I've been reading a lot of books on the psychology of influence in business lately, on the advice of the Startup Daily guy, Karl. I finished Power by Jeffrey Pfeffer really quickly. I loved it. There are a ton of really good stories in that book, which makes reading go fast even when you're reading it at bedtime. I found myself staying up way later than I should have because it was that good. I started thinking about what ELSE we can do here, or what can architecture inform in the business world.
Now I am reading Yes: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive by Robert B. Cialdini and others. The chapters are really really short, so it's easy to digest in small bites. Although, there are 50 of them. I never thought about things such as the WAY we're asked to reuse towels at a hotel before. Of course I always prefer to reuse my towels, but apparently there is a trick to getting more compliance from guests.
At the same time, I have been working with some new friends on a networking group idea: the 422 ARCH. I'm beginning to see this thing as a way to think about our service industry differently. For a while now, since seeing those TED talks about tribes, I've had this nagging idea that we're doing things all wrong and how can we help change that. So hopefully this Architecture, Real Estate and Construction happy hour group will be a success!
And related to that, I was at a Trustees Council for Penn Women event on Wednesday. It was not as big as the first one was, but I still met somebody really super interesting. I think it was the first time anybody has ever said to me that they love how architects think. She was really inspiring! This whole time I've been down in the dumps because it seems like the public doesn't know what we do or the value we can bring to everything. Then I meet this incredible woman who isn't an architect but knows what we do and how we see the world and believes these traits to be wonderful! How amazing! I must now go research all the interesting people she mentioned, and find out what Organizational Dynamics is and how I can meet more people in that field because it's rare to feel that good about this vocation these days.
So while I might be doing lots of other things that take me away from my beloved Rascal duties lately, this stuff is always on my mind. I believe we will change the practice of architecture sometime soon. We just have to figure out how!
Now I am reading Yes: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive by Robert B. Cialdini and others. The chapters are really really short, so it's easy to digest in small bites. Although, there are 50 of them. I never thought about things such as the WAY we're asked to reuse towels at a hotel before. Of course I always prefer to reuse my towels, but apparently there is a trick to getting more compliance from guests.
At the same time, I have been working with some new friends on a networking group idea: the 422 ARCH. I'm beginning to see this thing as a way to think about our service industry differently. For a while now, since seeing those TED talks about tribes, I've had this nagging idea that we're doing things all wrong and how can we help change that. So hopefully this Architecture, Real Estate and Construction happy hour group will be a success!
And related to that, I was at a Trustees Council for Penn Women event on Wednesday. It was not as big as the first one was, but I still met somebody really super interesting. I think it was the first time anybody has ever said to me that they love how architects think. She was really inspiring! This whole time I've been down in the dumps because it seems like the public doesn't know what we do or the value we can bring to everything. Then I meet this incredible woman who isn't an architect but knows what we do and how we see the world and believes these traits to be wonderful! How amazing! I must now go research all the interesting people she mentioned, and find out what Organizational Dynamics is and how I can meet more people in that field because it's rare to feel that good about this vocation these days.
So while I might be doing lots of other things that take me away from my beloved Rascal duties lately, this stuff is always on my mind. I believe we will change the practice of architecture sometime soon. We just have to figure out how!
RSS Feed