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I pay my respects and acknowledge all Traditional Custodians of Country and on whose land I live and work. I recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. I pay my respects to their Elders past and present.
Always was, always will be.

Hi! I'm Michael.

Welcome to this week's useletter.

The newsletter that's useful. Focussed on your future not my past.

Whether you're an old or a new subscriber, I want to begin by expressing my gratitude for your ongoing support reading this missive. You're the reason I'm doing this and I trust you've found something useful in one or many of my useletters. Thanks.

In my last useletter I wrote about the importance of making space to be by ourself.

After feedback from one of my favourite readers, I'd like to step back that advice a little.

Being by one's self is not for everyone, and I should have acknowledged that. I therefore apologise to anyone I made wrong or uncomfortable when reading my last useletter.

To further elaborate, the reader reached out to let me know many neurodiverse people do not feel comfortable being on their own, and doing so could be particularly discomforting and counter productive.

It was a valuable reminder that we need to always be thinking how we might be excluding others in what we say, propose, or do.

As a side note,

The feedback was given generously, and in a manner that was by calling me in, as apposed to calling me out - a worthwhile distinction to discuss another time.

We’re seldom able to propose something that’s for everyone. And that’s OK. We should be aware, however, of the potential for our actions or words to lead to othering or excluding people from the conversation, the work, or community.

This fortnight, let’s pause to acknowledge that we’re all quirky and cannot know what is going on for everyone.

I got you

Michael

PS: A reminder, if you're curious about how I got to be where I am, then you'll find Origins: A Creative Journey illuminating and worth a listen. I talk about my creative journey in detail. And if you've got questions or feedback for me about the podcast, please feel free to reach out. Always happy to connect to answer questions or receive feedback.

You’re quirky. And so am I

We all know everyone has different abilities, some seen others unseen.

Some are from birth. Some learnt.

But who someone is is more than abilities.

We sometimes forget who people are is the result of their knowledge, beliefs and background. And dismissing people with different world views to our own is a subsequent failure of empathy.

If we knew, believed and had grown up in the same context as them, we’d probably have the same world view too.

We don’t have to agree with them, but as Seth Godin recently wrote, empathy is the key to connection, trust and community. I'd also like to commend that blog post of Seth's. It sums up most of what you need to know about empathy in a 1 minute read.

Empathy is one of the most important skills of an architect. Architects work with many many people, colleagues, consultants, Councils, builders, etc, and most importantly of all, clients. You can't do so effectively without empathy.

Understanding that all the people you’re working with have their own quirks and world views is critical to connection and trust, a successful working relationship, and architectural designs responsive to human breadths and needs.

Taking the time to understand people's perspectives and what might be going on for them is always well worth your time.

You got this.

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