Last week Monday I spoke to the Resource Directors Association for their annual Career & Money meeting. I met Eileen Rasgdale, the president of RDA at last year's Cooper-Hewitt Teen Fair that Yeh IDeology has been asked to participate in for the last several years. Eileen asked me to come speak to RDA regarding the changes impacting the architecture industry and give advice on how to adjust and navigate these changes. The RDA is a not-for-profit professional network of resource persons working in the Architecture and Design community and their mission is to share knowledge of new products, specification issues and news and changes within the industry. They have chapters in Boston, Chicago, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia and Seattle.
As everyone went around the room sharing their backgrounds and their top concerns in this intimate group setting it quickly became apparent that this group of creative professionals were dedicated and passionate about their field. We talked about how the shift in this new economy had affected their industry as well. For some members' companies had either down sized or taken on more account but overall the main impact was that the work load and responsibilities were doubled. We talked about ways for members to prepare for these changes and how to position themselves to take advantage of these new shifts and yet set reasonable expectations for those around them as their responsibilities change. Having been actively involved in organizations like IDSA and being on their board of directors, we also explored various solutions and ways RDA the organization could support the members individually.
It's indeed challenging time these days and regardless of the industry, the ways that companies have been structured and have always done business has changed. Yet at the same time these drastic times of change in history are often the ripest moments to implement change for the better and improvement. Status quo has been upended and everyone is more receptive to change.
I talked about how the new normal in this new era is "adaptability" and those that will make it in this new era will be the ones that look ahead to predict the next industry shifts, adjust to them and be ready to embrace them. Collectively this was a strong dedicated community and it was refreshing to see that many great ideas were already there percolating waiting to be acted on. I look forward to seeing how the members of RDA collaborate and navigate this new era.
Here I am with a few of the members as we lingered after our lecture admiring the gorgeous furniture at Suite NY, who generously hosted the event.
Thanks to Eileen Rasgdale and the RDA for having me come speak.