Context & Clarity for Small Firm Architects

As I look back over the week, it strikes me that, at least according to my definitions, one characteristics that the best leader, the best employee, the best colleague all need to posses is selflessness. A vision that stretches beyond and is bigger than me. I don’t see how I could possibly be the best leader, employee, or especially colleague if I was focused only on myself. I don’t think that can happen. Mentioned in this episode:All AccessAll Access

You may not be an employee. You may be the boss! Or, you may be a solo architect that’s neither employee nor employer. If that’s your context today, that doesn’t mean that this conversation isn’t for you. I’m guessing that at some point in your career you’ve been an employee. When I was getting ready to graduate from college, I got a couple of memorable pieces of advice. One was to work like it was my firm. The other was to work hard and make myself as valuable to myself, my employer, and my future, next employer as possible. There are some interesting nuances to those two pieces of advice, but what do they tell us about being the best employee you can be?Mentioned in this episode:All AccessAll Access

How are architecture, historic preservation, sustainability, race, and gender connected?That's the question we'll start with Thursday on Context & Clarity LIVE.Jeff Echols and Katharine White MacPhail will welcome architect and preservation professional, Nakita Reed to Context & Clarity. In addition to her work at Quinn Evans, Nakita speaks on the topic of interconnectedness and has a wonderful podcast called, "Tangible Remnants."Is your work making a positive impact on everyone that encounters it (not just your clients)?Join the conversation this week as we explore the reality of interconnectedness and the critical conversations that we need to have to move things forward in a positive direction.Share your experience and advice, and ask your questions, 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

I believe there’s a leadership vacuum today. It doesn’t matter where you look, politics, corporate, family, the church… I think the world is starving for leaders. I’m not sure if this is accurate or not, but it seems to me that leadership has eroded over time. It didn’t disappear over night. So, if I’m right. If we’re in desperate need of good leaders what does it take to be a good leader? I think you need 5 things to be a good leader: Empathy, Authority, Vision, a Plan, and Honesty. That's my list. What do you think you need to be a good leader?Mentioned in this episode:All AccessAll Access

All week, we’ve been talking about thinking bigger; bigger than your own work, bigger than the profession, bigger than you, the individual. We've considered how we’re connected as communities, in the human condition, and through the built environment. The question today is: What’s the least that you can do? If we continue talking about, wondering about, arguing about, even ignoring the interconnectedness in our lives and our work and we don’t take action then everything stays the same. Let's talk about making change.Mentioned in this episode:All AccessAll Access

How can it be that there empty, abandoned buildings, and there are homeless people? There are buildings that need people and people that need buildings. There's an interconnectedness of architecture, historic preservation, sustainability, race, and gender that you may not realize, that you may have never thought about. The question is, once we understand those connections what are we going to do about it?Mentioned in this episode:All AccessAll Access

Do you work in a silo? Are you in a bubble? Silos aren’t just in big firms and they're a big threat. How can we do our best work, be our best selves in a silo? O believe we thrive when we immerse ourselves in our community. I think we need to break down silos, understand the people that we work with, that we work for, that are impacted by what we do. Afterall, how can we do our best work, if we don’t first, accept the fact that we impact people far beyond our clients, and that those people may not look like us, think like us, or sound like us?Mentioned in this episode:All AccessAll Access

It’s easy to get caught up in your profession. The good, the bad, the ugly. The ability of design to change lives. Why don’t people understand what we do? Are HGTV and Houzz ruining us? The intensity of the past 12 months with massive layoffs, food insecurity, racial and social strife, and polarized politics, tells us there’s more to worry about than HGTV, but what can architecture, or an architect, do to change the world, or maybe just your neighborhood? Let's explore ways that this profession can have a much needed positive impact on the world around us.Mentioned in this episode:All AccessAll Access

What's more important, courage or confidence?That's the question we'll start with Thursday on Context & Clarity LIVE.What do you think? Is one more important than the other? Can you have one without the other? In a surprise twist, Jeff Echols and Katharine MacPhail don't welcome Debbie Millman, but instead, writer, Roxane Gay to talk about being creative, putting yourself out there, and hiring an architect to design a home for two professional creatives. One a writer, one a designer, both podcasters.Join the conversation this week as we explore the relationship between courage and confidence and try to understand how they help us be better at our business, our work, and our life.Share your experience and advice, and ask your questions, 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

A few weeks ago, someone brought up a very real risk for small and especially solo firms. What happens when one of us gets sick, or worse, maybe incapacitated? That’s really easy to imagine in the midst of a global pandemic, so I’d like to explore how we should prepare for an extended shut down. Is there a way to create a safety net to help our colleagues in a time of extreme need? For the good of our colleagues and for the good of all small firms?Mentioned in this episode:All AccessAll Access