchitect Community Facebook Group today. We'll take the day off, but I wanted to record this episode to say thank you for all who served. For our friends who aren't in the U.S., Memorial Day is a Federal Holiday where we remember and honor fallen military heros, so Thank You to all the mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, whose loved ones paid the ultimate sacrifice, and also, Thank You to everyone that's served. I know every single person that serves for a higher cause makes some sacrifice and I hope we'll all remember that today.Mentioned in this episode:All AccessAll Access

I feel like I’ve gotten to know a number of people over the past 15 months that I’d call friends and that I could count on, even though for some of you, I’ve never seen your face, and for most of you, we’ve never met in person. So we've started a new regular Context & Clarity feature that we're calling Member Spotlight, and this week, Kurt Neiswender will join Katharine and me. Join us for a loose and lively conversation as we see our friends and get to know them a little bit better.Mentioned in this episode:All AccessAll Access

I know a lot of people get uncomfortable when it comes to talking about sales or persuasion, but if you’re going to have clients to work with and projects to work on, you need to get them to believe in you and get them to hire you… you need to persuade them.

To make yesterday’s conversation more actionable, introduce yourself. Think like a Toastmaster, think about the change you create, think about describing what you do, without using the word architect, and introduce yourself, answer the question, ‘What do you do’ in a way that resonates with the person asking the question. Answer it in a way that they remember, that moves them.

I focus a lot of time helping architects reposition their firms from service provider, or order taker, to trusted and valued advisor and one thing that I’ve learned is necessary is the ability to create change. If someone calls to see if you can give them a permit set, or if you talk about how good your construction documents are, you’re focusing on a very static idea, a thing, an object. You’re setting yourself up as an order taker. If you focus on making their business, or their life better, you're creating change and you're seen as valuable.

What does a justice and equity-centered design process look like?That's the question we'll start with Today on Context & Clarity LIVE.Katharine White MacPhail will welcome architect, "Game-Changer", and founder of Equity by Design, Rosa T. Sheng to Context & Clarity.Join the conversation as we look for the answer to the question: What does a justice and equity-centered design process look like?  We're taking a little different approach this week and asking you to work alongside Rosa to brainstorm and crowdsource the solution to this design problem.Join us and INVITE 2 FRIENDS to share your perspective, and help us find the best answer to this week's question, Thursday at 4:00 pm ET.Context & Clarity LIVE is live-streamed on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitch, and YouTube.

I love asking, 'What if you couldn't use the word architect?' I don’t mean what if you weren’t allowed to use the word. What I mean is, what if the word architect or architecture for that matter didn’t even exist? How would you talk about what you do? If you met someone at a ball game or a cocktail party and they said, “So, what do you do?” How would you answer them without using the word architect? 

We've spent an entire week defining JEDI, justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion and considering what it means when we hire employees, and considering what it means when it comes to working in the profession, and thinking about how it could change the design process. Now, let's talk about what's inspired you and what you're going to do about it. Where do we go from here?Mentioned in this episode:All AccessAll Access

How do we put justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion into practice when it comes to the design process? Who needs to be involved, what needs to be considered, and what's everyone's role going to be? Does a focus on JEDI mean that the design process is bigger and more complicated? I may have more questions than answers today, so let's talk about what a just and equity-centered design process should really look like.Mentioned in this episode:All AccessAll Access