Managing Design

CHAPTER 1The Interviews

Thought Leaders: Current Realities and Future States

To get a feel for the state of things, I surveyed industry leaders on all sides of the owner-architect-contractor triangle, and a few outside it. For those not skilled in statistical analysis or data mining, “research” is little more than talking to people. I adopted that model and interviewed industry leaders. What they gave back was astonishing; a series of outlooks and candid admissions of issues they face and optimistic future visions. While the introduction unearthed the issues broadly, Part 1 dives deep to explore individual views.

“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.”

– Michael Jordan

Topics

Interviewees are grouped in chapters by topic. To achieve a panoply of perspectives, I built a Noah's Ark of vantage points – two or more of almost every point of view: owners and architects, engineers and technologists, contractors and trade contractors, students and teachers, strategists and manufacturers. Having boarded this vessel, they share their world views for survival amid a heavy downpour of industry turmoil. With their shared goal to stop the rain, their words give us hope for sunny days and dry land. While many could be in more than one category, this topic-based organization offers a roughly chronological, subject-based logic. Moving from old to new, and clients first, past to present and future, it ends with new voices of advocacy from emerging leaders. ...