ULI Philadelphia: Breaking Down Silos
ULI Philadelphia's "Breaking Down Silos" Event Successfully Bridges Industry Gaps
Union‘s Ben Wills, Associate Principal and Director of our Philadelphia office, recently moderated an insightful ULI Philadelphia panel discussion titled “Breaking Down Silos: Duolingo for Developers, Designers, Financiers, and Policymakers.” The March 13th event brought together cross-disciplinary leaders to explore how different professionals in the built environment can better communicate and collaborate.
“Panel discussions can be really lively when you put 4 people with as much insight, creativity, and experience as Martha Cross, Meagan Whetstone, Job Itzkowitz, and Nancy Gephart on a stage together.
Turns out that in building projects–as in parenting–approaching communication with curiosity, empathy, and (sometimes radical) honesty can be disarming, empowering, and very effective. There is skill in choosing your means of communication, and value in modulating your vocabulary to meet the people you’re trying to communicate with. Regardless of silo, everyone on a project team is accountable to someone (or something), and all of our communication is in service of building relationships that can get (better!) things built.
Really grateful to ULI Philadelphia for supporting this event and to Blueprint Commercial and Oxford Mills for hosting us!” –Ben Willis