Industry Leaders EP23 with Miranda Sheehan

Episode Overview: Miranda Sheehan has been at PDT Architects for close to thirty years, and the Brisbane firm itself has been going for eighty-eight — six generations of ownership, in a profession where most practices do not outlast their founders. She is one of three directors who deliberately chose not to appoint a managing director. She tells host Seton Walsh-Rose what buying equity at twenty-six actually cost her, why coming back from her third baby meant eight to ten years of digging the business out of trouble, and why she would not change any of it. Chapters: 00:10 Welcome — Miranda and PDT Architects 00:56 Everything apart from a brewery 03:46 Why most firms decline and this one didn’t 04:06 Six generations and the real origin story 05:13 Thirty people to a hundred and forty 07:02 Three directors, no managing director 09:39 Three new Queensland bases 11:29 Growing without getting too big 12:03 Remote before it was normal 14:03 Letting the team design the post-COVID model 15:18 It all comes down to trust 19:03 Succession runs from student to director 21:06 Where the industry loses women 22:25 Three boys and the juggle 23:55 What would Ruth say? 25:24 Resilience, guilt and not being your best self 29:34 When PDT had no women but the receptionist 32:32 The other side of equity 33:45 Coming back from maternity leave into a crisis 34:47 Six or seven years to get out of that spot 39:43 Why women leave architecture and construction 41:05 How shareholding actually works at PDT 42:14 Shares are worth what someone will pay 45:08 Making buy-in work for the next generation 47:38 Queensland’s moment 49:38 AI and "they think we draw pretty pictures" 50:30 Clients arriving with a ChatGPT render 53:16 Sketching again, an AI policy, a secure environment 54:25 Monthly updates and the creative workshop 57:03 An introvert on the networking circuit 58:32 The forced football conversation 1:01:08 Five to twelve meetings before a fee request 1:03:51 Your network is your real value 1:04:42 Good Hang, Utopia, and laughing at the industry Key Takeaways: 1. Succession is the whole business, not the exit. 2. Buy in for the business, not the payout. 3. A shareholders agreement sets the rules, not the price. 4. Recovery takes years, and effort doesn’t compress it. 5. Flexibility is a trust question, not a policy question. 6. Three directors, no managing director, equal pay. Soundbites: “It all comes down to trust. And if we’re hiring these people, we should be able to trust them. And if we can’t trust them, they shouldn’t be working for us anyway.” — Miranda Sheehan, ~15:18 Connect and Follow Miranda Sheehan LinkedIn:   / mirandasheehan   Website: https://www.pdt.com.au/ References & Resources • Lange Powell, founding architect of the practice that became PDT (Powell, Dods and Thorpe) — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lange_P... • Powell, Dods and Thorpe architectural drawings, UQ Library archive — https://manuscripts.library.uq.edu.au... • Tim O’Donnell, PDT’s in-house heritage architect (rendered as "Timo Donald" in the raw transcript) — https://www.pdt.com.au/post/meet-our-... • Ian Downing, PDT Architects — the director who took Miranda to her first builder meeting —   / ian-downing-3b55a346   • Gold Coast University Hospital — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_Co... • Indooroopilly Shopping Centre, a PDT retail project — https://pdt.com.au/projects-retail/in... • NAWIC — National Association of Women in Construction (Australia) — https://www.nawic.com.au/ • BVN, whose centenary Seton references — https://www.bvn.com.au/article/100-ye... • Property Council of Australia — the peak body behind Queensland’s property leadership councils and committees — https://www.propertycouncil.com.au/ • Microsoft Copilot — https://copilot.microsoft.com/ • ChatGPT — https://chatgpt.com/ • Good Hang with Amy Poehler — Miranda’s podcast pick — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Ha... • Utopia (ABC, Working Dog) — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utopia_...) • The IT Crowd — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_IT_... • Tones and I — the artist behind the lyric Seton quotes — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tones_a... LET’S BE Inspired 📸   / beinspiredcommunity   📱  / beinspiredpodcast   📸  / beconnected_podcast   🎧 https://open.spotify.com/show/5DbuoR8... 🔗   / @beinspiredpodcast   🎵   / beconnectedpodcast   🌍My website - https://be-inspired.net