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Evelyn Lee

Practice of Architecture: Amanda Schneider on why workplace culture is failing

Published about 2 months ago • 1 min read

2026

Hello Reader,

My daughter is eight. She knows the day is coming when I won't be able to pick her up, so she has put me on a regimen. A few times a day, wherever I am, she finds me with her arms up. We have an agreement. She has a daily quota, and every time I get stronger, she raises it.

She is not waiting for the moment when she is at risk. She is helping me build the capacity for it now.

This week's guest, Amanda Schneider, has been doing the same kind of thinking for the profession. Amanda is the founder of ThinkLab and the author of "Work for What's Next," and she joined me to walk through ten shifts reshaping how we practice and lead. Her core argument is one I keep turning over: Gen Z isn't a problem to manage, they're a prototype. The people who appear least adjusted to professional culture are often the most accurate diagnosticians of where it's already broken. She has the data to back it up.

​🎧 Episode 231: Work for What's Next — Amanda Schneider on the 10 Shifts Reshaping Practice​

Also new this week: I'm co-hosting a webinar with Egnyte titled "From Data Chaos to AI Readiness." If your firm is trying to figure out how to get your data infrastructure ready for AI, this is the conversation for you. Details and registration below.

What is the thing your firm calls "the way we do things" that is actually just a habit no one has tested against what the profession needs right now?

Keep learning and growing,

Evelyn M Lee, FAIA | NOMA

Founder, Practice of Architecture

Host, Practice Disrupted & Fractional COO

/// May Webinar ///

Is your firm's data ready for AI?

I'm co-hosting this webinar with Egnyte on May 5. We'll dig into what it actually takes to get your firm's infrastructure ready for where the work is going. 12:00 PM PST.

/// Brought to you by U of M /// Code: SAVE 400

/// PoA Podcast - Practice Disrupted ///

If workplace culture is failing, are we brave enough to use Gen Z as the prototype for what comes next?

In the upcoming book Work for What’s Next, Amanda explores the uncomfortable truth that current workplace structures struggle to keep up with the shifting expectations of the modern workforce.

113 Cherry St. #92768, Seattle, Washington 98104-2205
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Evelyn Lee

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