Maybe this is about ego

Reading “Questions that will not go away,” by John Habraken, made me to think about a question of mine that never goes away: what is the professional role of an architect today?

In his text, Habraken mentioned a few phrases that made me reflect on this subject, for instance:  “For today’s complex projects, partial tasks must be distributed among members of design teams,” “In the mismatch between ideology and environmental reality, the former inevitably must give way," "It is often said that the architect’s role is diminishing and this influence is gradually diluted,” and “Architectural firms of course manage to live with the conflict between ideology and reality.” Very often, I see an attitude among architects that I can see myself having as well: "This is my building,” “It is my design,” and “I want it to glow.” While working for a large publishing company in Brazil, I worked with people who had large egos.  I thought that maybe this was a characteristic of the publishing field, but when I worked in hospitality with chefs, I realized quickly that the “artistic” attitude seemed to be among several other professions as well.

During the 1960’s, Edward Deming (an American engineer) realized what was happening with this “egotistical” attitude in the American auto industry. He approached some American car companies with the theories he had created. These theories included tenets such as  listening to the employees, empowering them, and making them part of the process. Deming also believed that management actions were responsible for 85 percent of all problems in a company. The American auto industry said to Deming that they were doing too well for those kind of ideas, so Deming approached a culture that was humbler. He went to Toyota in Japan. Toyota was a very small company back then, and decided to apply Deming’s management theories of empowerment. After accepting the employees' input, and empowering them to fix problems, Toyota was not only able to enter in the US auto market in the early sixties, but became the top international car seller in the US. Some people even believe that Deming’s theory was the reason Japan overcame the destruction of WWll.

Even though this story may not have a direct relation to architecture, in the large scheme I believe it does. I do not think that John Habraken is only talking about the richness of spaces, connections, and buildings that an architect can create by looking at the diversity. I believe he is touching a much deeper subject, which is how to be a good leader, and what can happen when a leader humbly recognizes his role. In a globalized world, the professional role of an architect goes beyond a sustainable, smart, efficient design. It goes to how to be a good professional, a mediator, and a listener who includes people. A good leader can be in any level of any business. I think the point to me is that when we recognize that our job may be bigger than our ego, and we actually can see beyond the scope, we may serve as an inspiration for diversity, and the outcome when people’s input is included in the process of decisions can evoke feelings and actions more meaningful than our designs.