Every successful project starts with a framework. A vision statement. A blueprint. The staff of Engineered Systems is proud to present The Blueprint — a monthly Q&A interview with HVACR engineering’s leading voices. These one-on-one discussions examine the trade’s history, current industry trends, the factors shaping the sector’s future, and more.

In the most recent installment, Mick Schwedler, 2021-2022 president, ASHRAE discusses the success of the Epidemic Task Force; the need for diversity, equity, and inclusion within the society; the creation of a building decarbonization task force; and much more in the latest installment of the Blueprint.

Engineered Systems: The society's theme for this year is “Personal growth, global impact, feed the roots.” Can you tell us the meaning and the importance behind this phrase?

Schwedler: Sure. This was developed with the help of the president elect advisory committee. And, when you look at us, whether you're in the media, a technician, a doctor, or taking care of waste disposal — we all need to grow and to learn what we're doing. So, the first part of this is focused on personal growth. A lot of times, people think of engineering as strictly a technical profession, but coming out of universities or technical schools, people also need to learn leadership skills. They must know how to communicate, lead meetings, and prioritize elements. So all of that is enveloped in within the personal growth.

And then, we, together and collectively, have tremendous global impact. I think we're going to talk about a few of those. But if we look at what our world has been through in the last two years, our industry has never been more relevant or essential. People learned what they needed to learn from a technical standpoint. And, following that, they’re able to get it to the folks who needed it.

And, finally, “feed the roots,” particularly for our more vintage individuals. But, young people can do this too. We all need to grow, and somebody needs to help us. At some point, somebody took us under their wings, encouraged us, and mentored us. That's why we’re where we are today. So, that's really a challenge to each of us, to find those who already know and help feed their roots so they can grow personally. And we can have that tremendous global impact. So, it's a wonderful circle, and it's been well taken in by our members and even those outside of ASHRAE.

Engineered Systems: You mentioned that these last two-plus years have certainly been challenging. And, while many people have yearned to get things back to normal, you prefer to challenge the notion of what normal is, right?

Schwedler: What I really meant was to challenge the everyday line of thinking. Sometimes, when we say we want to get back to normal, we realize that what we've had is extraordinary. And, let's not let that go away. But, rather than just settling for normal or mediocre, let's get back to that extraordinary and then move on to the next extraordinary, using the lessons we've learned from the last two years. Let’s expand upon with Chuck did with technology. Could any of us even spell all the platforms we're using today to reach out throughout the world to do our day jobs? How do we use the lessons we've learned the last two-plus years to move on to extraordinary? How do we put them into our day-to-day work, and what do we do in order to make things much better than they were before? Sometimes, existence is painful enough. So, out of that pain, let's find some great things to move forward with.

Read the entire interview on Engineered Systems’ website.