Those Weaknesses You Think You Have? That’s What Makes You Awesome

With special thanks to Christopher Whitcomb

PJ Glasco is a woman of many talents. As CannonDesign’s Houston Health Market Leader, PJ helps leading healthcare institutions create landmark facilities and critical strategies for the future. She is the co-leader of the Diversity & Inclusion Initiative at CannonDesign and has shared her personal experiences and strategies on D&I initiatives at conferences such as the Houston AIA’s Women in Architecture and Texas Society of Architects. She is the recipient of 40 under 40 awards from Building Design + Construction, ENR Texas & Louisiana Region and the Houston Business Journal. She’s also a mentor, a leader, a teammate, a planner, a mother to twin girls, a medal-winning martial artist, an occasional rock climber, and a constant source of positive energy. PJ shared with us her unique career path, challenges, and ideas for the future of the profession.

Can you tell us your story? How did you get to this point of your career?

PJ Glasco

My career in architecture really traces back to my childhood in India. My best friend’s dad was an architect, and I always loved listening to him talk about what he did, the projects he was working on; It always sounded really cool. At that moment, I didn’t realize I had found my career, but years later when my peers were considering what path to take and who they wanted to be when they grew up, I just always wanted to be an architect. My parents supported me and I went for it.

I’ve been lucky to work in all different realms of design. I’ve designed furniture, worked in a landscape architecture firm, designed high-end residences, technology parks, and then one of my first roles in the US was on the owner’s side with the UT Health Science Center in Houston. Though it was short-lived, it was formative and helped shape my career. I worked there for a couple years until they experienced a period of significant layoffs. After that, I landed in healthcare architecture completely by accident. I needed a job and I found one in healthcare design.

So, for you, it was always architecture, but it wasn’t a straight path to healthcare design?

Healthcare architecture was so different from anything I had ever done before. The mission healthcare institutions have, the incredible passion you can sense in their staff, the talent, the inspiration and the ability to actually change lives - it was so unique for me and I absolutely loved it.

I loved those early days as a fledgling architect, it was a great deal of construction documents and construction administration when you learn how a building is put together. I loved that and as I look back, those early learning experiences have helped me tremendously. Then I had the opportunity to do some healthcare planning and that was exhilarating. It spoke to my deep love of solving complex problems and I was hooked like never before.

That role just kept  getting better for me. I loved building relationships with healthcare leaders and  I also loved building high performing teams to solve these challenges. And so now, I’m CannonDesign’s Houston Health Market Leader and it encompasses everything I enjoy and want to do professionally. My work now involves building teams, mentoring our staff, building client relationships, solving complex problems, making a difference. It has been a journey, but I’m deeply happy.

From our perspective, architecture school doesn’t emphasize enough how architecture is so people based. You never realize the importance of presentation skills, mentorship and so much more. Can you talk a bit more about that?

You make a great point and in my opinion, architecture education is somewhat narrow. I understand it needs to be so to a certain extent, but there also needs to be more focus on the business of architecture beyond design. We need to do a better job exposing students to business strategy, marketing, accounting, legal contracts and so much more.

I believe that every individual regardless of their skillset or interest  can find a role in the architecture industry if they seek it. There’s client engagement, marketing, business development, practice management, BIM in addition to design, planning, project management and technical skills, but that message of diverse opportunities doesn’t resonate as loud as it could in architectural education. I would love to see that shift. It would help individuals recognize their interest and their potential in different ways, and we would not lose the young talent in our industry before they even begin to understand the possibilities that are open to them. 

You had many different stages in your career. Can you tell us a little more about challenges you faced and how you overcame them?

I always talk about my career in two distinct phases between my time in India and then in the US. And, while immigration is not a new story for anyone, it can be a real challenge. You think of migrating to a new country through the lens of the future - exciting opportunities, untapped potential… and that’s there, but there’s this phase of integrating your past with your future that can be a real hardship.

In India, I was on a path and I knew who I was. Then you move here, and how you speak and behave and live, it’s just different and you have to learn so many things all over again. It took me several years to assimilate into the culture here. You have to stop, take a breath, make a change and find a way to feel comfortable in your own skin while never letting go of who you were,  before you can find your unique place in a new country. And I eventually got there, took some time but it was all worth it. 

Have you faced challenges as a woman in the architecture industry?

Yes, for sure. Not just as a woman, but as a woman who is 5-feet tall, who weighs 100 lbs, is petite and a bit of an introvert. I hear people say, “You’re so tiny,” or, “Look at you, you’re so petite,” and over time, you develop this internal bias against yourself. And it’s really women who say these things to other women, we look so critically at each other and it's unfortunate that we feel it’s ok to say these things. 

The key here is, you have to turn all these comments around. Those things that people say about you, they aren’t negatives or weaknesses, that’s just what makes you - you. Say thank you. I am short, it’s great - thank you!  And, if you can get to a point where you stop looking so hard, at others and at yourself, then you get to realizing that everything about you is unique, and it's what makes us awesome. 

That’s inspiring, how you turn negatives into this positive stance on yourself and others. Any disadvantages or advantages you would like to share?

I tend to focus more on the advantages, and there’s two other examples I’d love to share.

First, working in healthcare, there are so many female leaders in the industry who are in leadership and C-suite  positions. They are brilliant, talented, focused on mentorship and for me, it’s thrilling to be able to work with them. You don’t see as many on the facilities leadership side, but that’s definitely changing, and the change is welcomed. I’ve talked with leaders in healthcare who find it deeply negative when design firms come to project interviews with all male teams and show no diversity. So yes, while there is still significant room for change, there are so many more women in the design and construction industry now leading that change that we can look toward a more diverse future. 

Secondly, after I had my twin girls about 8 years ago, there were a lot of conversations on my ability to travel - many times in my absence. This is a concern that does usually come up after women have kids and the concern is from a good place - wanting to make sure that we are sensitive to the needs of our employees. But it often comes across in the most infuriating form - making decisions about that person’s career and their ability to perform tasks without actually involving them in the conversation. And it’s a concern that’s rarely brought up with men. People just assume their wives will watch the children. 

But I will say, from that negative experience, positivity emerged. Two of my mentors - one a woman and one a man - both supported me in ways that were profound. They insisted that colleagues and leaders ask me my opinion, they spoke with clients and set boundaries with them for me so I could travel, I could deliver my projects, I could take on new challenges and make myself successful. We talk a lot about the importance of mentors, but what I am talking about goes beyond that. That’s an advocate, someone fighting for you when you’re not in the room.

Through all your experiences, are there specific work policies in architecture you would like to see changed?

There’s room for growth in how companies help employees find work / life balance. With the widespread use of the cell phones in business, the line between work and life is not just blurred, but erased. All the amenities that our company offers in terms of flexible hours, core hours, working from home, virtual conversations are all great. I would love to see these become part of the culture across the profession. 

Women really need to see and talk to other women leaders who are finding that balance, who have set priorities, made adjustments in their home lives and careers, and held strong to their beliefs. If our profession does embrace being virtual to a certain extent, that balance can be available to more women across the industry. 

What do you see as positive and negative realities for emerging professionals in architecture and design?

The positive is that young professionals are incredibly focused. They know what they want when it comes to their career, their family, their lives. At the same time, this focus can lead them to want to get somewhere too quickly. And, I will say, in this business, you need to experience a lot of different things before you can take on certain levels of leadership. 

In that vein, I also think you’re seeing an erosion of the technical side of our work. I think young professionals are eager to do the up-front planning and design with clients, but not as many of them are as interested in putting technically complex buildings together. Seemingly mundane things like roofing plans, toilet details - these things are all necessary to deliver good products and to become better future designers and planners. 

I’m deeply excited for this generation’s passion and focus, but I’d encourage them to slow down a bit. They get frustrated if their careers aren’t moving rapidly and they want to move to another firm. You can absolutely fast track your career, but you still have to learn how to build relationships and have conversations about the good and bad of the practice of architecture. Cherish those relationships, embrace those moments of learning.

Is there something your office does when it comes to helping people build those relationships between different levels of staff?

We encourage constant dialogue. The model where performance reviews happen once a year, or leadership transition is discussed at the very end of someone’s tenure, that doesn’t work at all. You need to be constantly conversing with your team members about their careers, what they value, where they want to go. Conversation is how you build loyalty, forge connections and get people to stay.  It’s how you help people shine.

If we revisit architecture education again, there are many items such as project budgets, estimates or staff that no one is taught how to handle. How can firms prepare employees better for their first projects? 

Architecture companies need to focus on cultures of transparency and accountability. The historic model where a few people focus on the project financials without ever relinquishing that information to the team that is actually delivering the project, does not foster accountability or project success. That model creates silos. In our office, any time we consider a new project, we involve our design team in helping shape fee, scope and staffing. Once the schedule is being finalized, the team is involved in understanding the schedule and fee  so that they can be held accountable for delivering the project to that schedule, scope and fee. Does this happen always? No - but this is certainly the way we want to set our culture. 

Right now, too few people understand how working 12 hours on a task when 6 were budgeted, negatively impacts fee, future bonuses and profitability. If you can help people understand that and make it real for them, then the thought process shifts. When people understand how significant their role is to the larger picture, that’s how you build accountability.

At the foundation of the challenge you describe is really the same idea around constant conversations. 

You have shared many excellent tips already, but does anything else jump to mind?

I would echo the messages I’ve already shared. Don’t get in a hurry, don’t get frustrated, embrace the reality that there are so many different paths in this industry. Seek out firms with dynamic cultures where you can thrive. Never stop learning. And, don’t forget to be kind to others and just as importantly - to yourselves. Those things about ourselves we think make us less valuable, they actually do the opposite - they make us unique. Embrace them. Recognize that they give you your power.