On Coaching, Mentoring, and Where Life Takes You

Coaching, Mentoring, and Where Life Takes You

Good afternoon Folks, and here is to a Happy Friday!

Starting next week, I will be starting what I hope/plan to be the regular day for my posts – Thursday!  Mainly because I felt like being overly clever as I tried to talk myself into the accountability of it all.  So, Thursday, huh?  Thursday Thoughts….Thursday Talks….Thursday Thirst for Inspiration…etc.

PLUS, and here is my own selfish, brutal honesty – a lot of my colleagues and friends post on Tuesday or Wednesday, and I have a TON of meetings every Wednesday.  And I actually like to read my friends’ posts.  And I already post the ‘#HouseOfTheDay’ posts on Monday.  So, I felt that I would be ‘safer’ or at least more likely to keep up with a schedule if I made it on Thursday.

So, that leaves me thinking about this past week, this past month, etc. and what I’d like to share for today’s thoughts.

First, a follow up on last week’s post – I have continued to read, and re-read Art’s Principles, by Arthur Gensler.  It is a great read, for me at least.  I am enjoying jumping back and forth in the book, and it is fun to read some of Art’s lessons that I think I have also experienced and drawn similar conclusions about; it is equally fun to me to read about a situation that I find to be similar to my experience, to read what Art’s take on it is, and think “WOW.  This is why Gensler is such a successful firm.  And that does not seem too hard to incorporate into my own practice…..” It is one benefit of having a coach, or a mentor; and this book certainly does not replace a coach, but it IS a great reference for any practicing architect or upcoming student or young practitioner.  I don’t plan on growing my firm anywhere CLOSE to what Gensler has managed to become, but even though I am hitting ‘middle age’, in the architecture career spectrum, I am still a ‘Young Architect’ – so who knows where life will take me?

That leads me directly into part 2 of what I’m sharing today.  I may not know too many things about where life will take me, but I DO know where I will be in November of this year.  I am proud to announce that I have had a session accepted at the 2015 ArchEx conference in Richmond, Virginia!  

(Richmond City, a cool Richmond Virginia Photo uploaded by: frankeys creation;

photo from http://www.richmondvapresents.com/richmond-va-city-with-sunset-colors/ )

I will be presenting a session on "Creating a Small Firm With Virtual Resources," and I will be sharing my own experiences (good and bad) and resources that have helped me (or not).  I would not be able to do this without two great mentors and coaches of my own – Enoch Sears and Mark R. LePage, who have both created virtual academies to help architects grow their businesses.  Check them out at BusinessOfArchitecture (Enoch’s site) and EntreArchitect (Mark’s site).

Thanks for reading, I hope that you have a great weekend, and in the meantime, please head on over to my Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/whatanarchitectdoes

I also have my firm’s page here:

https://www.facebook.com/seanjtobinarchitect