I shudder to think about all the emotional energy I expended during those dreadful episodes of choosing sides for a baseball or football game after school. Never athletic and almost completely lacking in “the killer instinct” I was kryptonite for the unlucky team captain who got stuck with me. It didn’t take many years of [...]
Categories: Marketing,strategy
Tagged: architectural marketing, connections, emotional intelligence, professional services
Why is promoting a professional service so challenging? For the same reasons that life is challenging. For any professional the process of developing new business involves a nearly infinite set of variables. What we do not and most likely cannot know about our prospects is mystifying, and possibly even stupefying. Even the most successful marketing [...]
Categories: creating,creativity,execution,Marketing
Tagged: architectural marketing, communication, emotional intelligence, professional services
When John McWade and Seth Godin collaborate the results are always excellent. Godin, in his brief essay in McWade’s Before and After blog, explains why we can no longer allow the tail to wag the dog. “For too long, people who are passionate about design (that would be you…) have accepted their lot. They’ve assumed [...]
Categories: creating,creativity,leadership
Tagged: creativity, design, leadership, professional services, success
I am intrigued by the ferocity of the leadership versus management debate in the popular business literature. It is both, of course. Steven Covey’s metaphor of the work crew building a road in the forest is useful: Someone has to climb up into the trees to see what’s ahead and determine the best path for [...]
Categories: execution,leadership
Tagged: emotional intelligence, leadership, professional services, success
We creative types struggle with the paradoxical relationship between making art and running a business. And while we gain comfort from fictional characters like Howard Roark or books like Do What You Love and the Money Will Follow, most of us are unwilling or unable to accept the sacrifices and asceticism of Roark, or do [...]
Categories: creating,execution,leadership
Tagged: emotional intelligence, leadership, learning, professional services, small business
You can download a copy of the slide deck from our presentation at the AIA North Carolina Design Conference in Asheville by clicking on this link. Since I am a firm believer that a) presentation slides should have few (if any) words and b) a picture is worth about one thousand of them this presentation [...]
Categories: creativity,execution,flexibility,leadership,Marketing
Tagged: architectural marketing, architecure, communication, creativity, KC Ramsay, leadership, professional services, success, survival
Join me on Friday morning at 10:15 AM for this interactive presentation and discussion. Get out in front of the competition by leveraging your real strenghts as the economy improves. Find out how to separate yourself and your practice from everyone else. Learn the critical questions you must ask to save hundreds of hours and [...]
Categories: creativity,execution,leadership,Marketing
Tagged: architectural marketing, communication, creativity, emotional intelligence, KC Ramsay, professional services, success, survival
Blair Enns runs Win Without Pitching, a business development consulting firm for ad agencies and design firms that believe there is a better way to build a marketing communication agency. His most recent book, The Win Without Pitching Manifesto has just been published and is a must read for every architect who wants to be [...]
Categories: creativity,execution,leadership,Marketing
Tagged: architectural marketing, communication, creativity, professional services
I read a number of blogs written by creatives outside of the architectural profession. When we remove our filters, like the word “architect”, and allow ourselves to think about design, or as Marvin Malecha says so well, “engage in design thinking” new ways of seeing open up. I’ve always been a fan of John McWade, [...]
Categories: creating,creativity,leadership
Tagged: communication, creativity, design thinking, professional services
My father in law has been in declining health for several years and passed away last Friday. In spite of the extended time my wife and I had to prepare, when his illness advanced to the point where the demands on her time were extreme, it changed the balance of our relationship. I had to [...]
Categories: execution,flexibility
Tagged: emotional intelligence, professional services, statis quo, survival