Geoff McDonald - Ideas Architect

Disrupted before I even started…

My initial experience of disruption was before I’d even finished my first university degree. I was part of the last year of Deakin University architecture students to study for five full years and not touch a computer. It was like preparing for a career driving cars after serving an apprenticeship riding horses. My career was out of date before I’d even started!

At first I was totally #$%?! off! It hardly seemed fair. And, as one door closed I simply had to open another… It was at this time that I started my sense-making journey. If I didn’t get my head around computers in architecture my future prospects would melt like ice cream in the summer sun.

As a result, instead of going into architectural practice I headed to the US to pursue a Masters degree. I finished up working in London and speaking at the two biggest architectural conferences in the world on the future I saw for architects. Later I wrote a book about this.

I’ve since had a number of different careers. I’ve run my own website design business, a coaching business, written corporate training programs and even designed board games for clients.

The big lesson for me in my career was that the only insurance I had was to study, learn and make sense of what was going on around me. It didn’t mean I could stop the tidal wave of change coming. It simply gave me the chance to see it coming.

And, I didn’t always get it right. One of the reasons I quit architecture was because I hated the idea of sitting at a computer all day. It’s ironic that this is now normal for me and most other people. That’s a great reminder that one person doesn’t know it all.

[testimonial_rotator id=”9113″]

A Potted History…

Education

Author

Programs

Presenter and Facilitator

Change Agent

Geoff McDonald - The Centaur

Interesting Bits

Connect with Geoff Online…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *