How do we stay committed to our immediate goals and projects when there is so much turbulence brewing to distract us? As we move through this summer, I am both aware of what little remaining time I have left in my year as President, and how many issues are building and competing for attention. There are days when the chaos of the world takes the wind out of my sails, and I must be intentional about making mental adjustments needed to catch the wind again and continue forward. We are all called to find that resilience.

As our executive leadership team at AIA California works this year to model the behavior changes we seek for the future of this organization, we’ve most recently landed in a discussion about identifying the intrinsic value of the architect, and then how we promote it.  President-Elect Ginger Thompson, AIA, gets a special shout-out for her relentless commitment to keeping us focused on the big picture, the same charge as the most senior of leaders in our teams. It is an obvious and natural impulse to react to the circumstances of the moment, but like shifts in the wind, tumultuous waters, and perpetual obstacles, continuous short-sighted focus takes us off course and distracts us from where we really need to go.

I believe the intrinsic nature of the architect is to improve the quality of lived experience for others, and that drive is quite special. It often manifests as changes in or to the built environment, but not always. This drive to facilitate improvement of the lived experience is everlasting and can be perceived as so ambitious that some may question our sanity and credibility. For example, just a few years ago the board of AIA California agreed that we, the community of architects in California, have a responsibility to help mitigate the climate crisis.  We believed that as a community we could lead by example to show how it can be done. Today we have more firms demonstrating their commitment through project work, and champions like Michael Malinowski, FAIA, driving for the code reform needed to change the tide for the industry. With a goal as big as carbon neutrality, how do we stay course when every day new monsters appear in the water seemingly determined to keep us from making the positive impact we seek.  The current attacks on climate science and renewable energy may feel as overwhelming as the idea of a sea monster, where the only way to survive is to retreat. So, how do we keep ourselves on course?

My own leadership journey in AIA was a story of sailing in sometimes hostile waters. I have repeatedly defended my intention to change our profession with an ambitious goal of continuously improving the way we work together. As a junior professional, my employer expressed that AIA volunteer time was sometimes perceived as competing for time and attention from project work. I learned that my motivation to serve in leadership was misinterpreted as a vehicle for starting my own firm.  Fortunately, I was confident enough to know what my actual motivation was, so I eventually recognized it was time to leave a team with a vision too small for me to fit.  When asked why I was leaving it was not hard to say; I have big ambition than you don’t seem to understand.

I became an architect because I wanted to change the world, as many of us did. My Oregon-grown environmentalist heart insists on remaining eternally optimistic. I consider myself fortunate to be one of many who have held on to an everlasting intrinsic goal. Self-awareness and self-confidence make it easier to stay on course, knowing your destination and trusting in your ability to navigate there. It has become easier to say yes to each leadership opportunity that unfolds in AIA because the responsibility yields dividends, and always more than I set out to gain. Most notably, the responsibility has offered the experience to grow beyond the confines of job descriptions while gaining feedback to build my confidence with each new role.

As we continue forever forward towards our noble goals, we must genuinely believe in our goal and trust our ability to constantly improve. We must navigate the delicate balance between healthy confidence and toxic elitism. Don’t be too modest because someone else is too boastful – we all have a responsibility to find our own version of healthy confidence. We must also have community to support us, and I believe building community within our profession is the intrinsic value of AIA.  As we continue to grow genuine trust in ourselves and willingness to come together to support each other, so grows our perceived value of architects.