In his paper, Changes in Construction Markets: The Next 15 Years, Kermit Baker, AIA chief economist and senior research fellow at Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies shares these trends to be aware of:

Population Trends

• Dramatic growth of middle-age population
• Decline in household size, and growth of single-person and two-person households
• Growing number of heads-of-household in their 40s to 60s, the age group that spends most on remodeling
• Influx of immigrants; growing population diversity
• Dramatic growth of Sunbelt population

Residential Trends

• Growth in residential remodeling, additions and alterations
• More high-end homes for single and two-person households
• New and remodeled homes to accommodate more sophisticated offices for at-home work and in-home health-care services for aging residents
• More low-maintenance, security and automation features

Contract Trends

• New-office construction will slow, but many offices will be restructuring and/or remodeling
• Both academic educational and professional/corporate training environments are expected to be in demand (renovations, new buildings, facilities for new educational models, distance learning, etc.)
• Health-care facilities to experience significant growth and rework
• Criminal-justice facilities expected to grow

Transforming Tomorrow

Richard Thieme in his online column, "Islands in the Clickstream," writes: "Wisdom, like insanity, is contextual. What is wise under one set of conditions, may be insane under others. What looked like success a few years ago may not make for success today. Those who are complacent about their success may actually be failing. Those who feel as if they are failing may in fact be on the cutting edge of life that is outgrowing its organizational boundaries and its old ways of framing reality."

Dr. Terry Paulson, in his ezine "Monday Message of Mastery and Mirth" (www.terrypaulson.com) responded to Thieme with strong wisdom. "Success on the verge of exploding into awareness often looks like a dead end. Some are striving so hard to be the best that they lose sight of the fact that even if they succeed, they have become the best at something no longer needed. Don’t be like the majority who facing an uncertain future, try to find their confidence in copying others only to find that the real answers reside in the uncertain waters of uncharted opportunity."

What part of your time do you invest in creative thinking, exploring crazy, even wacko ideas that may make you and your team the cutting edge innovators of the future? It is wise to heed the advice of the late Jerry Garcia, the "CEO" of the Grateful Dead: "You do not merely want to be considered the best of the best. You want to be considered the only ones who do what you do."

Published: February 7, 2001

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Kathy Lamancusa is a trend strategis, professional speaker and author who tracks the forces that impact our lives. Over 1.6 million copies of Kathy's books are in print, and she has appeared on numerous television and radio shows including Oprah! She is a public speaker who can offer organizations entertaining and enlightening peeks into what is coming and what is shaping change so that they can better reach their own customer bases.