The Trendhunter.com website “I think that the question you need to ask yourself is what exactly is it that you're trying to do,” he told an inter- viewer. “Are you building a building? Are you paving a road? Or are you solving a different need?” “The more you push yourself, there are critical ques- tions you can ask that would lead you to better understand how your construction business could evolve.” Gutsche added: “The other huge trend that's going to be impacting construction is the generational shift as we go and shift the power of control from boomers to millen- nials.” “Millenials aren't motivated by money,” he said. “They're not motivated by putting in a career of decades of effort into one company. They're motivated by completing, by feeling a sense of belonging, by feeling as if they're in charge and running their own projects.” “This is something that scares off a lot of the engineer- ing in more traditional companies that I've worked with, but the other way to think about it is the attributes of a millen- nial are very similar to the attributes of an entrepreneur. By reengineering how you motivate that new group, you can actually benefit from a group of hungry minds that want to help you adapt.” Of course, putting these words into action can take some effort and, as Gutsche indicates in other materials, no one can really predict the future. The key is to be able to capture the trends – and the examples on his website trendhunter.com may seem a bit different from the chal- lenges most architectural, engineering and construction businesses encounter in their day-to-day operations. However, some AEC businesses certainly “get it” – for example, the trend to green and energy-efficient construc- tion. In Ottawa, Jonathan Westeinde built Windmill Devel- opments as a pioneer in environmentally-responsible development. A few years later, dozens of contractors proudly proclaimed they could handle co-ordinating LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) projects, but they were catching up, not leading. More recently, Ottawa architect CSV has started pio- neering with Passive House construction techniques – achieving extreme energy efficiency without excessively complex systems and processes in the construction. Is this work just ahead of the curve? On the other extreme, several general contractors have been complaining about bundling and the impossibility of competing against well-funded international competitors as job sizes and financing complications grow larger and increasingly sophisticated. How can they adapt when the barriers for bidding seem to be growing at an exponential rate? Some are leading with Integrated Project Delivery (IPD); others are capturing new trends such as 3D printing and virtual reality modeling, and of course, Building Infor- mation Modeling (BIM). But when do you go with the flow, hold back, or decide to take a leap into leadership? “People don't realize it, but here we are experiencing history's highest rate of change, and yet we don't learn about chaos in schools,” Gutche said in the interview. “We are actually approaching the world with a brain that's evolved from 10,000 years of evolution, and all of that leads to a series of traps, traps that block successful peo- ple in particular from adapting. “I'd like to say that 10,000 years of evolution as farmers means that we farm our opportunity, and once you find what you're successful at, your career, your occupation, your go-to way to run a project, then you repeat and opti- mize whatever led to last year's harvest, and that's helped us feed ourselves for 10,000 years, but actually at time pe- riod of change, there are a lot of pitfalls to that.” Gutsche (and the CCA) provided a link to background material from his presentation at the CCA conference at www.trendhunter.com/secret/construction. (It isn't a se- cret when it is posted on a public website, of course.) Mark Buckshon is president of the Construction News and Report Group of Companies, which publishes Canadian Design and Construction Report. You can read his daily blog at www.constructionmarketingideas.com or email him at buckshon@cnrgp.com. Canada’s Premiere trade Show For The Fenestration Industry Be A Part Of It! New Show Layout for 2015! Tuesday • November 3 • 5 pm – 8 pm Wednesday • November 4 • 10 am – 5 pm Thursday • November 5 • 9 am – 1 pm Metro Toronto Convention Centre, South Building, Hall D Show Office: 1-800-282-0003 Win-door is produced for the benefit of the industry by www.windoorshow.com The Canadian Design and Construction Report — April-May 2015 – 7