ARCHITECTING Podcast - Career + Lifestyle Mentoring for Architects looking to move beyond overwhelm and make a difference through design

Let me guess: you're hiring. You're probably also willing to do just about anything to keep the staff you have. In this ask me anything episode, I respond to an audience question about what it takes to keep staff engaged and motivated, while also keeping a high performance bar. Provide a nurturing work environment that emphasizes flexibility, staff visibility and opportunities to grow. It's about...

Let's talk about love; how it's about releasing judgement about others- and yourself. In particular, let's talk about how lack of love interprets confidence as arrogance, assertiveness as aggression and makes self-care selfish. It's time to abandon the negative beliefs that keep us focused on limitation, lack, doubt and fear and step into the expansiveness that's possible in our life and career. A...

Leadership is about way more than your job description. In today's episode, Executive Leadership Coach Sarah Francescutti gives you the low down on acting up (for the role you want). No more back room behavior like having a bad attitude, gossiping or complaining. Reverse engineer your career path. Be proactive in seeking the training or skills you need and invest in yourself. Expand your capacity...

Are you crying with a loaf of bread under your arm? When loss and disappointment take over your psyche, reframe it by seeing what you do have. Listen in to learn how to see the patterns of achievement and build on them from the inside out. Learn to savor your accomplishments, not pick them apart to find the flaws or missing pieces. Stop future tripping and only seeing what you haven't yet achieved...

Hey you toiling away and not enjoying a minute of it- there's a better way. To:Scale founder and nextgen architecture student Sana Tabassum shares a new perspective on finding the career(s) you love. Try everything so you know what you like Be proactive about developing skills. Give yourself safe space to cultivate them in your off time. Interview a prospective employer as much as they are intervi...

Here's stress relief tip: take a break from people pleasing (or actively resisting it). It's time to start being unapologetic about who you are, what you stand for and invte others to join you- or not. You can choose to be either in compliance, defiance, or acceptance. Stop accepting the premise that you need to make others happy. Focus on being aligned and taking actions in integrity instead. Dro...

Let's stop a bit to look at the "understood they." The dehumanization and villainization that comes from othering. Creating this separation lets us play the victim and make the success we see in others wrong all while limiting our own. Like the grammatical understood you, understood they is an imperative. It creates separation between ourselves and others. We don't name our subject, just blame the...

Stress is toxic. Our bodies evolved to react to perceived threats by giving us the physical stamina to escape. In today's world of chronic stress, that response is shutting down our access to the creative abilities and logical thinking we most need. And it's making us sick. Take an energy inventory. Are you spending your time in the right places? How can you turn your traumas and vulnerabilities i...

Have you built your identity around external factors? Coach Aurora Meneghello shares how to get in touch with your deepest self so you can always take aligned action. It's OK for your identity to evolve. The core of who you are stays the same, but doesn't need to be attached to outside indicators of identity. When you are addicted to controlling, you lose resilience because you cannot control life...

Fear has many disguises; procrastination, perfectionism, control, busyness. In all cases, we are telling our dreams to sit in the back seat and shut up. As we celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. let's remember that dreams are what changes the world. Take some time to get reacquainted with your dreams. How are they signals of your passion and purpose? Understand that they are not fa...

There is an art to being self aware but not self absorbed. To being emapthetic to others without compromising your boundaries. See your own emotional patterns from a point of detachment, not trigger. Understand that you need to consciously work to unravel these stories and the bias filter they place on how you perceive the world. Understand that others have their own filter and be curious about wh...

Likability is rooted in trust. Trust being that vibe you're laying down that others pick up on in mere nanoseconds. Learn how postures and facial expressions you  may be unaware of are affecting your likability, Show interest and attention by making eye contact, nodding, smiling and making positive gestures as someone talks. Make them your entire focus. Before you start a meeting, take time to rea...

Ta-da! You did the thing. But at what cost and for what reason? This is your year to stop jumping through hoops and move forward with momentum and aligned action. Stop emphasizing doing over being. Performance is not a measure of worth, accomplishing what only you can do is. As "what is true for me?" When you follow your own path, you always have momentum even if you face setbacks. Failure is only...

Taking inventory of your year? It's not about what you did or didn't accomplish, but how you felt about it. Think about how you spend your energy. Are doing things out of obligation instead of because they give you joy? What can you eliminate? Success is living in joy. When you live in joy, your energy regenerates and grows. When you don't, your energy is scattered, depleted and stagnant. Competen...

Control is not a measure of confidence, it's a measure of fear.  Fear of not meeting expectations, or getting the desired outcome. Fear of failure.  In this episode, we'll explore how having more fun can unlock creative potential and leave us all with a whole lot less stress. Giving up control allows us to see other possibilities than what we thought we wanted. In the flow of the present moment, w...

Anger, guilt and shame are the root cause of all communication problems. This episode explores ways to stop framing things through the lens of our own insecurities and emotional reactions. Stop being triggered and start being curious about exploring the possibilities. Your negative self image will lead you to fear negative outcomes. This looks like reading into what others say and do to reinforce...

What do you know?  When was the last time you asked that question? A question this powerful should be asked on the regular. It gives agency by showing that you value someone's knowledge and want to hear from them.  Not their opinion, but what they know. The number one reason people change jobs or quit being engaged is because they feel they are missing a supportive and open communication channel....

Is this you: externally motivated, in fear of judgement, playing by someone else's rules because you think that's the only way to get ahead? Get out of the disempowerment of victim mentality that keeps you in survival mode and in a state of manipulating and being manipulated by others. You can't be creative if you don't embrace failure and make bold gestures in life. Remember the brightest lights...

Where are all the women in our profession?  So many fade away due to lack of support and family responsibilities- but not the women in the Mothers in Architecture group. Meet the three founders who took a stand to keep moms in architecture and started a movement where women model for one another how to have a career on your own terms. Women's careers face unique challenges. By being part of a supp...

Be the one who takes your team from good to great by harnessing the power of praise to help recognize and amplify the skill sets of coworkers and clients. Praise is not flattery. Be authentic and mention specific things that someone did well and how those things impacted the outcome. When you call attention to an accomplishment, you raise awareness of the skills involved in that person's mind, whi...

Whew! Another workday so filled with meetings, there was no time left for ...work? And what about how exhausting it is to have to be "on" all day? Listen in to learn how to just say no to energy sapping time sucks. Unhook yourself from obligation energy and the accompanying guilt and shame. Look at your own story that's making you feel you can;t say no as well as how you are tapping into other peo...

Understanding psychological safety is your new stealth tool to effective team work and having a high performance design career. The foundation of being able to work effectively (and innovatively) is to first build trust. Trust comes when everyone feels supported doing meaningful work, comfortable sharing their ideas, can fail without feeling like a failure and feels included. We all bring our own...

Feeling overwhelmed or like you'll never get ahead? Been so caught up in the daily grind that you can't see past the job horizon? I'm here to tell you that it's never too late. This is your starting line and you absolutely will end up a winner. Listen in to learn how to get past all the limitations telling you why you can;t and start knowing that you can! Nothing is ever wasted. No matter how old...

Do you care about issues in the built environment like social justice, sustainability, well, being, citizen agency? It's time to take that compassion and put it to work for you. Listen in to hear how to get involved, get noticed and have an impact regardless of your current experience level or credentials. Find something you care about then find the organizations championing that cause. You'll hav...

Change is transformation, provocation and a willingness to lead people beyond what they thought was possible. And you were born to lead it as an Agent of Change. You just need a few tips, so listen in! You were not put here to sit quietly in the corner smiling and nodding. Those who love and mentor you have removed obstacles so you can get farther faster. When you try and make everybody happy and...