Architects 2Zebras

62 Reasons to be Optimistic (and 18 to still be Pessimistic) September 15, 2010

Not since my post from last year 32 Things to be Optimistic About Right Now have I tackled this subject head-on.

It’s about time.

That’s not to say I have avoided it altogether. I have addressed the positive side of practice on a number of occasions, not always to positive reception.

I was having a great conversation the other day with my good friend, architectural illustrator and e-book publisher, Bruce Bondy, when I noticed how up-beat he sounded.

I started paying attention to not only what he said but the number of positive things he mentioned, despite the general gloom in the economy right now.

He was positively optimistic – and it was admittedly contagious.

There’s scientific research that backs a 3-to-1 “positivity ratio” as a key tipping point where, essentially, it takes 3 good experiences to block out one bad one.

A 3:1 ratio of positive statements or experiences to negative ones is considered the ideal for staying optimistic.

This ratio answers the question for many of how you can be generally positive and optimistic while maintaining some negative emotions and thoughts.

The following list roughly reflects this ideal ratio.

Agree or not – just by reading the lists here you have done your part today in remaining positive and optimistic.

Here are 62 absolutely fresh, upbeat and practical reasons to be positive (and 18 to still be pessimistic) about our chances of recovering, enduring or otherwise surviving this recession as individuals, organizations, profession and industry.

I would love to hear – optimistic or pessimistic – reasons of your own, by leaving a comment below.

Let’s get the pessimistic out of the way first (a commenter’s brilliant suggestion.)

There are times of course when it is advisable to be pessimistic, and we don’t have to look far to find them. Being pessimistic at times gives you an insight to your problems and situation by allowing you to realistically assess challenges, obstacles and roadblocks you may face which otherwise you might overlook – by being overly-optimistic. After all, you wouldn’t want an overly optimistic commander taking you into the war zone underestimating the enemy or one so paralyzed by indecision they end up doing nothing.

Pessimistic

1. We are seeing firms close that were once great, however amicably, due to economic pressures
2. How can we get reciprocity in other states if we can’t get an NCARB certificate because the firms we once worked for – who can vouch for our tenure – no longer exist?
3. Career stage: Being a mid-career professional – at no fault of one’s own
4. Salary: Finding oneself too costly, too expensive, for most firms
5. Finding one has not kept up with technology – and while that wasn’t a hazard in the past, it is an indictment against you today
6. Statistics: Research shows once unemployed over 6 months – the odds are against you finding employment
7. Compensation: If you made a good living before – one might rightfully doubt finding employment that would come anywhere close to what you made before
8. Flexibility: If you had a great deal of freedom in your previous position – chances are under these circumstances that it is unlikely that sense of freedom would continue
9. If well-rounded; firms seem to be looking, when they look at all, for experts, not generalists (thought see anexception below)
10. M&A: Large conglomerates are buying-up well-established design firms, firms that helped give the profession variety, diversity and high profile design. In M&A news, according to Archinect, Stantec is on a tear. The mega-A/E company announced recently that it will acquire Burt Hill — just weeks after similar news about acquiring Anshen + Allen. Who will be next?
11. Construction: Contractors are hiring graduates right out of school – potentially resulting in, or adding to the likelihood of, a lost generation
12. Unemployed architects may never find work in the profession and be forced to leave, not to return
13. Knowledge transfer: A great deal of knowledge and experience goes out the door with them
14. Phil Read (Phil Read!) leaving HNTB (what is this world coming to?)
15. Many architecture firms continue to shed staff and struggle to keep the lights on
16. Ownership transition: Aging owners ready to monetize on their business, who in the past passed their practice on to the next generation internally, increasingly result in more acquisition activity because younger architects are not interested or in the position to buy.
17. Intuition: This time around just “feels” different than any other downturn – very hard to compare it and therefore manage or act on it
18. Being human: Even the best leader cannot maintain optimism in the midst of layoffs, salary reductions, increased workloads, missed payroll or bounced pay-checks.

Note: The following are optimistic without being rah-rah. And no qualifiers are necessary: these are not cautiously-, rationally-, pragmatically-, realistically- or conservatively-optimistic. They’re just:

Optimistic

1. Experience: We ourselves are the reason to be optimistic – our training and experience have gotten us to where we are – and will also provided us with the tools and best practices to confront these changes
2. Change: It’s all about change – and we’re not immune to it
3. Resolve: We will design our way out of this
4. We’re creative, resourceful, when it comes to seeking solutions, and this situation is no exception
5. Training: We’re trained as problem solvers – we can solve this problem
6. We needed a course correction; this situation provided us with the opportunity to change
7. Change was imminent – something our industry has been wrestling with for ages
8. Determination: This gives a chance to see what we are made of, how strong is our resolve
9. An opportunity to look at our convictions – what it is we are really good at, what it is we believe in, what we ought to be putting our energies into, what really matters to us and to others – and to drop what isn’t as important
10. Transparency: A chance for firms to share as much information as possible with each other, be transparent and open book – compare notes – not size each other up
11. Our industry and profession has changed in the past – and will again
12. Provides a chance for firm leaders to leverage the talents of those who work for them that otherwise may never have been tapped
13. Design Excellence: The world will always need good design
14. Owners will continue to need someone to sign and seal exceptional documents
15. There are problems – such as retrofitting suburbs – that really only an architect can tackle
16. Rest: This down time allows us to restore our energy and creativity
17. Much-needed time to define and refine the current standards of care for our profession
18. A chance to give to others – to help others out who may be in need
19. The profession is no doubt smaller – but as the constant exchange of information makes the profession feel smaller, more accessible and manageable – we’re more likely to hear from and learn from each other
20. Jobs: Everyday there are more and more jobs listed – and not just in NY and California
21. Thawing: Word on the street, from developers, is that banks are freeing up loans for development
22. Owners: Our clients are more and more cautiously optimistic
23. You have to be optimistic to be in this profession
24. Funding: Google Invests $86 Million In Low-Income Housing
25. Governance: Great leadership opportunities and hope for greater voice and influence: More and more architects, such as Stefano Boeri, Italian architect in Milan and editor-in-chief of Abitare, announce plans to run for public office.
26. Green design: Sustainability is no longer a specialty or added service and is on the verge of going mainstream and becoming standard procedure
27. Olson Kundig Architects had an ad recently where they were seeking “Generalists Needed” in Seattle, WA
28. Technology: There are iPhone apps for our profession and industry – including apps that allow us to read and CAD and Revit models and now “Buildings” – an iPhone app that help you find local architecture
29. Marketing: The economic downturn has allowed us  to refocus  our energies on marketing, determine what it is that distinguishes us, and put it into words and images; to become better marketers of ourselves
30. Selling: We’ve learned from the downturn how to make what we sell – which as a service is largely invisible – visible and tangible and therefore more likely to deliver
31. Competition: The increase in competition and dearth of new projects has opened us to new markets and project types that otherwise may have remained outside our comfort zone
32. The current situation itself, and all it entails, has widened our comfort zone considerably
33. The truth is that nobody really knows what will happen next; why side with the negative?
34. Correction: The optimistic scenario is that the recession is correcting the excesses of the euphoric bubble years, when the global economy was on an unsustainable path.
35. Efficiency: We’re ushering in a new era of doing more with less
36. Stabilizing effect: Instability leads inevitably to stability
37. Green saplings: Optimists see the recession as a forest fire that clears out dead brush, making room for new growth.
38. Progress: A lot of what we’re doing now would have been impossible even five years ago.
39. Start-ups: There are a number of new firms and new ventures started because of this downturn, including completely new business models
40. Global practice: Things look more optimistic if you adopt an international perspective
41. Education and training: Those remaining or returning to school will be more highly educated forces when they return to practice
42. Cost of materials: Prices on many materials are down after many years of climbing
43. Recessions clean out the excess of past boom periods
44. Registration and licensure: A recession results in an increase in individuals applying to take the Architect Registration Examination (ARE) to better position themselves in the workforce.
45. Educators: A recession results in an increase in individuals applying to architecture programs and schools
46. Sustainability: More people taking the LEED exam to give them the leg up when things pick up again
47. More stabilized workforce: Many architecture firms have seen a leveling-off of the need to shed staff resulting in some stability
48. M&A: We’re seeing some interesting mergers brought about by strategy and the need to fill specific niche needs as much as by the economy, such as the combining of OWP/P with Cannon Design.
49. Learning: Professionals have had more time to learn and to catch-up on continuing education
50. The lull has allowed some professionals to share information with the rest of us in the form of videos, webcasts, white papers and tutorials that we otherwise may never have benefitted from
51. Helping-hand: Downsizing provides colleagues with the opportunity to secure another position for these individuals at other firms – the chance to contribute, help out, give and give back. A year later those individuals would often as not tell me ‘it was the best thing that happened to them.’
52. Leadership: More leaders avoid mincing words, painting a false picture and putting spin on what is not know, while rising to the opportunity to be truthful, tell the truth, good or bad, be authentic in words and actions, will go a long way to assuaging what otherwise can be a devastatingly difficult time for some
53. Doing this provides the right person with an incredible opportunity to lead
54. And to (re)build trust
55. Access to information: Accurate information about our profession and industry is right at our fingertips 24/7 – this was not always the case.
56. Communication: The situation we find ourselves in forces you to communicate more frequently with others, showing you how connected you really are and how much you rely on one another; a valuable lesson lost on those who operate exclusively within their comfort zone
57. Higher performance: Most people can sense a change in themselves when around optimistic people, feeling motivated, inspired and energized. That’s almost reason enough to be optimistic and be around optimistic people.
58. This time around provided us with the chance to learn from our mistakes and move on.
59. Resilience: Treat this as an opportunity to show your resilience.
60. Attitude: As difficult as it might be to stomach, realize that “this too shall pass.” Remind yourself that there will be other challenges, that this is one among many and that you never went into your chosen field because it was easy. On some level you understood how difficult it would be. And that you were equal or better than the difficulties it entailed and that would ensue.
61. Mindset: Without blame or recrimination, see this as an opportunity to face the situation with acceptance and peace.
62. A sign: Recognize that pain of any type is to give us a message. Once you got the message, stop dwelling in the pain. See this situation as a sign that things, as they existed, were not sustainable. Come to realize that situations that present challenges have been brought to you so that you may learn and become more aware of your strength, resilience, ingenuity and ability to overcome.

Bonus item: Donald Trump and Co. are returning for a 10th season of NBC’s “The Apprentice.” In a new twist on the reality competition, this season’s 16 candidates have all been hit hard by the current economic downturn – and there is not one architect in the bunch. A sign of the times? You decide.

BTW 62 – the number of reasons to be optimistic – is the same number Edward De Bono used in his book entitled, Creativity Workout: 62 Exercises to Unlock Your Most Creative Ideas, a book that encourages you to make connections, think beyond your peers, recognize possibilities and create opportunities.

Not a bad place to start in keeping your 3-to-1 ratio intact.