237 - Designing the Future: How AI is Shaping Architecture Today with CBT Architects' Nirva Fereshetian

Welcome to Listening with Leaders. I'm Doug Noll, lawyer turned peacemaker. I teach executive leaders how to listen to emotions rather than words so that they can become the leaders everyone wants to follow. And I teach those same leaders how to be authentically present, available, and connected to their families despite being insanely busy. I have learned that we are 98% emotional and only 2% rational. Learning how to listen to emotions is, in my experience, the foundational skill of life. Stick around to the end of the show and I'll reveal how you can be on our next guest in 15 to 20 minutes. So let's get started. Nirva Farishtian, welcome to Listening with Leaders. You are the Chief Information Officer of a very large prominent architectural firm in Boston called CBT Architects, and it can be found at cbtarchitects.com. Welcome to the show.

Thank you. Thank you for having me, Doug.

So just before we talked, I, you, I, most people probably don't know this, but since I live in Central California where there is a very large Armenian population, I knew immediately that you were Armenian. But you were, you're, you came from the Turkish side of Armenia after the genocide. Your family migrated to Lebanon. Is that correct?

Middle East. Yeah, they, they, my grandmother was the only survivor of the genocide and she started in Aleppo, Syria and then moved to Lebanon. And yeah, so I grew up there until high school and then came to college and my family moved to the US.

And you went to University of California, Los Angeles, UCLA.

Yes, where there's a large Armenian community. Yes, I went to UCLA. I didn't actually go for that purpose, although that helped in the decision-making. I went because I had an undergraduate degree in architecture, and the last years of my undergraduate degree, I was very interested in the technology that at the time was getting infused into what's a very creative and skeptical field about technology. And there were very few universities with a master's degree, and when that was called computer-aided design. Now it's called lots of other things, and one of them was UCLA. So, yes, that was the primary decision, but it did help that I wanted to go to LA.

And you've been with CBT for what, almost 30 years?

27.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Tell me what a Chief Information Officer does for an architecture firm.

So, I do have a background, and I did work for a year in between as an architect, and so I do have a background in architecture and what a Chief Information Officer does in other businesses and what we do at a basic level is similar on a level where if there's infrastructure, cybersecurity, communication, and all of the regular business functions, it's pretty similar. What we do above and beyond that is really a very big push of technology and technology strategy in this specific industry and the ecosystem. Architect designs all the building designs, all the three-dimensional models, all the technology is born of a building in our offices, in the design offices, and then gradually downstream into consulting. We happen to be an only A firm, just architecture. Some other firms have the E, the engineering components of it, but we work with a lot of consultants mechanical structure, geothermal, and many others. And then so the— what we create moves downstream into construction, and we are involved in the execution of the construction, but our contractors take over, and the whole life cycle is managed and attended by us as the original design designers. What my role does a little differently than any other role in other industries is that we're heavily involved in the technology processes, tools, and efficiencies that specifically deal with the systems that we use. That involves virtual reality, augmented reality, and now AI, as it is the word of the, the month, the year, and the word for the next couple of years, if not more. And so we work— I manage a business technology team which does the regular, what I explained as a common business infrastructure technology, and design technology is really individuals with my background that have a cross-educational start in architecture and technology and are passionate, and we push the firm, help the firm in all those aspects. So now we've added to that computational design, which is automation, scripting and automation specifically in our processes, and looking forward for the AI experimentations and research we're doing.

So where do you think AI and architecture are going to intersect?

It has already intersected. We have, like I said, in the business technology part, we have the common things where meeting notes and Copilot to Microsoft summaries of emails, summaries of meetings, all of that, summaries of contracts in PDFs, expediting in operationally in our financial systems, HR systems. But In the actual design workflow that I try to explain, executing, designing and executing a building, there's many facets to it. The most popular one is currently image generation. So there is a lot of different tools and platforms for image generation, Midjourney, DALL·E, Stability, and many other frameworks built over that where command-driven renderings are happening. I want it this way, I want it another way, including a lot of our graphic tools, Adobe Photoshop and all of those that we regularly use. And a lot of our presentations are really beyond just imagery. They're movies, walkthroughs, animations, and there's a lot of promise in AI on that. But that's the sort of the very famous and popular part of our work. So the sexy part of our work, so to speak. But downstream, there is a lot of efficiencies that we're looking at pickup in code research, in analyzing the 3D models and help expedite things. Much of it currently is in its infancy, but with a lot of promise. It also is very much helping in the learning process of our junior employees. So we have a code system that works like ChatGPT and checks all the references and codes particular for an area and saves our code experts some preliminary questions. So a junior person might learn by asking that system a couple of questions first and then take it to our more senior people.

Wow.

So there's a lot of promise, definitely.

I would say that the job of a CIO in an architecture firm is far broader and deeper than I could possibly imagine.

I think that the most important part of a technology group is really to connect with the business. So if, otherwise, the other parts can be done by a lot of common services. What we would like to bring to the table is the real understanding of what the business does and how we can help together with our employees. The very much— I was very much interested in technology and creative environments. It is an extremely interesting way of dealing and implementing technology that is not the case in financial or other types of typologies. But at the same time, it's also very challenging because this industry is really well known, the construction industry, for its inefficiencies all across. AI will play and hopefully help solve some of these issues.

Excellent. So what is it that gets— you've been doing this now for 27 years. What is it that gets you up in the morning? To go to work and get excited?

So every day there is something different to solve. There's a list of things I want to do, but I rarely end up doing those things. So, and every day is detective investigation. There's so many factors, so many overlays, so many different systems working with each other. Also deciphering the human aspect of things, because I have learned that technology is the easy part. The actual challenging part is how you present it, how you communicate it, and how the human element, what the human element brings into this really interesting way of solving a problem.

Yeah. So what do you, in that regard, what do you think the most important skills are that you have to deal with the human side of the equation?

So those skills were never taught anywhere when I went to school, and I realized that maybe a psychology degree would have helped more than an actual technology degree. I think communication is the, as it is in many other aspects of businesses, is the, the very much key for success. But in this realm, you have to know how to translate technology terms in a very familiar and understandable way. Sometimes we think that we're not, because I am so familiar with the team, the words in the communication we have, that everybody's understanding what we're saying, but that's not the case generally.

You cannot assume that people understand the vocabulary you're using.

Yeah.

Even though it's intimately familiar to you.

That's right. That's right.

You can't assume that everybody else understands what you're talking about.

Yeah. And I think the key is how you explain, and that's something I'm learning every day. I certainly am better at it than I was. Before, but it's certainly something I learn every day.

So what do you, what is it that's unique about you that you bring to the table that makes you so successful?

I think the success is, I don't feel success is an individual victory. I think the success is within a context. And I work in a firm, very much value-driven and a large number of very creative and very smart people. It makes us all Working together and collaborating together really makes us all successful together.

So from your perspective, it's the ability to help people collaborate.

Yes. And then I think communication, collaboration, and most of all caring about what we do seems to be the key aspects of how we are all together successful.

And what is it about you that makes you successful specifically?

I think I care about every single thing I do. I care about the outcomes. I care about the people. I would like to always deliver the highest level of outcomes I can do and push everybody and myself together to get there.

Hmm. So you're obviously very passionate about what you do. And I think that's the caring that comes across very strongly. So let's pivot a little bit to listening. You were talking about communication. A lot of people don't understand what communication is. Sometimes they think it's sending information to other people in various modes. Sometimes they think it's speaking to people. Sometimes they think it's emailing. Sometimes they think it's stuff, but, but really when we think about communication and you're thinking about the need for clear communication, what exactly are you thinking about when you think about communication?

So I think it has so many parts to it and about understanding who your audience is, who you're communicating with, what are, what is the focus of the communication, making sure that you're on point, making sure that you have thought about it clearly before actually making the— The interesting approach is that the current hybrid environment has even brought more of challenges in the communication part. I think there's a lot of body language, emotions, or things transferred in person-to-person meetings that lost a little bit in the hybrid virtual situation, you can read people's reactions, you can read, and that's also part of communication. And in some instances, we don't hear each other the same way, although we are saying the same sentences and we all understand English and we are in the same room together.

That happens all the time. That's why I teach what I teach. I teach a set of skills based on reflective listening, not active listening. And I teach people to listen depending on the circumstance. Sometimes the words are important, so you learn how to do a certain kind of paraphrasing that I teach. But many times I tell people to ignore the words and pay attention to the emotions. Listen to the emotions, not the words. That will give you more information than you'll ever get by just listening to the words.

Wait, what?

And when you do that and you reflect back emotion, so I'd say, so, so, Nerva, you're really excited and you, you, you're really excited about this and you're really passionate about this and it makes you feel really good to think about it. Notice how I'm labeling emotions.

Yes. Yes. Words.

And you can, and if somebody's really upset, you can use the same idea to calm people down so that you can stop an argument or a fight before it ever begins. So I could say something like, Nerva, you are really angry. You're frustrated and you're upset and you feel completely disrespected and ignored and you don't feel heard and you feel unappreciated and unsupported.

Mhm.

That's how we— when you— when I'm reflecting what you're feeling, then you get the opportunity to say yay or nay. Yeah, I do feel that way, thank you very much. And that tends to calm people down rapidly.

I think some people might have that ability to respond better than others. So that's facilitating. Some people have the ability to say, I am upset, or I don't want, I feel this way, and others are a little bit more closed and you have to achieve. Yeah.

The whole idea of communicating, in my view, is more about listening than it is about anything else.

Right.

And when you know how to listen, and what to listen for, you can be much more effective as a leader.

That's very true. And like I said, listening and getting better at it is a daily exercise. Right.

And the good news is it's, it's a learnable skill. Yeah. And you can, if you're with the right kind of people that know what they're doing, you can learn how to listen well very quickly. But your point was early, we're never taught this stuff, right?

Yeah. Never thought this stuff.

And, and yet critical. It's critical to success in business or in whatever you're doing, in your relationships. Isn't that interesting that our whole society doesn't teach us the, the most important skill, which is how to listen to each other? Really interesting. You've been at this for 27 years. What's the future hold for Enerva?

I didn't start it this way. I started in other roles, in a smaller role called supporting the CAD and the software products that is exclusive architecture, but then I ended up rolling into this role naturally as the firm's technology and the whole ecosystem technology moved on. So I think it has been— I never thought in the beginning that this was the role I would be ending up with. It's just an opportunity and a way to think for a lot of people who are in school. That when, where you go to school and what you do, and then how it evolves to be something else, or how you join it with other skill sets you have. So it's been, it's been a very evolving journey. I did not go to school to support the technology infrastructure. I learned it on the job. And because also the technology and how it comes now in, in the forefront in architecture firms was not the same. A decade ago. So my role evolved for that. So generally technology was seen as a backend, office backend things to just make things work. And things have extremely evolved in the last 10 years, especially after COVID, where it's front and center and the base of everything. And AI is putting another spin on it, completely making it an indispensable situation. So when I started, there was a choice. You could have drawn by pencil in a very analog way and survived. And it's just very few firms made that distinction to start looking in that. And now there's just absolutely no question what everyone personally or as a firm in the design spectrum doing. So, it's somehow, what I was trying to say is that it didn't determine that I want to get there and that's how I got there. It evolved because of many external factors. So looking in the future, I feel like a lot of my knowledge and expertise is very much needed for the next big turnkey processes that, or evolution as not just as businesses, I feel the way we live is going to change. The way we do business is going to change. And it's a really big inflection point, but at that, and that needs quite a bit of technology and human interaction. To be implemented.

Wow, fascinating. So one more question, I'll let you go. What's one thing about yourself— you've listened to my podcast, so you know this question— what's one thing about yourself that we would never know about?

You got that out in the beginning because I was prepared to say I'm Armenian and my last name, Iyan, that's good, that gives grief to everybody with its length. And since I went to school early on when I was a kid, if the teacher stopped at a name, I knew it was me. Yes, the I-A-N is typically indication of an Armenian background, and the very long name is an indication of the Armenian background. But I think since you stole that first thunder, I can tell you that also I have other passions. I'm very passionate cook, very interested in— I feel that been a way for me to learn about many different cultures. It's not the food, it's through that I have learned so much about how different people live and how they've come up with those recipes because they're all indications of very thoughtful cultural changes.

Merve, thank you so much for your time today. It's been a real joy talking to you.

Oh, thank you, Doug.

Doug Noll here. Thank you so much for listening to Listening with Leaders. If you are a successful executive leader who would like to be on this program, please visit podcast.dougnull.com/podcast. If you got something out of this interview, would you please share this episode on social media? Just do a quick screenshot with your phone and text it to friend or post it on the socials. If you know someone that would be a great guest, tag them on the social media to let them know about the show and include the hashtag #ListeningWithLeaders. I love seeing your posts and guest suggestions. We are regularly putting out new episodes and content. To make sure you don't miss any episodes, go ahead and subscribe. Your thumbs up ratings and reviews go a long way to help promote the show and mean a lot to me and my team. Want to know more? Go to my website, DougNoll.com, or follow me on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. That's @DouglasEnoll. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you on the next show.