There is an ongoing debate about whether it is better to be a specialist or a generalist in the marketplace. Some recruiters have provided a recommendation of playing it safe by positioning yourself as a “specialist, with breadth.” In a Forbes article they recommended being a specialist in your topic and desire, and being a […]
Lessons from Harvard 4: How Adaptive Project Teams can work with Command & Control
This is the final of four posts based on my experience at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s Executive Education for Sustainability Leadership program that I took in November 2017, led by Dr. Leith Sharp, integrated with some of our GPM Global content where appropriate. The intent of these posts is to show […]
Lessons from Harvard 3: Discovering the Squiggle on Projects
This is the third of four posts based on my experience at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s Executive Education for Sustainability Leadership program that I took in November 2017, led by Dr. Leith Sharp, integrated with some of our GPM Global content where appropriate. The intent of these posts is to show […]
Lessons from Harvard 2: Understanding Organizational “Operating Systems”
This is the second of four posts based on my experience at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s Executive Education for Sustainability Leadership program that I took in November 2017, led by Dr. Leith Sharp, integrated with some of our GPM Global content where appropriate. The intent of these posts is to show […]
Lessons from Harvard 1: Organizational Dynamics Set the Stage for Change
This is the first of four posts based on my experience at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s Executive Education for Sustainability Leadership program that I took in November 2017, led by Dr. Leith Sharp, integrated with some of our GPM Global content where appropriate. The intent of these posts is to show […]
We Need to Raise Capable Leaders; Yesterday.
We in the Project profession must rethink what leadership means. The textbook dictionary definition of “leader” is a person or thing that leads or a guiding or directing head, as of an army, movement, or political group. “Directing hand” is close but doesn’t quite exemplify what we need in order to raise capable successors. We […]
Putting 2020 in the Rearview Mirror
When COVID-19 decided to lay claims to 2020, every organization on the planet was impacted. As we search for the light at the end of the tunnel (and hope it is not an oncoming train), we are all faced with the question, “what now?” I am sure many of us during this pandemic have felt […]
COVID-19 Sustainable Lessons 07: Dealing with Cobb’s Paradox
“We know why projects fail; we know how to prevent their failure—so why do they still fail?” Martin Cobb, Treasury Board Secretariat 1995 Cobb’s Paradox and the Solution This paradox has been frequently raised again and again in the project management community over the years. A generally accepted solution to it though seems particularly appropriate […]
COVID-19 Sustainable Lessons 06: The Cost of Delay
“The early bird may get the worm, but its the second mouse that gets the cheese.” No idea who said this. “Sometimes the early bird gets the worm, but sometimes the early bird gets frozen to death.” Myron Scholes Many of us instinctively procrastinate and delay. There are times though, where the cost of delays […]
COVID-19 Sustainable Lessons 01: Summary
The world is trying to deal with and understand the recent challenges and upheaval caused by COVID-19. Though it is still early to wrap our heads around what is happening and what the future will entail, it is possible to taken in some of the early lessons learned and reminders that are coming out of […]
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