Winning and Losing Quickly... Do you enjoy "bake-offs" for awarding new leasing or sales assignments? How long does it take you to prepare a comprehensive presentation? Do you have fun practicing? How frequently do you win?

My guess is that most folks dread this process, which frequently requires time-consuming preparation combined with a very unpredictable outcome. So I smiled when I read last week's Wall Street Journal article "Bake-Off" Helps U.S. Pick Architects for Federal Buildings (Jan 26, 2005, subscription required).

You will not believe this. "Bake-offs" for new GSA architectural assignments take only eleven hours. It's true. The GSA has used this new selection process in dozens of cities, including Nashville, Austin and Toledo, for new federal courthouse buildings ranging upwards from $25 million.

For example, in Anniston, AL, each of five teams was limited to these materials: colored pencils, tracing paper and rulers (no computers!). That's it. Starting at 7:00 a.m., each four-person team had to prepare and submit its entry (drawn on four 40-inch-by-30-inch presentation boards) by 6:00 p.m.

The architectural jury judging the entries selected its winner the next day. Oops, not quite. Later that day, the "evaluation board" of GSA personnel overruled the architectural jury and selected a different winner. (In dozens of other competitions, the evaluation board agreed with the architectural jury.)

But you get the picture. The whole process occurs in a very short time frame. So I'm wondering, could corporations select tenant reps this way? Likewise, could building owners select sales agents in eleven hours?

Might principals meet with candidate agents in the morning, outline an assignment and solicit their best advice by the end of the day? Would you prefer to compete in this kind of "beauty contest"?

--Peter Pike