People and Projects Podcast: Project Management Podcast

Your Past as an Asset Have you ever noticed how two people can go through something similar? For one person, it takes them under. And the other person? They seem to get past it—maybe even grow from it. I ask because going through challenging—even traumatic—experiences is part of the human experience. I'm not saying it's equally distributed. But clearly, life is not always up and to the right. And...

PMeLa Takes the Mic Hi! You will recall back in episode 384 I introduced you to an AI persona I had developed named PMeLa. She's an AI designed to be an expert in project management and leadership. It's been fun to hear the feedback from listeners from around the world who found the discussion to be somewhere between intriguing, hilarious, and frightening. I've been experimenting with automating A...

Progress Despite Uncertainty One of our recurring themes on the podcast is decision-making. The reality is you are likely facing some decisions you need to make right now. But one of our biggest challenges when facing forks in the road is how to decide when there are so many unknowns--so much uncertainty. Well, I have personally benefited from a new book that I wanted to introduce you to. The titl...

Introducing Andy Tryba and John Chmela When you think of artificial intelligence and tools like ChatGPT, what comes to mind? Do you find it intriguing for how it can help us as people who are focused on leading teams and projects? Or maybe you think it's overly hyped—entertaining for writing haikus and silly stories but not even close to being at a place where it can help us with our jobs. Or, may...

"Why Did I Say Yes?" We've talked in past episodes about how, unless there's a compelling reason to say No, say Yes--that there are opportunities for growth and learning when we have a bias for Yes. Yet we've all ended up in a trap that was set by saying Yes when No would have been a better answer. So how do we navigate that? Well, I'm excited to introduce you to a fantastic new book entitled  The...

Introducing PMeLa It's impossible to avoid hearing about AI these days. From those who praise it to those who warn about an impending apocalypse because of it, there is no shortage of opinions or predictions about it. Instead of talking about the pros and cons or capabilities of AI, we're going to try something different in this episode. Today I'm going to interview an AI! To my knowledge, this is...

Feeling Stuck Can you think of situations when you felt stuck? I recently talked with someone who feels stuck in their career. Some of my MBA students feel stuck--unsure about what path to pursue in their career. I have dear friends walking through difficult medical issues and feeling stuck—unsure about what to do next. Whether it is major situations like those or the smaller ones that confront us...

Balancing The Now and The Future Throughout my career, I've had the privilege of working with some amazing bosses. One was a woman named Cindy. What made her stand out? She constantly encouraged us to look beyond our day-to-day tasks. As a Vice President, I was under her guidance, and she, a Senior VP, was persistent in pushing us to plan for the future and break free from the firefighting of the...

Making Wise Decisions Think about some past decisions. Can you recall one that turned out well and another that, in hindsight, didn't go as planned? It's important to analyze these instances - what factors influenced those outcomes? We all make countless decisions in our daily lives, both personally and professionally. Recognizing the patterns behind our successful and unsuccessful decisions can b...

Dangerously Divided Times I'd like you to think of some examples of divides in your life. It could be with a friend or relative that has radically different beliefs about politics or social causes. Or it could be someone at work that you just strongly disagree with. The differences have created a divide. The reason I want you to think about them is because we're having an important discussion toda...

"What's A Risk You're Glad You Took?" I asked this question to my LinkedIn network recently, and it led to a long thread of responses. The two most mentioned examples were job changes and moving to a new place to live. Maybe one of those might be your answer as well. An opportunity came up, you said Yes, and it turned out to be a great decision. Yet changes like these are a risk. Even if you don't...

Say It Right the First Time So much of what we do when leading teams and projects comes down to communication. Whether it's written or spoken, with a large audience or an informal conversation or email, much of our success comes down to how effectively we understand others and are understood by them. I'm joined in this episode by one of the foremost communication coaches in the world. Bill McGowan...

Focusing On What Really Matters When you don't have enough time, what's the first thing that gets cut from your schedule? Now, of course, the answer is "it depends." But I asked this question recently on LinkedIn and got a flood of responses. The most common category was self-care: exercising, sleeping, even eating. Two other big categories were time with others and time to think. Maybe you can re...

Stop Drowning At Work Have you ever heard someone say they are drowning at work ? Maybe you feel like that even right now as you start this episode. If a sink is broken and water is overflowing, there are at least two options: you can mop faster or you can fix the sink. Using that as a metaphor for work, many of us are trying to mop faster. Today, we're going to talk about how to fix the sink. I'm...

Permission to Offend Is it possible to be too nice? We have a vigorous discussion around this question in our Essentials of Project Management workshop. There's almost always a resounding response of "Yes! It is possible to be too nice." That discussion is based on an idea we covered in episode 320 with Greg Githins. Greg says, "Leadership is a practice of kindness, but it's not always a practice...

Building Your Brand Without Being Pushy What comes to mind when you think of personal branding ? Some feel that personal branding is superficial. Or inauthentic. Instead of focusing on our brand, we should focus on developing expertise. Doing good work. And that good work will stand on its own. In this episode, we're taking this topic of personal branding head-on, and I'm joined by one of the most...

Navigating Parenting As a dad of 5 kids, I think back to when we had our first child. Those early days were a blur for both my wife and me. And as more kids came along, and then we adopted two more when our oldest three were teenagers, we have lived through the challenges and joys of the project known as parenting. We're talking about parenting today because it brings some unique challenges to us...

Winners Never Quit? It's an overused cliche that winners never quit, and quitters never win . The only problem with that, of course, is that it oversimplifies the reality of the world we live and lead in. So much of what we do as leaders of projects and teams is to make decisions. And could it be our inability to quit a project, a vendor, a tool, or a team member--could it be that even our career...

Help for Getting Out of High Conflict When you think of the word conflict , what comes to mind? I ask because I've had the opportunity to pose that question to groups around the world. How would you respond? What I hear most often is words like Stress . Arguments . Tension . Avoid! Rarely do I hear Opportunity. Or disagreement. I'm excited to welcome Amanda Ripley to the podcast. Amanda is the aut...

Hi! Meet Your Brain Have you ever looked at how someone made a decision and wondered, "What were they thinking?" For me, it's not just even watching other people. Sometimes I reflect on how I felt about something or a decision and wonder, "Huh… I wonder what was going on there?" Chantel Prat is one of today's most important researchers and voices in the field of neuroscience. And she's the author...

Influence and Manipulation Where's the line between influence and manipulation? Well, I'll save the answer for when you hear from today's guest. Andres Lares is the Managing Partner at the Shapiro Negotiation Institute and author of a book entitled Persuade: The 4-Step Process to Influence People and Decisions . In this episode, Andres talks about the difference between influence and manipulation,...

Leadership Lessons Over the years of hosting the People and Projects Podcast, we've heard from authors from all kinds of backgrounds. I enjoy bringing you insights from researchers and professors and authors from diverse backgrounds and perspectives. But I particularly enjoy talking with people who have been in the trenches--they've had to lead in daunting situations, and they have the stories--an...

Influencing Skills for Project Managers One of the constant challenges for those of us who lead teams and projects is influencing people around us. Whether it's a boss, our team, clients, or other stakeholders, we're often in situations where we're trying to influence an outcome, yet running into a brick wall while doing so. In this episode, we continue a series of discussions we've had over the y...

Accountability on Project Teams In this episode, we're taking on the subject of accountability. And though fostering accountability among our team members is something we'll talk about, you're going to see that developing a culture of personal accountability might have a lot more to do with us than we realize. My guest today is Michael Timms. He's the author of a fantastic leadership book entitled...

Career Advice for Women (and Men) Most days you can find me working with a group of leaders, helping them learn how to improve their ability to lead and deliver. This last Thursday I looked around the room that was filled with people in a project management exam prep program. Interestingly, all of the participants were women. That's characteristic of a trend we see week in and week out--project ma...