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About
FROM THE EDITOR
Vision; Spirit, Sight, and the Power of Ideation
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Clare Kelly, MS, CPSM
Clare Kelly, MS, CPSM, is Principal Consultant at fuseignite and a member of SMPS Colorado. She is an insightful, multi-disciplined marketer for firms that impact the built environment. Clare aligns thoughtful marketing strategies and tactics to each client's unique business development goals. She brings a never-ending curiosity to client relationships and projects, seeking to uncover opportunities and create a spark that will ignite growth for all.
For the first five issues of 2025, the Marketer explored the themes of creativity, risk, value, insight, and collaboration — why these topics matter and how they play a part in shaping us and our industry. We are closing out the year with vision. Vision is the foundation, guide, and compass for all the previously explored themes. As our intriguing cover graphic implies, confidently walking the road ahead of us, with steady vision in mind and spirit, leads us into an unfolding future we have the power to create.
The word vision has been in our lexicon for more than 1,200 years. Derived from the Latin verb, videre, “to see”, vision was first used in Old English to describe "something seen in the imagination or in the supernatural", referring to a visitation by or awareness of spirit. Stick with me, this may sound like obscure knowledge. There’s a point to be made.
By the late 15th century, the meaning of the word vision began to include the actual physical nature of sight. We came to our modern, third definition of the word in the mid to late 20th century: “A mental conception of the future, including a sense of purpose, foresight, or an imaginative scheme.”
Times of great foundational change are driven by and require human vision to navigate.
Below is a fascinating chart from Google Books ngram Viewer. Take these findings with a grain of salt, of course, but it’s safe to say this is a general representation of the volume of the use of the word vision throughout modern history. Notice the proliferation of the word during the 1600s and 1700s - the late Renaissance and the Enlightenment eras. A time when people began “seeing” their world in ways like never before, with scientific research, reason, literacy, exploration, individualism, and a proliferation of the arts. Use of “vision” declined as we entered the ages of mechanization and mass production, and remained flat for almost two hundred years, until a resurgence began around 1975. Keep in mind, most people before the 20th century were using the term vision to refer to a spiritual apparition or the act of seeing.
Google Books Ngram Viewer
What does this have to do with marketing and business development in the AEC industry? I think this chart is just one concrete example that confirms we ARE living through a major paradigm shift. The stress, excitement, and uncertainty we feel are driven by something very big and very real. We are experiencing an era in which the human mind has conceived, built, and continues to advance a portfolio of technologies that are completely transforming civilization. Humanity is now conscious of its ability to conceive and act on ideas to create a future and is doing so at a rate that outpaces our ability to fully understand the impacts of what we have developed, and as a civilization, place a high value on.
How do AEC marketers and business developers find calm, grounding, and the courage to lead through unprecedented change?
With vision.
Choosing vision as your front-line driver means embracing creativity, acknowledging risk as a given, acting in integrity with your values, gathering insight, and inviting collaboration. If we continue to remind ourselves of the tools we have available to create individual, firm, and industry growth, our actions will have ripple effects that will advance knowledge and provide firm ground to stand on.
We have an engaging selection of perspectives on vision for you in this issue.
In "What Endures: Building a Vision That Lasts," Karen Current and Jess Farrier offer a powerful look at vision as “Not only foresight, but the ability to stay oriented to what matters while the context changes. Vision, then, is not a rigid line into the future; it is a steady orientation to place and purpose.”
Krystel English provides practical advice for marketers in “Aligning Marketing Strategy with Company Vision”. She states that “Vision provides direction – it’s your roadmap. It answers the 'why' behind every bid, proposal, and client interaction.”
In “Riding the Learning Curve”, Christine Larsen shares her personal experience of learning to surf in Manly, Australia, and translates lessons learned to her marketing career: “Adopting a beginner’s mindset and letting go of ego opens new possibilities. Rejecting the confines of our own stories can be a path to innovation and growth.”
Call for Contributing Writers
Your voice, perspective, and experience are essential to maintaining the Marketer's position as the thought leadership journal for the AEC industry. Reach out to marketer@smps.org with article ideas or questions. The themes for 2026, along with their submission deadlines, are included on the Calendar page in this issue.
Clare Kelly, MS, CPSM