People And Projects Podcast: Project Management Podcast

I Hear You! In this cast I talk with Donny Ebenstein, who just published I Hear You: Repair Communication Breakdowns, Negotiate Successfully, and Build Consensus . . . in Three Simple Steps. This is a must-read book for anyone leading projects and teams. We inevitably get stuck with the impossible team member, boss, or stakeholder. Progress on the project requires us to get past stuck. Learn more about Donny at http://www.ebensteinconsulting.com.   Join our Facebook Page I invite you to stop by our podcast Facebook page! "Like" it and join the discussion. Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Have a great week! LA by Podington Bear is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial License. HEARTS AFLUTTER by Podington Bear is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial License.

Total Duration 20:25 Download episode 104 A Disposition of Gratitude One of my favorite holidays in the United States is Thanksgiving. Many other countries have a similar sort of day, but whether or not your country celebrates the holiday is not the main point here today. The bigger deal is the idea. Being thankful. Having a disposition of gratitude. That's what we're talking about in today's cast. Are You a Thankful Project Manager? In some of our leadership workshops we'll ask a team to answer this question: "Who is the best among the team at giving out honest and sincere appreciation?" Team members usually find it rather easy to answer this question. Would your name be the one that gets the most hits? In this episode we talk about some research behind expressing appreciation. You'll find it's not just your team that benefits. Join our Facebook Page I invite you to stop by our podcast Facebook page! "Like" it and the join the discussion. Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Project

The Year Without Pants Scott Berkun has written one of my favorite books in recent months. Despite the provocative title, The Year Without Pants: WordPress.com and The Future of Work offers some refreshing insights into the world of work that all of us can benefit from. In this episode, you'll hear Scott's insights about the workplace of today and the future of work. Learn more about Scott at http://www.scottberkun.com/blog. You can find all his books and his blog there.   Join our Facebook Page I invite you to stop by our podcast Facebook page! "Like" it and then join the discussion. Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Have a great week! EUPHORIC by Podington Bear is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial License. NO PANTS FRIDAY by Lee Rosevere is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial License.

How to Succeed In Business Without Even Trying That makes for the name of a funny movie but success in business is not quite that simple. If you're familiar with the play or movie, the main character reads a book and jets from the window washer to the top of his organization through manipulative techniques that make for fun business satire. But success in business is not a matter of tricks. In this episode, I talk with Dan Schawbel who recently released his newest book Promote Yourself: The New Rules for Career Success. Especially if you are relatively new in your career or manage a team with millennials, you'll find Dan's insights helpful.   Join our Facebook Page I invite you to stop by our podcast Facebook page! "Like" it and then join the discussion. Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Have a great week!

Introducing Mike Durbin, PMP We continue our In the Trenches series with this discussion with Mike Durbin, PMP. Mike shares insights and lessons he's learned in his years of leading teams and delivering projects.   Get PDUs or Contact Hours For Less! Want to get 35 PDUs or contact hours for a great price? Check out our PMP®Exam Prep e-learning at http://courses.i-leadonline.com/bundles/pm-certification-exam-prep. This is a great option, whether you're preparing for the exam or want to refresh your knowledge for PDU's.   Add Your Voice to Our Podcast! Are you a regular listener to The People and Projects Podcast? I'd love to have your voice added to the beginning or end of the cast. Just send me an e-mail saying "I'd love to help!" I would love to have the opportunity to talk with you directly so contact me today and we'll set up a time to record your piece. Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Have a great week!   Drive by Management {youtube}08QDUPnT4eU{/youtube}   S

The Project Named You A key project management lesson is that we need to define success. What does success look like for a project? That's a question we need to ask far more often than we do. Getting clarity on objectives can make an enormous difference when it comes to delivering our projects successfully. Well, how about applying that lesson to our lives? Our guest for this episode is G. Richard Shell, who recently published Springboard: Launching Your Personal Search for Success. Do you think success for you is about being happy? In this episode, you'll be challenged to think again, or at least differently about what happy even means. We'll talk about meaningful work and why having a detailed career plan may just not be what you need right now.   Our 100th Episode! As it turns out, this is our 100th episode! Thank you for being a part of this learning journey with me. Feedback from listeners over the years has always been very encouraging to me. So here's a request: would you take a couple minutes and send

Total Duration 30:38 Download episode 99 Don't Take Yes for an Answer! Yes men. Yes women. People who say Yes. Leaders who only want people to say Yes. There are countless decisions required to deliver projects and lead teams. We make the job significantly more difficult if we fall into the trap of surrounding ourselves with Yes people. Or shooting the messenger who brings bad news. Or any of the dozens of cognitive biases that can cloud our decision-making judgment. My guest today is author and professor Michael Roberto. Mike just released a second edition of his book on decision-making entitled Why Great Leaders Don't Take Yes for an Answer: Managing for Conflict and Consensus. When someone doesn't agree with you, is it just a disagreement that leads to a vigorous and healthy debate? Or, as far as you're concerned, they're just wrong? In this episode you'll hear how we can make better decisions through conflict and consensus. Follow Michael on his blog or check out his offerings at The Great Courses. Tha

Insights from Nancy Duarte If you don't particularly enjoy giving presentations, I understand. Though 1994 was a near-death experience for me, 19 years later I make a living doing it. There's hope for us all and Nancy Duarte is a great leader for us all to learn from. In this episode, Nancy shares ideas from her recent book HBR Guide to Persuasive Presentations. Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Have a great week!   Nancy on Presentations {youtube}1nYFpuc2Umk{/youtube} BLAH BLAH BLAH NEXT SUBJECT by Seven5Seven is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.

Does Your Work Suck? So how would you describe your excitement level about your job? Would you say, "It's awesome Andy! I love my job!" Or would you be more on the side of... "Work Sucks."   Insights from Jody Thompson In this episode you'll hear from Jody Thompson, co-author of Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It: The Results-Only Revolution and Why Managing Sucks and How to Fix It: A Results-Only Guide to Taking Control of Work, Not People. Looking for fresh insights on how to look and work and leading teams? You'll get it in this episode!   Join our Facebook Page I invite you to stop by our podcast Facebook page! "Like" it and join the discussion. Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Have a great week!   PIECE FOR DISAFFECTED PIANO TWO by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. BATTY MCFADDIN by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.

Finger Tapping and Cookie Crumbs In this premium episode, I follow-up on some points from my interview with Paul Weber. You'll learn about: Elizabeth Newton's finger tapping experiment How cookies flushed out some bossy characteristics Click here to watch an interview with Bob Sutton that goes into the bossy issue more. Also, here's the HBR article with Bob. Thank you for joining me for this premium episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Have a great week!   NO GOOD LAYABOUT by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.

Introducing Paul Weber, PMP We continue our In the Trenches series with this discussion with Paul Weber, PMP. Paul shares insights and lessons he's learned in his years of leading teams and delivering projects. To learn more about Paul and to contact him about the free EVM and PERT calculators mentioned in this episode, go to http://www.pmpguy44.com.   Join our Facebook Page I invite you to stop by our podcast Facebook page! "Like" it and join the discussion. Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Have a great week!   Bob Sutton on Power Poisoning Paul warned us to make sure we don't think of leadership as being the boss or being bossy. Here's one of my favorite authors talking about power poisoning, the effect that happens when someone gets power. {youtube}Mozejv4sE5o{/youtube} NO GOOD LAYABOUT by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.

Adapt. Deliver. Fast. If you are in the business of delivering projects, especially in the area of software development, you have certainly heard about agile project management. A good sign that the influence of agile continues to grow is when the Project Management Institute created the PMI Agile Certified Practitioner credential (PMI-ACP®) in 2012. If you are actively involved with agile in any of its many forms, it's worth learning more about the PMI-ACP certification. And if you're not currently utilizing agile practices, it's worth investing time to understand what it is and isn't.   Welcoming Back Cornelius Fichtner, PMP In this episode, I welcome back my friend and podcast colleague Cornelius Fichtner, whom you probably know as the voice of The Project Management Podcast. In this episode, I talk with Cornelius about agile, the PMI-ACP certification, and a new way to study for the PMI-ACP that might just fit your style of learning.   Try the Agile PrepCast™ If you want to study to pass the PMI-ACP exam,

What Does It Take To Motivate Your Team? One of the common concerns I hear from those who lead projects and teams has to do with motivation. What does it take? An inspirational speech (see the video below!)? Money? Time? All the above, depending on the person?   Motivating Project Teams In this episode I talk with Heidi Grant Halvorson and E. Tory Higgins.. They are the authors of a book just released this week entitled Focus: Use Different Ways of Seeing the World for Success and Influence. The underlying research behind the book finds we each tend to have a primary motivational focus or mindset: either promotion or prevention. You'll learn more about what these mean in this episode. I invite you to visit Heidi's website at at http://www.heidigranthalvorson.com/. You can take an assessment to learn your motivational style by visiting http://www.yourfocusdiagnostic.com.   Need Some Motivation Hey, you promotion-minded listener! Need a little pick-me-up that will speak right to your promotion-minded heart? Ch

Can I Ask You a Favor? So let's say someone asks you for help. For a favor, let's say. What's your first reaction? Is it, "Sure! No problem! I'd love to help!" Perhaps most of us would like to think that's how we respond. Could your response vary, based on the situation? Let's modify the scenario. Let's say this person who is asking for help seems, in your mind, to have very little potential to help you in any meaningful way--now or in the future. Regardless of how you made that assessment, in economic terms, this favor would appear to have very little perceived return on investment. So, would you still help? Or would you scramble for an excuse to step away?   Welcoming back Dr. Adam Grant My guest in this episode is Dr. Adam Grant. We talk about his new book released just this week entitled Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success. In this episode you'll hear Adam talk about givers, takers, and matchers, three reciprocity styles that form the basis of the book. I invite you to visit the book's web

Introducing Kiron Bondale, PMP We continue our In the Trenches series of episodes, with this interview with Kiron Bondale, PMP. Kiron runs the Project Management Office at Agricorp. Make sure to check out Kiron's insightful blog at http://kbondale.wordpress.com. Kiron has graciously offered to share a risk register template with listeners of The People and Projects Podcast. Click the icon below to download the Microsoft Excel file:   20 PDUs for a Great Price! Whether you need contact hours for PMP®certification or PDUs, we can help! Our e-learning is engaging, informative, and even fun. Go to http://courses.i-leadonline.com/courses/advanced-project-management to get 20 PDU's for a great price.    Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Have a great week!     FIREWORKS by Jahzzar is licensed under a Attribution-ShareAlike License.

So, how do you feel when each of the following occurs? You come across a typo in a project document. You receive an e-mail that is pages and pages long. Someone hits Reply All and there are hundreds of people on copy. You're stuck in a meeting listening to a presenter who has mastered every business cliche in the book! Yuck. We're living in a business climate where writing skills matter so much but get so little attention.   Tips for Better Business Writing Ever sit there in front of your monitor, your keyboard anxiously waiting for you to start typing your communication and you just feel stuck? Wouldn't it be great if there was a concise guide to improve your business writing? Thankfully, there is! My guest in this episode is Professor Bryan A. Garner. He is the author of over 20 books, including Garner's Modern American Usage, Black's Law Dictionary (editor-in-chief), and the grammar and usage chapter in the venerable The Chicago Manual of Style. Brian recently published The HBR Guide to Better Business

Lessons Learned... For Life Hopefully by now you have had the opportunity to listen to my interview with Karl Pillemer. I can honsestly say this is one of my favorite books in the last year so it's my pleasure to share some additional insights with you from the discussion with Karl. In this premium episode we'll discuss ideas such as: Who are your experts? How a profound awareness of short time horizon helps us make better choices The importance of work that is intrinsically motivating Why, unless there is a compelling reason not to, you should error on the side of saying "Yes" The importance of relationships and why emotional intelligence trumps expertise Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Have a great week! Total Duration 12:38 {mp3remoate}http://traffic.libsyn.com/peopleandprojectspodcast/90-PremiumFollowUpLifeLessons.mp3{/mp3remote} Download the premium episode

When it comes to the stuff of life, there is no shortage of people and resources who offer insights on how to be successful, get a job, have meaningful relationships, and more. The experts range from celebrities to academics to anyone with a blog. Our guest in this episode is Karl Pillemer, author of 30 Lessons for Living: Tried and True Advice from the Wisest Americans. There are all kinds of reasons why Justin Bieber or other celebrities aren't the best sources for life lessons! But what if we talked to people who have lived much of their life and had a bit of a retrospective or lessons learned with them? That's the idea behind Karl's book, which we discuss in this episode. Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Have a great week!   30 Lessons Trailer For more about Karl and his book, check out this trailer: {youtube}PRaboPigDyc{/youtube} QUADRILLE LAURIER (6EME PARTIE) by Isidore Soucy is licensed under a Orphan Work License. TROUBA by Steve Gunn is licensed under a A

In The Trenches... Like You A month or so ago I was talking with listener Mike Settlemire. Mike was participating in our Advanced Project Management e-learning program and we were talking about the podcast. Mike had a suggestion: what about interviewing practitioners? People who are leading and delivering in the real world?   Insights from Your Peers, Not Authors Hey, I love bringing you discussions with people like John Kotter, Dan Pink, Kerry Patterson, Adam Grant, and the many other guests we have had thus far. And we will continue to deliver interviews from authors of books that can stretch and inform us to better lead and deliver. But I think Mike is exactly right! Some times it can be just as effective to hear from a peer. What does he or she do to help them lead and deliver? What has led to their success and what would they do over?   Introducing Ryan Endres Our first installment of our In the Trenches series is with Ryan Endres, PMP. In the interview, Ryan shares insights and lessons that have helped

You're a Salesperson. Seriously. So, when you think of a salesperson, who comes to mind? For many people, it's someone closer to Kenny the Sales Weasel from Dilbert (see the video below). Good thing you and I aren't salespeople! We're project managers. Team leads. Department heads. Scrum Masters. But salespeople? No way! Or are we? Though we may not be salespeople by title, we spend concerted time on a weekly basis trying to move people--influence people--getting them to take action or agree to something or sign off on a document or hire you or show up for a meeting, or finish a task on time. To Sell is Human Our guest in this episode is Daniel Pink, author of the new book entitled To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others. Dan's new book can help us all be much more successful at helping move people without resorting to sleazy tricks. Help Getting Your PMP®Certification Whether you need contact hours for PMP®certification or PDUs, we can help! Our e-learning is engaging, informative, and