Why Every AEC Firm Needs a Leadership and Specialist Pipeline | Kent Jonasen of the Leadership Pipeline Institute

Why Every AEC Firm Needs a Leadership and Specialist Pipeline | Kent Jonasen of the Leadership Pipeline Institute

In this episode of the Smarter by Design podcast, I’m joined by Kent Jonasen, CEO of the Leadership Pipeline Institute and co-author of the third edition of The Leadership Pipeline as well as author of The Specialist Pipeline. Kent has spent decades helping organizations rethink leadership development, succession planning, and the challenge of scaling expertise inside complex companies. His work starts from a deceptively simple premise: leadership is not leadership. Each transition—from leading yourself to leading others, leading leaders, leading functions, and eventually leading an enterprise—is fundamentally a different job that requires different skills, different priorities, and even different values. But this conversation goes far beyond leadership development. Many organizations unintentionally build systems where leadership becomes the only visible path for growth, recognition, and advancement. Specialists—deep technical experts, practitioners, strategists, and problem-solvers—often feel forced toward management roles simply to continue progressing in their careers. Over time, this creates frustration, weak leadership transitions, and the gradual loss of highly valuable expertise. Kent and I explore why organizations need both leadership pipelines and specialist pipelines working together. We discuss: * Why leadership transitions so often fail * The hidden importance of discovering and aligning with your “work values” in career progression * Why many specialists feel alienated inside traditional organizations * The difference between knowledge experts and knowledge leaders * How companies accidentally push people into management roles they never truly wanted * Why specialist career paths need more than just new titles * How dual leadership and specialist pipelines create healthier long-term organizational design Along the way, we connect these ideas directly to architecture, engineering, and construction firms, where specialized expertise is often the core engine of competitive advantage. From healthcare planners to sustainability experts to technical design specialists, many AEC firms are wrestling with how to scale expertise, accelerate development, and reduce dependency on a shrinking number of senior experts. If you lead an AEC firm, oversee learning and development, manage technical teams, or are thinking about succession planning and long-term capability building, this episode offers a powerful framework for rethinking how careers evolve inside organizations. More importantly, it raises a deeper question: what if building a stronger company starts not just with developing better leaders, but with designing better systems for developing expertise itself? GUEST Ken Jonasen, CEO [https://www.linkedin.com/in/kent-jonasen-0167221/], The Leadership Pipeline Institute [https://leadershippipelineinstitute.com/] Kent is CEO of the Leadership Pipeline Institute. He is author of the book “Specialist Pipeline – how to winning the war for specialist talent” and he is co-author of the 3rd edition of the book “Leadership Pipeline – Developing leaders in the digital age”. Before becoming CEO of Leadership Pipeline Institute, Kent Jonasen was Deputy Head of Group Human Resources in A.P. Moller – Maersk since 2003 up to 2008 responsible for talent management, leadership development, executive development and executive compensation. Previously to his deputy position, Kent was Regional HR Manager for Europe Region from 2000 to 2003. In Maersk Kent led the implementation of a companywide integrated leadership development initiative based on the Leadership Pipeline concept to impact more than 10,000 leaders in more than 100 countries. The project secured reliable executive succession plans and a 90% hit ratio on talents in the executive talent pool. During his time in A.P. Moller - Maersk he was member of the US Conference Board Council on Development, Education and Training. Since founding the Leadership Pipeline Institute Kent has led the implementation of the Leadership Pipeline and Specialist Pipeline concept with regards to development, selection, and assessment in more than 25 different large international organizations. CREDITS Host: Christopher Parsons Executive Producers: Denise Parsons, Christopher Parsons Editor: Coe Hoeksema Theme Song: “We Took the BART” — Written and Performed by The Parents RESOURCES Leadership Pipeline Book: https://a.co/d/01HXBNCT The Performance Pipeline: https://a.co/d/0bJgSp0q Leadership Pipeline Institute YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@LeadershipPipelineInstitute CHAPTERS (00:00) Welcome and Episode Intro (02:47) Origins of the Leadership Pipeline (12:12) Development of the Specialist Pipeline (37:36) Why Specialists Leave and How to Keep Them (46:23) The Three Steps Up the Specialist Pipeline (01:11:11) Applying the Pipelines in AEC and Professional Services (01:21:44) Strategic Implementation and Looking Ahead

Leading a Learning Organization: Lessons from Angela Watson | Shepley Bulfinch

In this episode of the Smarter by Design podcast, I'm joined by Angela Watson, President and CEO of Shepley Bulfinch, a nationally recognized architecture firm whose work spans healthcare, higher education, and civic design. Angela leads with a conviction she traces back to her time teaching at MIT: that real learning doesn't happen through lecture — it happens through doing, through struggle, and through the kind of exploration that only comes when people are given room to fail safely and try again. That belief didn't stay in the classroom. It became the foundation for how she thinks about leading a firm. Learning by doing is the foundation of how AEC professionals and firms develop. The problem is that great ideas stay trapped in pockets — one team figures something out, another team struggles with the same thing, and the knowledge never travels. Angela saw that dynamic playing out at Shepley Bulfinch as the firm grew into a national practice, work-sharing across five offices with project cycles too long and feedback loops too slow to rely on informal transfer alone. Becoming a learning organization became an operational necessity, but it turned out to be much harder than it looked. The conversation traces the full arc of what that effort has looked like in practice and what Angela has learned leading it. Why it's so hard for subject matter experts to codify and teach what they know. Why the traditional apprenticeship model is breaking down as plates get fuller and mentorship gets crowded out. What Shepley Bulfinch learned from building Birdfeeder, their internal peer-to-peer learning platform — what worked, what was too ambitious, and what the firm is rethinking now. And why the harder problem isn't building a course catalog — it's connecting learning to where someone actually wants to go in their career. The thread running underneath all of it is psychological safety. Angela talks about "Back to the Future," Shepley Bulfinch's reframe on lessons learned — a format designed to celebrate the imperfect and make it safe to share what went wrong. She reflects on what it took for her, as CEO, to model that vulnerability publicly, and why she believes culture is the soil in which any learning organization either takes root or doesn't. If you lead an AEC firm, manage a team, or are thinking seriously about how your organization develops its people, this episode is for you. Angela offers deep insight into what's worked, what hasn't, and what is still to be figured out on Shepley Bulfinch's journey to becoming a learning organization. GUEST Angela Watson, FAIA, LEED AP, [https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelawatson/] President and CEO, Shepley Bulfinch [https://shepleybulfinch.com/] Angela Watson is the second consecutive female President and CEO in the 152-year history of Shepley Bulfinch, a national architecture and design firm with studios across the United States. She is a strong advocate for communication as the foundation of understanding clients, communities, and stakeholders, and she integrates research and practice to create spaces that positively impact people and their environments. Angela's post-occupancy research and co-authored studies on the impact of light on occupant well-being reflect her dedication to understanding the relationship between space and behavior. Her design process bridges teaching and practice through a collaborative design process that inspires innovation adaptable to a changing world. Beyond Shepley Bulfinch, Angela serves on the University of Arizona’s CAPLA Futures Council and the Texas A&M College of Architecture Dean’s Advisory Board. She also serves on the Board of the Design Futures Council, and as Chair of the Board for Shepley Bulfinch. Born in Germany, she studied at Universität Karlsruhe and earned an MArch from MIT, where she later taught Design. CREDITS Host: Christopher Parsons Executive Producers: Denise Parsons, Christopher Parsons Editor: Coe Hoeksema Theme Song: “We Took the BART” — Written and Performed by The Parents EPISODE RESOURCES Why Your New Engineers Look Lost for Six Months [https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-your-new-engineers-look-lost-six-months-nick-heim-pe-df4bc/]: LinkedIn article by Nick Heim Amy Edmondson: A Harvard Business School professor and author whose research on psychological safety demonstrates how creating environments where people feel safe to take interpersonal risks—admitting mistakes, asking questions, and challenging ideas—is foundational to organizational learning and innovation. Desirable Difficulty: Robert Bjork's learning framework showing that challenges that slow initial performance—like spacing practice over time, mixing related concepts together, and retrieving information from memory through testing—produce superior long-term retention and transfer compared to easier, more familiar learning methods. CHAPTERS (0:00:00) Welcome and Guest Introduction (0:02:41) Why Focus on Learning Now (0:04:23) Learning to Teach at MIT (0:08:09) Delegating and Letting Go (0:10:05) Why Pockets of Learning Aren't Enough (0:12:32) Balancing Standardization and Flexibility (0:17:03) National Practice and Work Sharing (0:19:11) Codifying Knowledge to Scale Learning (0:25:19) Helping Experts Learn to Teach (0:26:51) Just-in-Time Learning and AI (0:28:11) Core Curriculum vs. Enrichment (0:32:53) Apprenticeship Is Evolving (0:38:07) Stop or Slow: Rethinking Capacity (0:45:26) Strategic Plan and Birdfeeder Origins (0:52:58) Connecting Learning to Career Goals (0:57:40) Communication as a Foundational Skill (1:00:35) Birdfeeder 2.0: What Changes? (1:06:08) Learner Motivation and Fulfillment (1:14:06) Psychological Safety and Back to the Future (1:17:43) Modeling Vulnerability

Designing Learning That Actually
Improves Performance | Clark Quinn of Quinnovation

In this episode of the Smarter by Design podcast, I’m joined by Clark Quinn, a cognitive scientist who has spent his career translating decades of learning research into practical guidance for organizations. He is the founder of Quinnovation and co-director of the L&D Accelerator. His work is grounded in a simple conviction: most organizations are leaving enormous potential on the table — not for lack of effort or care, but because the science of how people actually learn has rarely made it into the room where learning decisions get made. In most AEC firms, learning and development didn’t start with a formal strategy. It emerged organically. Executives responsible for talent came up through practice. L&D leaders stepped into their roles because they wanted to make their firms better, not because they were trained in the discipline. Subject matter experts shared what they know without ever having been taught how to teach. As a result, most learning organizations in the AEC industry were largely built by accident rather than by design. And in that gap lies a significant opportunity: to create learning that doesn’t just inform, but actually improves capability and performance. That is what this conversation is about. Clark walks us through the science that most accidental L&D leaders never had access to. He explains why training so often stops at information transfer, what it really takes to design for performance rather than content delivery, and what the research says about learning design that actually moves the needle. We explore the shift from content-heavy training to practice-led learning, how to identify the root causes behind critical performance gaps before reaching for a training solution, and how to determine whether learning is even the right intervention. We also step back and look at what a true learning ecosystem requires: not just courses, but performance support, job aids, communities of practice, mentoring, and the cultural conditions where learning compounds over time. Where knowledge is shared openly. Where failure is discussed. And where leadership sets the tone. Finally, we go deep on one of the most important dynamics in any AEC firm: how to effectively work with busy and highly billable subject matter experts by drawing out what they know, pairing them with skilled learning designers, and building a coaching culture that makes expertise transferable at scale. If you lead an AEC firm, build learning programs, or teach others what you know—and you’ve largely been figuring it out as you go—this conversation offers a foundation for doing it smarter. By design. GUEST Clark Quinn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/quinnovator/], Executive Director of Quinnovation [https://quinnovation.com/] Clark Quinn, Ph.D. is the Executive Director of Quinnovation, learning science advisor to Elevator 9, and Co-Director of the Learning Development Accelerator. With more than four decades of experience at the cutting edge of learning, Dr. Quinn is an internationally known speaker, consultant, and author of seven books. He combines a deep knowledge of cognitive science and broad experience with technology into strategic design solutions that achieve innovative yet practical outcomes for corporations, higher-education, not-for-profit, and government organizations. CREDITS Host: Christopher Parsons Executive Producers: Denise Parsons, Christopher Parsons Editor: Coe Hoeksema Theme Song: “We Took the BART” — Written and Performed by The Parents RESOURCES For a full list of episode references and resources, see: https://www.knowledge-architecture.com/blog/designing-learning-that-actually-improves-performance-clark-quinn [www.knowledge-architecture.com/blog/designing-learning-that-actually-improves-performance-clark-quinn] CHAPTERS (00:00) Introduction (03:26) Clark Quinn's Journey into Learning Science (06:00) The Biggest Surprise About How People Learn (09:21) Why School Is a Bad Model for Organizational Learning (13:41) People Don't Know How to Learn or Teach (17:15) How Effective Self-Directed Learners Operate (22:03) The Performance Ecosystem: Courses, Job Aids, and Community (28:23) Building a Learning Culture (33:50) L&D's Role in Facilitating Innovation (39:51) Accidental vs Intentional Learning Organizations (47:13) Diagnosing Performance Gaps Before Reaching for Training (53:04) Why L&D Still Gets Course Design Wrong (55:10) What Good Course Design Actually Looks Like (01:01:32) What Experts Need in Order to Teach Well (01:08:29) Working Effectively with Subject Matter Experts (01:19:34) Partnering Experts with Learning Designers (01:27:17) Resources for Becoming a Better L&D Professional (01:29:19) The Learning Development Accelerator (LDA) (01:33:05) Bridging the Gap Between Training and the Workplace (01:38:33) Closing and Where to Find Clark Quinn

Modernizing Learning to Scale Quality at Lionakis | Laura Knauss and Kristina Williams

In this episode of Smarter by Design, I’m joined by Laura Knauss, President and Chief Practice Officer at Lionakis, and Kristina Williams, Director of Design Technology at Lionakis, for a conversation about how their firm is modernizing learning to scale quality and consistency across their practice. At the heart of that shift is a deep respect for the apprenticeship model. For generations, one-on-one mentorship has been the foundation of how architects and engineers learned their craft—and it remains essential today. But as firms grow, diversify, and take on increasingly complex work, Lionakis has recognized that apprenticeship alone isn’t enough to provide the consistent, firmwide foundation that today’s environment demands. In response, Lionakis is repositioning apprenticeship by building a more intentional and scalable learning system that ensures every team member starts from a shared baseline, while still allowing mentorship to do what it does best: helping people apply that knowledge in the context of real projects. We explore two major shifts behind that transformation. First, the evolution of Lionakis’s Design Technology Boot Camp. What began as long, lecture-heavy training sessions has been reimagined into a more modular, learner-centered experience built around short, focused video lessons, hands-on exercises, and live, collaborative sessions. Along the way, Kristina shares what they’ve learned about attention, retention, and how to design learning that actually sticks. Second, we look at how those same principles are being applied beyond Boot Camp to reshape how the firm teaches practice itself. From specifications and building envelope design to programming and coordination, Lionakis is moving away from ad hoc training toward a more strategic learning roadmap that captures core project knowledge, standardizes how it’s taught, and makes it accessible across the entire firm. The goal is both simple and ambitious: to create a shared foundation that allows any team member, in any office, to step into any project and contribute with confidence, consistency, and clarity. What emerges is a picture of a firm learning how to operate as a modern learning organization—where knowledge, learning, and practice are tightly connected, and where investment in learning is directly tied to the quality of the work. If you’re thinking about how to scale expertise, support the next generation of talent, or move beyond training as a one-time event, this conversation offers a clear and compelling path forward. GUESTS Laura Knauss [https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-knauss-70b52715/], President and Chief Practice Officer, Lionakis [https://www.lionakis.com/] Laura Knauss, AIA has been a member of Lionakis since 1990 where she has built a career designing educational facilities throughout California. As President, she is responsible for developing the firm’s position for its five California offices, leading strategy and directing practice initiatives. Currently, Laura is the Vice-President of Government Relations for AIA California where she facilitates advocacy position on behalf of the profession. Additionally, she serves as a member of the Board of Regents for the California Architectural Foundation (CAF). Kristina Williams [https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinawilliams22/], Director of Design Technology, Lionakis [https://www.lionakis.com/] Kristina Williams is the Director of Design Technology at Lionakis, where she focuses on integrating design technology and knowledge management to better connect people, ideas, and information. She began her career at Lionakis as a Revit Specialist and brings 17 years of experience in design technology. Over that time, she has continuously refined how she teaches and supports teams, shaping her approach to how knowledge is shared, adopted, and applied across the firm. She has carried this perspective into her current role leading knowledge management efforts, where she works to improve how information flows and how teams learn from one another. Her work centers on helping teams simplify complexity, strengthen operational clarity, and create the conditions for stronger collaboration. CREDITS Host: Christopher Parsons Executive Producers: Denise Parsons, Christopher Parsons Editor: Coe Hoeksema Theme Song: “We Took the BART” — Written and Performed by The Parents CHAPTERS (00:00) Welcome and Episode Recap (03:44) Adapting Learning to the Speed of Change (05:46) The Lionakis Way: A Consistent Approach (10:15) What Was Broken in Previous Training Models (12:27) Lessons from 14 Years of Teaching Revit (17:54) Bootcamp Evolution: From Lectures to Exercises (24:34 )Empowering Emerging Professionals (26:55) Bootcamp Redesign Watch Party (31:38) Practice Bootcamp Rollout (37:25) Making Videos Easier (42:44) Breakout Rooms Build Culture and Confidence (45:10) Emphasizing the Importance of Video + Live Trainings (47:38) "Reboarding" for Consistency (49:08) Cascading Opportunities for Reinforcement (51:33) Foundational vs Just in Time Learning (53:32) Onboarding and Ubiquitous Resources (57:28) Repurposing Long Recordings (59:26) Designing for Retrieval (01:02:49) Short Videos vs Context (01:05:53) From Ad Hoc to Curriculum (01:08:50) Investing in KM and L&D Teams (01:16:06) Adding a Learning Coordinator (01:21:24) The Power of a Supportive Executive Sponsor (01:23:05) Theme Song Backstory

Maximizing the Value of Learning & Development Investments | Chris and Susan of Knowledge Architecture

In this episode of the Smarter by Design podcast, Susan Strom and I discuss The Modern Learning Organization Pipeline [https://www.knowledge-architecture.com/blog/the-modern-learning-organization-pipeline-for-aec-firms]—a framework for helping AEC firms prioritize and maximize the return on their learning and development investments. For decades, most AEC learning programs have relied on familiar formats: lunch-and-learns, live training sessions, and recorded presentations. But a new generation of tools—AI search, modern intranets, modular learning systems, and knowledge agents—is dramatically increasing the potential ROI of learning assets. When knowledge can be searched instantly, accessed on demand, and revisited whenever someone needs it, learning assets become far more valuable than they used to be. That shift creates a new challenge: how do firms decide where to invest their time and energy? You can’t manage all the knowledge in your firm. So the real question becomes: which knowledge and learning investments produce the greatest return? In this conversation, Susan and I walk through how to identify, prioritize, and design high-impact learning experiences in AEC firms using the Modern Learning Organization Pipeline. Along the way, we explore: * Why AEC firms need to evolve into modern learning organizations * How firms can maximize the value of learning and development investments * The DESIRE framework, a practical tool for prioritizing learning opportunities * Why learning experiences should increasingly be treated like products * How firms are modernizing learning experiences for the AI era * How learning content can become searchable organizational knowledge * Why learner involvement and piloting are essential to good learning design * The rise of dedicated knowledge and learning roles inside AEC firms Underlying the discussion is a broader idea: the industry is entering a platform shift in how knowledge, learning, and expertise are developed and distributed. As AI-powered knowledge and learning platforms like Synthesis make knowledge more accessible and reusable, the potential return on learning investments is rising dramatically. The challenge for firms is where to invest their time and energy to create the greatest impact. If you’re leading an AEC firm and wondering where to invest in learning, knowledge, and capability building, this episode introduces a practical framework for prioritizing the opportunities that will matter most. EPISODE RESOURCES The Modern Learning Organization Pipeline: https://www.knowledge-architecture.com/blog/the-modern-learning-organization-pipeline-for-aec-firms GUESTS Christopher Parsons [https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherjparsons/], Founder & CEO, Knowledge Architecture [https://www.knowledge-architecture.com/] As Founder and CEO of Knowledge Architecture, Christopher is responsible for product design, marketing strategy, and organizational health. He is the host of the Smarter by Design podcast and the author of Smarter by Design, a bi-weekly newsletter exploring how leading AEC firms manage information, share knowledge, and build learning organizations. He is also the executive producer of KA Connect, Knowledge Architecture’s annual knowledge and learning management conference for the AEC industry. Christopher has been a technology leader in the AEC industry since 2002, including serving as Chief Information Officer for Steinberg Architects and as Information Technology Director for SMWM (now Perkins+Will). Susan Strom [https://www.linkedin.com/in/susankstrom/], Chief Client Officer, Knowledge Architecture [https://www.knowledge-architecture.com/] As our Chief Client Officer, Susan ensures our clients have the resources they need to be successful. Those resources include best practices, training, documentation, and a team of Knowledge Architecture experts who guide our clients every step of the way. During her time at Knowledge Architecture, Susan has led nearly 200 AEC intranet implementations, produced dozens of intranet case studies, and been instrumental in building our client community and client success program. Her previous roles in human resources, construction management, and engineering systems at Mazzetti and Gilbane Building Company allow her to draw upon a broad range of industry experiences to help our clients succeed. CREDITS Host: Christopher Parsons Executive Producers: Denise Parsons, Christopher Parsons Editor: Coe Hoeksema Theme Song: “We Took the BART” — Written and Performed by The Parents CHAPTERS (00:00) Episode Introduction (03:00) Why Become a Modern Learning Organization (07:17) Where Marketing and Learning Strategies Converge (09:38) The Modern Learning Organization Pipeline (15:25) DESIRE: A Framework for Prioritizing Learning Investments (21:02) Why Demand and Enthusiasm Matter (24:36) Slow Down to Go Fast: Plan First (28:55) Defining Quality in Learning Design (33:28) How Hybrid Learning Compounds Value (37:42) Design for Retrieval, Not Just Delivery (40:04) From Linear to Just-in-Time Learning (43:29) Why Firms Invest in Learning Roles (50:12) Build a Solid Knowledge Foundation for People + AI (55:39) Involve Learners in the Design Process (01:01:25) Treat Learning Like a Product (01:07:02) Measure Activity, Experience, and Outcomes (01:11:51) Balance Strategy with Progress (01:13:36) Closing