People And Projects Podcast: Project Management Podcast

A New Way to Think Over 300 episodes ago we were joined by Roger L. Martin to talk about ideas from his book The Opposable Mind. In the years since, I have personally benefited from Roger’s insights in books such as The Design of Business and Creating Great Choices. Roger joins us again in this episode to talk about his newest book entitled A New Way to Think: Your Guide to Superior Management Effectiveness. If you just glanced at the book, you might think it’s only relevant to CEOs and other top leaders. But there are ideas in this book that anyone leading projects and teams would benefit from. In this episode, Roger discusses the value and pitfalls of following popular models. He shares insights on why we need to get closer to the customer and how one of his friends and co-authors did that as CEO of Proctor & Gamble. You’ll hear Roger explain why the familiar solution usually trumps the perfect one and why we just might make better decisions if we focus on what must be true instead of what is true. We t

Staying Motivated to Get Things Done How do we stay motivated when we’re pursuing our goals? And what can we learn from motivational science to help us both at work and at home? We’re joined today by one of the most important voices in motivational science, Dr. Ayelet Fishbach. Ayelet is the author of a new book entitled Get It Done: Surprising Lessons from the Science of Motivation. In this episode, Ayelet will talk about some of the biggest myths or misunderstandings about motivation--some that I think you’ll recognize. She’ll talk about the importance of how we frame goals and how putting a number to them makes a big difference. She’ll explain the planning fallacy and how that impacts us individually and with our projects. Ayelet will help us better understand if we should reflect on the progress we’ve made--or how far we have to go yet. And throughout the discussion, we’ll apply the learning to goals like project delivery, team motivation, earning a certification, exercising, losing weight, and even paren

In The Trenches With Yasmina Khelifi Every once in a while we have a type of episode that we call In the Trenches. It’s an episode that interviews someone who is actively working in a project leadership role, allowing us to benefit from the lessons they have been learning over the years. I’m glad to welcome our guest today, Yasmina Khelifi, from Paris, France. Yasmina has been a leader in the telecom industry for many years and is an active blogger on projectmanagement.com. She has extensive experience working with international teams, providing her unique insights into how culture factors into leading and communicating. Learn more about Yasmina on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/yasminakhelifi-pmp-telecom/ and on ProjectManagement.com. Join our Global LEAD52 Community Ready to take your leadership skills to the next level? LEAD52 is your 5-minute weekly pass to leadership intelligence. You get 52 weeks of learning, delivered right to your inbox, taking less than 5 minutes a week. And it's all for fre

Mistakes (New) Managers Make If you are currently in a management role, do you remember what it was like when you first took on that new position? Do you remember what your struggles were? Janet Polach joins us today to talk about her book The Seven Mistakes New Managers Make: How to Avoid Them and Thrive. Though it’s a book for new managers, my take is that we could all benefit from being reminded about the traps we can easily fall into as we seek to become more effective leaders. Learn more about Janet and her book at InTheLead.co. Join our Global LEAD52 Community Ready to take your leadership skills to the next level? LEAD52 is your 5-minute weekly pass to leadership intelligence. You get 52 weeks of learning, delivered right to your inbox, taking less than 5 minutes a week. And it's all for free. Join us at https://GetLEAD52.com. Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Talent Triangle: Leadership   Crime Time by Frank Schröter Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/9136-crim

Developing Culture Beyond the Theory You know that the culture of your team and organization is critical to your ability to get work done. But here’s my observation: most books on culture stay too theoretical. They share models for understanding what culture is. They have high-level processes for transforming culture. And despite nodding my head while reading these books, I find they’re often not sufficiently practical. How do we, in practice, develop culture over time? That’s the focus of Brad Federman’s new book entitled Cultivating Culture: 101 Ways to Foster Engagement in 15 Minutes or Less. Brad joined us way back in episode 36 to talk about engaging our team members and he’s back with a new book to help us develop our team culture. Learn more about Brad and his book at BradFederman.com. For more on this topic of culture, check out the following episodes: Episode 25 with MIT Fellow Ed Schein Episode 251 with former Facebook leader Mike Rognlien Episode 252 with Marcus Buckingham Join our Global LEAD52

What Is Compassionate Leadership? In this episode, we’re continuing a series about rehumanizing the workplace. I know from conversations with so many of you that you desire to lead in a way that builds people up and delivers results. It’s not one or the other--it’s both. Well, that idea of leading with empathy while delivering results is the premise of a new book by Donato Tramuto entitled The Double Bottom Line: How Compassionate Leaders Captivate Hearts and Deliver Results. In this episode, Donato will talk about what compassionate leadership means--and what it doesn’t mean. He’ll talk about how empathy is part of the equation--but not enough. He’ll talk about the role trust has in compassionate leadership--and how we can take practical steps to increase trust with those we lead. Donato will talk about why he doesn’t particularly like the term feedback, but also how we can help someone improve their performance is a compassionate way. Throughout it all, you'll get to know a genuinely interesting person--som

The Crisis of Loneliness One of my least favorite phrases over the last couple of years is the term Social distancing. I understand the idea and I worked to be diligent about keeping others safe. But that’s physical distancing--and that had its place. Social distancing, on the other hand, has been arguably devastating. My guest today says that, without even realizing it, we are subtly turning our backs on humanity every day. Steven Van Cohen joins us today to talk about his new book entitled Connectable: How Leaders Can Move Teams From Isolated to All In. It’s a book about the crisis of loneliness and in today’s discussion, Steven talks about the difference between loneliness and solitude. He shares some of the biggest contributors to modern-day loneliness and how we, as leaders, can strive to foster more belonging on our teams. Steven includes ways to help us more easily spot lonely workers and invest in connection. It's a conversation I can't wait to share with you. Learn more about Steven, his co-author, a

The Dirty Little Secret of Business For years I’ve been telling coaching clients that the dirty little secret of business is that everything comes down to relationships. I know: It’s not dirty. It’s certainly not little. And I suppose it’s not a secret--you know relationships are important. But the statistics about relationships are not encouraging and it’s not just because of social distancing during COVID. Maybe it’s just that we’re busy. Or maybe it’s that what we think we know about relationships is wrong. Eric Barker joins us again, this time to talk about his new book entitled Plays Well with Others: The Surprising Science Behind Why Everything You Know About Relationships Is (Mostly) Wrong. In this episode, Eric talks about why the fundamental core of relationships is the stories we tell ourselves. He explains why we stink at reading people--despite thinking we’re awesome at it. Before we’re done with this episode, you’ll know what costly signals are and why it’s important to know about Negative Sentim

A How-To Guide for Psychological Safety Fear is something that can impact us as individuals for sure, and it spreads to teams and organizations. In this episode, we’re going to take this topic of fear head-on to help empower us as leaders to deal with it. My guest today is Mark Minukas, co-author of a book entitled Unfear: Transform Your Organization to Create Breakthrough Performance and Employee Well-Being. In this episode, Mark talks about what unfear means--and doesn’t mean. He shares some of the less effective approaches we might be tempted to take when it comes to fear—and why they don’t work. Mark explains why the story we create about fear matters more than the fear itself. And he gives us some ideas on how we can start dealing better with fear ourselves so we can start to help our team as well. It’s a conversation I’m looking forward to sharing with you. Learn more about Mark and his book at UnfearBook.com. Join our Global LEAD52 Community Ready to take your leadership skills to the next level? LEAD5

Rehumanizing the Workplace A couple of years after COVID first hit, I can think of so many examples of how we’re becoming less human at work. It’s not just due to automation or outsourcing or remote work. Whether it’s because of social media, political polarization, or a host of other factors, I feel like there’s increasing pressure to not speak up. To not be yourself. To blend in. To not rock the boat. In a way, to be less human. I’m excited to introduce you to Dr. Rosie Ward, co-author of a book entitled ReHumanizing the Workplace. In this episode, Rosie talks about how the disruptions we’re experiencing today don’t just go away once COVID is a distant memory. She talks about authenticity and why it’s critically important to humanizing the workplace, yet why it’s a struggle for us. It’s a conversation I’m looking forward to sharing with you. Learn more about Dr. Rosie Ward and her book at DrRosieWard.com/About. Join our Global LEAD52 Community Ready to take your leadership skills to the next level? LEAD52 i

Staying Focused One of the biggest challenges we face in day-to-day living is staying focused. There are so many things vying for our attention. In fact, right now, even as you’re listening to this episode, you’re probably doing something else, right? Like driving, working out, going for a walk, maybe even going through email. To help fight back against those challenges, I’m excited to introduce you to Erik Qualman, author of a book entitled The Focus Project: The Not So Simple Art of Doing Less. Learn more about Erik and his book at Equalman.com/The-Focus-Project/. For more content on this topic, check out: Episode 242 with James Clear about his book Atomic Habits Episode 309 with Ashley Whilans about her book Time Smart Episode 140 with Cal Newport about his book Deep Work Join our Global LEAD52 Community Ready to take your leadership skills to the next level? LEAD52 is your 5-minute weekly pass to leadership intelligence. You get 52 weeks of learning, delivered right to your inbox, taking less than 5 min

Psychological Safety on Project Teams It is likely not a new idea to you that there are so many benefits to our projects and our teams when we foster a culture of psychological safety. The idea of psychological safety is straightforward. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy. Because of that, I’m always on the lookout for resources that can help us make progress on developing trusting relationships on teams and organizations. In this episode, I’m excited to introduce you to LaTonya Wilkins, author of a book entitled Leading Below the Surface: How to Build Real (and Psychologically Safe) Relationships with People Who Are Different from You. In this episode, LaTonya will talk about her notion of a below the surface leader and how that’s different from being a surface leader. She’ll talk about the Terrible Three and how they can get in the way of us seeking to be a below the surface leader. Before we’re done today, you’ll understand how bridging and micro-habits can help us on this journey. And LaTonya will share some

Scrappy Project Management Too much project management education--including what you find on bookshelves at stores--is dry. Seemingly impractical and irrelevant. I'm constantly on the lookout for people who are practical and inspiring voices on helping us get better at leading teams and delivering projects. In this episode, I'm excited to introduce you to Kimberly Wiefling, author of Scrappy Project Management. In today's discussion, Kimberly will help us understand what it means to be scrappy--and why it's important. We'll talk about some of the predictable and avoidable pitfalls that plague our projects. You'll learn what her Project Success Scorecard is and how it can help you and your team. Kimberly will share insights on dealing with risks and assumptions AND why she recommends you never say No, even to the most ridiculous demands. Kimberly is as fun as she is brilliant. Learn more about her work at Wiefling.com. For more content related to today's episodes, check out: Episode 274 with J. Scott about hi

Hiring: Your Most Important Responsibility It could be argued that there is nothing more important than hiring outstanding people. But the sad fact is we generally stink at hiring people. For a host of reasons, we often end up hiring what our guest in this episode calls the 90-Day Wonder—someone who, after 90 days, makes us wonder, “Why in the world did we hire this person?” How do we avoid that? Well, today I’m excited to introduce you to Lou Adler. Lou is the author of a book entitled Hire With Your Head: Using Performance-Based Hiring To Build Outstanding Diverse Teams. The 4th edition of this classic book has recently been published and it’s filled with ideas that have been perfected over the years. In this episode, Lou shares some of the biggest myths and mistakes that we make in the hiring process. He explains what Win-Win Hiring is and why it’s critical to the hiring process. Lou explains the difference between a great candidate and a great hire—they’re not the same. And he explains what a performance

Communicating With Difficult Personalities One of the biggest complaints people have when working on projects is related to communication. Often people feel out of the loop or they just don’t understand what is being written or said. It’s been suggested that up to 90% of what we do when we’re leading projects is communicating. And I think it’s fair to say, we all would benefit from leveling up our ability to clearly, effectively communicate with our teams, colleagues, and management. In this episode, I’m excited to introduce you to Tina Kuhn. Tina is the author of a book entitled The Manager’s Communication Toolkit: Tools and Techniques for Leading Difficult Personalities. In today’s discussion, Tina will share why those of us who lead teams and projects are tempted to default to email or other less-rich mediums—and why that causes problems. Tina will share some insights on how to communicate more effectively in your next Zoom or Teams meeting. She’ll help us see that effective communication is not just adjus

Thursday Is The New Friday If you ask someone about how things are going at work, what’s a typical response? What I most often hear is “Busy! We are busy!” Ask someone how they’re feeling, many people will say, “Fine.” But if they get more transparent, what they’ll often say is, “I’m tired.” Busy and exhausted. Can you relate to that? In this episode, I’m excited to introduce you to Joe Sanok. Joe is the author of a book entitled Thursday is the New Friday: How to Work Fewer Hours, Make More Money, and Spend Time Doing What You Want. Does that subtitle sound like overselling? Or at least something that sounds nice but isn’t practical? Well, Joe is here to challenge that suspicion. Learn more about Joe and his book at JoeSanok.com. Join our Global LEAD52 Community Ready to take your leadership skills to the next level? LEAD52 is your 5-minute weekly pass to leadership intelligence. You get 52 weeks of learning, delivered right to your inbox, taking less than 5 minutes a week. And it's all for free. Join us at

Improving Your Ability To Influence One of the common concerns I hear from clients and podcast listeners is related to influence. How can I convince a boss or colleague or stakeholder or loved one to agree to something, especially when I don’t have authority in the situations? I can confidently tell you that my new favorite book on the topic of influence has just hit the shelves and I can’t wait to introduce you to it. Zoe Chance is the author of Influence Is Your Superpower: The Science of Winning Hearts, Sparking Change, and Making Good Things Happen. If you love behavioral economics, you’re going to love Zoe’s approach. But what causes this book to stand out is how she makes the science so practical and engaging. By the time we’re done listening to this episode, you’ll be using terms like the Gator and the Judge—and you’ll know what the mother of all misunderstandings is. Zoe shares the bedrock principle of behavior and how you can use that to be more influential. You’ll be more motivated than ever to just

Lessons from a Successful Project Manager (and Business Analyst) One of the joys of hosting this podcast is introducing you to a wide group of authors and practitioners. I’m constantly on the lookout for resources to help us on this mission and in this episode, I’m glad to introduce you to Donna Gregorio. Donna is a practicing PM and wrote an easy-to-read book entitled The Successful Project Manager: Practical Guidance from Lessons Learned. In today’s discussion, Donna will tell us how her background as a business analyst feeds her ability to be a better project manager. And vice versa. She’ll talk about what it means to really lead a project—and to be a trusted advisor—not just a task tracker. Donna will share some lessons learned about work breakdown structures, change management, and agile. And she wraps up the conversation with some career advice that I think you’ll find helpful. It's a fun, practical discussion that I look forward to sharing with you today. Learn more about Donna at DonnaGregorio.com. Jo

Improving Your Ability to Lead We often joke in our project management workshops that participants have signed up for a leadership class cloaked as a project management class. So much of our ability to deliver projects comes down to our ability to lead people and teams—regardless of our title or whether team members report to us directly. That’s a core premise of the People and Projects Podcast--that we’re all leaders—and I’m constantly on the lookout for resources to help you and me develop our ability to lead. Darren Reinke reached out to me last year to talk about his book The Savage Leader: 13 Principles to Become a Better Leader from the Inside Out. After browsing a copy of the book, I knew this was a guy I wanted to talk with. His passion for leading is clear and his advice is practical. Learn more about Darren at TheSavageLeader.com. Join our Global LEAD52 Community Ready to take your leadership skills to the next level? LEAD52 is your 5-minute weekly pass to leadership intelligence. You get 52 weeks o

Can You Change Other People? We’re continuing a series of episodes on the topic of change. Back in episode 339 we talked with Katy Milkman about her book How to Change, which provided some helpful insights into the behavioral science of change. Then we talked with Gary Lloyd in episode 343 about his book Gardeners Not Mechanics to get practical insights on how to lead change in organizations. I wanted to add one more episode in the series to focus on a key aspect of what we need to do as leaders: help others to change. Peter Bregman and Howie Jacobson have written a remarkable new book entitled You Can Change Other People: The Four Steps to Help Your Colleagues, Employees—Even Family—Up Their Game. Did you catch that title? You can change other people. Isn’t there something about the phrasing that just seems wrong? Isn’t it true that you can’t change other people—you can only change yourself? Peter and Howie are going to challenge that idea today. They’ll share why changing others might just be the most impor