This weekend the new Watkins Center at Heywood Hospital opened in Gardner, Mass; on Thursday evening I attended a reception at the hospital and met many of the clinicians who helped shape the design.
I particularly enjoyed speaking with Rick Ellbeg who is the hospital’s Director of Critical Care, Emergency, and Surgical Services. Rick was involved throughout the design and planning process and was justifiably proud of the end result. However, he emphasized that it was the extraordinary experience that he and his staff had with our design team that made the project so successful. He thanked me and said, “You are fortunate to be leading such a great group of people.” The next day at work I reread the foreword to our firm’s monograph. In it I had written, “As we conclude our first century of practice, we recognize that our most valuable asset is our people – talented, inspiring and thoughtful people with exceptional credentials.”
So, let me take this opportunity to give thanks to the Heywood Hospital design team and to all the TRO Jung|Brannen staff who make my job so enjoyable; and, finally, thanks to Rick who reminded me.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Geoengineering
Today is my Godson’s sixth birthday, I almost gave him a pogo stick, but instead I bought two “young scientist” projects that teach simple lessons in climatology and renewable energy through entertaining experiments that any six year old kid can do. I know the pogo stick sounds like more fun, but I think he has a future as a geoengineer and I wanted to get him started early!
Geoengineering is an emerging science that studies the potential manipulation of the Earth’s climate to offset global warming. The most seductive proposal now under consideration involves injecting sulfur dioxide into the upper atmosphere to simulate, on a global scale, the effects of the Mount Pinatubo eruption in 1991 when the Earth’s temperatures cooled considerably from the ash cloud. And, it’s cheap and relatively easy to do. So, what’s the problem, you ask? Well, scientists recently met in Japan and agreed to defer geoengineering initiatives until the international effects on such diverse things as rainfall and terrorism can be studied in detail. Very sensible; they point out that we don’t want a rogue nation to upset the atmospheric apple cart. However, I think there is a more fundamental reason to reject geoengineering proposals such as this. If you’ll pardon the pun, it’s an unsustainable quick fix. As Americans, we want a quick fix for everything. For example, we’d rather take a diet pill than eat sensibly and exercise regularly. Our grandchildren {and Godchildren} deserve better.
Don’t worry, this Christmas I’ll get him the pogo stick.
Geoengineering is an emerging science that studies the potential manipulation of the Earth’s climate to offset global warming. The most seductive proposal now under consideration involves injecting sulfur dioxide into the upper atmosphere to simulate, on a global scale, the effects of the Mount Pinatubo eruption in 1991 when the Earth’s temperatures cooled considerably from the ash cloud. And, it’s cheap and relatively easy to do. So, what’s the problem, you ask? Well, scientists recently met in Japan and agreed to defer geoengineering initiatives until the international effects on such diverse things as rainfall and terrorism can be studied in detail. Very sensible; they point out that we don’t want a rogue nation to upset the atmospheric apple cart. However, I think there is a more fundamental reason to reject geoengineering proposals such as this. If you’ll pardon the pun, it’s an unsustainable quick fix. As Americans, we want a quick fix for everything. For example, we’d rather take a diet pill than eat sensibly and exercise regularly. Our grandchildren {and Godchildren} deserve better.
Don’t worry, this Christmas I’ll get him the pogo stick.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Gather No Moss…..Again!
I will apologize in advance for beating this subject to death, but I just couldn’t resist the temptation to point out that an employee’s character is far more important than his/her talent.
Four weeks ago I blogged about Randy Moss and the fact that the coach of the Patriots, Bill Belichick, elected to trade the future Hall-of-Famer in mid-season to the Minnesota Vikings. Many football fans thought that Brad Childress, the coach of the Vikings, had put one over on Bill until Childress unceremoniously dumped Moss by placing him on waivers after only three games as a Viking. Unfazed and unapologetic, Moss watched as twenty-one teams declined to sign him until the Tennessee Titans finally claimed him off the waiver wire. The Titan’s coach, Jeff Fisher, gushed about his good fortune. He then made a prophetic observation, calling Moss “a tremendous threat wherever he has been.”
Four weeks ago I blogged about Randy Moss and the fact that the coach of the Patriots, Bill Belichick, elected to trade the future Hall-of-Famer in mid-season to the Minnesota Vikings. Many football fans thought that Brad Childress, the coach of the Vikings, had put one over on Bill until Childress unceremoniously dumped Moss by placing him on waivers after only three games as a Viking. Unfazed and unapologetic, Moss watched as twenty-one teams declined to sign him until the Tennessee Titans finally claimed him off the waiver wire. The Titan’s coach, Jeff Fisher, gushed about his good fortune. He then made a prophetic observation, calling Moss “a tremendous threat wherever he has been.”
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Collaboration
The rescue of the Chilean miners is a remarkable story of collaborative teamwork.
Thirty three miners were trapped more than two thousand feet below ground after hundreds of tons of rock collapsed and isolated them. Rescuers persevered for seventeen days before the miners were located and confirmed to have survived. The miners subsisted on milk and a spoonful or two of tuna fish rationed every two days and somehow maintained their unity and optimism. Hundreds of engineers, medical personnel, and construction workers collaborated on a bold, untested rescue plan that few thought would succeed. In the end, all thirty three were extracted safely sixty nine days after the ordeal began. Even NASA helped. A spokesperson for the mining company called it “a triumph of the human spirit.”
At TRO Jung|Brannen we realized long ago that talent, experience, and even hard work are simply not enough to ensure remarkable outcomes. Collaborative teamwork alone is omnipotent. It is not hard to imagine how the miners’ fate may have been different had the rescuers worked in isolation, or bickered over authority, or put their own interests before those of the miners. But none of that happened.
This month TRO Jung|Brannen is beginning its first major project, MaineGeneral Hospital, involving the Integrated Project Delivery {IPD} process. Like the rescue of the Chilean miners, IPD is a bold, but largely untested methodology and many design firms are reluctant to embrace it. IPD requires all project participants – owner, architect, and contractor – to unselfishly subordinate their own interests in support of the project’s welfare, to willingly trust one another, and to relentlessly collaborate until a successful outcome is achieved.
The Chilean miners would love it.
Thirty three miners were trapped more than two thousand feet below ground after hundreds of tons of rock collapsed and isolated them. Rescuers persevered for seventeen days before the miners were located and confirmed to have survived. The miners subsisted on milk and a spoonful or two of tuna fish rationed every two days and somehow maintained their unity and optimism. Hundreds of engineers, medical personnel, and construction workers collaborated on a bold, untested rescue plan that few thought would succeed. In the end, all thirty three were extracted safely sixty nine days after the ordeal began. Even NASA helped. A spokesperson for the mining company called it “a triumph of the human spirit.”
At TRO Jung|Brannen we realized long ago that talent, experience, and even hard work are simply not enough to ensure remarkable outcomes. Collaborative teamwork alone is omnipotent. It is not hard to imagine how the miners’ fate may have been different had the rescuers worked in isolation, or bickered over authority, or put their own interests before those of the miners. But none of that happened.
This month TRO Jung|Brannen is beginning its first major project, MaineGeneral Hospital, involving the Integrated Project Delivery {IPD} process. Like the rescue of the Chilean miners, IPD is a bold, but largely untested methodology and many design firms are reluctant to embrace it. IPD requires all project participants – owner, architect, and contractor – to unselfishly subordinate their own interests in support of the project’s welfare, to willingly trust one another, and to relentlessly collaborate until a successful outcome is achieved.
The Chilean miners would love it.
Gather No Moss
As everyone in New England now knows, the Patriots’ star wide receiver, Randy Moss, was recently traded to the Minnesota Vikings for a fourth round draft pick. For those of you who follow this blog but don’t necessarily follow professional football, a fourth round draft pick isn’t worth very much. So, how come smart people like Owner Bob Kraft and Coach Bill Belichick traded a future Hall of Fame player for such a bargain basement price? The answer is simple: Randy Moss may be talented but he has a bad attitude! And, attitude trumps talent every time.
At last week’s meeting of the AIA Large Firm Roundtable I had lunch with a CEO colleague who expressed frustration with one of his top design principals. It seems that the guy just can’t keep his ego in check and is causing enormous frustration within the firm and compromising client service. He asked for my advice. The more this CEO talked about his problem, the more I realized that not once during my thirteen year tenure as CEO have I had to deal with a bad attitude from our immensely talented design leaders. They are among the most collaborative and selfless employees at TRO Jung|Brannen.
I told him to get rid of the Moss.
At last week’s meeting of the AIA Large Firm Roundtable I had lunch with a CEO colleague who expressed frustration with one of his top design principals. It seems that the guy just can’t keep his ego in check and is causing enormous frustration within the firm and compromising client service. He asked for my advice. The more this CEO talked about his problem, the more I realized that not once during my thirteen year tenure as CEO have I had to deal with a bad attitude from our immensely talented design leaders. They are among the most collaborative and selfless employees at TRO Jung|Brannen.
I told him to get rid of the Moss.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
A Proverb
Today I signed a letter of intent on behalf of The Boston Society of Architects to relocate the BSA's offices and to open a new center for design and architecture in 2011.
This LOI is the bold culmination of months of research, deliberation, and spirited debate among the BSA’s dedicated staff, its Board members, our consultants, and dozens of additional BSA professionals who volunteered their time and diverse expertise so we might better accommodate our chapter’s broader vision of civic engagement and education.
During the process, we reaffirmed what architects have always known: namely, that truly transformational decisions of enduring value are best achieved through a shared journey of informed discovery, and that extraordinary outcomes occur only when the complex array of conditions, challenges, and opportunities that define a problem are rigorously investigated and questioned from many viewpoints. Only through interdisciplinary collaboration is fresh thinking and unconventional design vision realized.
As the Japanese proverb says: “none of us is as smart as all of us!”
This LOI is the bold culmination of months of research, deliberation, and spirited debate among the BSA’s dedicated staff, its Board members, our consultants, and dozens of additional BSA professionals who volunteered their time and diverse expertise so we might better accommodate our chapter’s broader vision of civic engagement and education.
During the process, we reaffirmed what architects have always known: namely, that truly transformational decisions of enduring value are best achieved through a shared journey of informed discovery, and that extraordinary outcomes occur only when the complex array of conditions, challenges, and opportunities that define a problem are rigorously investigated and questioned from many viewpoints. Only through interdisciplinary collaboration is fresh thinking and unconventional design vision realized.
As the Japanese proverb says: “none of us is as smart as all of us!”
Friday, August 6, 2010
Just the Facts, Ma’am
It is sometimes difficult to separate fact from fiction when it comes to global warming. However, I just returned from a week of hiking in Glacier National Park in Montana and faced the facts firsthand.
Glacier was declared a national park in 1910, and at the time had nearly 150 glaciers. Today there are only about 25 remaining and those are meager compared to their former majesty. On the final day of my vacation, I completed a twelve mile hike to Grinnell Glacier on the east side of the continental divide. It was named for the man most responsible for Glacier’s designation as a national park, and it is still an impressive natural wonder. But I was dismayed when our guide showed us a series of five photographs of Grinnell Glacier, each taken from the same vantage point, but about 20 years apart. They revealed that Grinnell has lost more than 90% of its mass since the park was founded, and is now receding at an alarming rate. Scientists predict that at the current rate of melting, there will be no more glaciers whatsoever in the park within 20 years!
While climatologists acknowledge that the globe is probably in a natural cycle of warming, they broadly condemn man’s contribution to greenhouse gas emissions which has artificially accelerated the rate of that warming.
Those are the facts.
Glacier was declared a national park in 1910, and at the time had nearly 150 glaciers. Today there are only about 25 remaining and those are meager compared to their former majesty. On the final day of my vacation, I completed a twelve mile hike to Grinnell Glacier on the east side of the continental divide. It was named for the man most responsible for Glacier’s designation as a national park, and it is still an impressive natural wonder. But I was dismayed when our guide showed us a series of five photographs of Grinnell Glacier, each taken from the same vantage point, but about 20 years apart. They revealed that Grinnell has lost more than 90% of its mass since the park was founded, and is now receding at an alarming rate. Scientists predict that at the current rate of melting, there will be no more glaciers whatsoever in the park within 20 years!
While climatologists acknowledge that the globe is probably in a natural cycle of warming, they broadly condemn man’s contribution to greenhouse gas emissions which has artificially accelerated the rate of that warming.
Those are the facts.
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