Repositioning the Architect

Ah, that Shakespeare quote comes to mind.  "I wasted time, and now doth time waste me."

The notion that the public does not understand what we do is correct.  I have tried to come up with a 15-second description to tell people who have never worked with an architect what we do.  It is a challenge.  Try it sometime.  What we do is so multifaceted, so complex, that our sound-byte-sized product-oriented multimedia culture may not have the interest or patience to hear the whole answer.  The issue is complicated by the fact that for so long we have not treated ourselves with the self-respect of making sure we made sufficient profit, paid ourselves enough salary or given ourselves enough benefits - nominally because we were higher-minded than all of that.  I do not buy the notion that we are not capable - I think it is more that it has not been a priority for us.  As a result, we have lost ground to engineers, contractors, roofing consultants, code compliance consultants and a growing list of specialists who seem to have a better machine for gaining market share and eroding our position of leadership on the project team.

The time has come for action.  I am hopeful that we will be able to reshape our message.  It is no small challenge, to be sure.  As Albert Einstein said, "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them." 

"The game is afoot!"