PPP 061 | Be a Better Problem Finder, with author Michael Roberto

Total Duration 22:23

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Have you ever heard this quote?"There's an inverse relationship between your level in a company and your ability to see reality." We joke about that at times when it seems like the people above us are out of touch.

But why is it more difficult to see reality, the higher you get in an organization? Sometimes it's just because the people higher up are focusing on longer term issues. By virtue of their scope of responsibility, they're not in the day-to-day. But that's not always it. I was facilitating a project management workshop at a company a couple years ago discussing this very topic. A participant said it this way: "Around here, it's crap down at our level but it's fertilizer up there! It's not a problem, it's an opportunity!"

Information gets filtered as it travels up and down and around an organization. What gets through and why can make all the difference between making good, informed decisions or barreling over a cliff with what we thought was an accurate map.

Those of us who have the privilege of leading people and delivering projects need to understand filtering and my favorite expert for how this works is Dr. Michael Roberto. Michael's book Know What You Don't Know: How Great Leaders Prevent Problems Before They Happen continues to be one of my highly recommended books for project managers and leaders. In this episode I talk with Michael about Chapter 2 of his book: Circumvent the Gatekeepers.

You can learn more about Michael and read his blog by visiting http://michael-roberto.blogspot.com/.

By the way, don't miss the free Premium Episode that I'm including with this feed. Normally these extra episodes are only available for Premium Subscribers but I wanted to give you a flavor for the additional coaching you can receive with each episode when you become a Premium Subscriber. Visit http://bit.ly/PremiumSubscribe to learn more about premium subscriptions.

Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Have a great week!

PPP 060 | How the Brain Science of Attention Changes Everything, with Cathy Davidson (Part 2)

Episode Duration 25:21

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In our last episode you heard the first portion of my discussion with Cathy N. Davidson, author of Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn Cathy's book is just coming out this week and has already been named one of the top 10 science books of this fall season.

Is technology making it more difficult to focus? Cathy and I talk about that in this second portion of the interview.

Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Have a great week!

PPP 059 | How the Brain Science of Attention Changes Everything, with Cathy Davidson (Part 1)

Episode Duration 16:52

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So let me guess.... While you're listening to this cast right now, I'm guessing you're also doing something else as well, right? Maybe driving a car or checking e-mail or working out. Or perhaps you're checking out what's going on with your Facebook friends. Hey, if you're doing that, look up The People and Projects Podcast on Facebook and Like us!

Oops. Sorry. I got a bit distracted there for a moment!

Anyway, there are seemingly an endless number of stimuli that are vying for your attention right now. Which do you focus on? Why? There are many great minds that are putting a lot of effort into these questions for it could reasonably be argued that time is not the scarcest resource any more: it's attention.

As we strive to focus in a world clamoring for our attention, I wanted to share one of my favorite books that is just coming out this week. It's entitled Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn, by Cathy N. Davidson. I had the opportunity to talk with Cathy earlier this month and look forward to sharing that discussion over the course of two episodes.

You can learn more about Cathy and read her blog by visiting http://www.cathydavidson.com/.

Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Have a great week!

PPP 058 | How to Lead Your Boss, with author John Baldoni

Total Duration 24:21

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One of the lessons that eventually becomes clear is that managing is not just managing down: leading those people who report to us. In fact, the higher I got in organizations, the more I found I needed to manage up: in many ways, to lead my boss. That's a lesson I don't remember being taught in a textbook.

Whether you're a project manager, team member, or senior leader, we all have a boss and learning to lead that boss is a key skill that must be developed. Earlier this year I had a conversation with leadership expert John Baldoni. John is the author of many books, including Leading Up: How to Lead Your Boss So You Both Win. In this episode you'll see what John has to say about how you can more effectively lead your boss.

You can learn more about John by visiting http://www.johnbaldoni.com/. John recommended you check out his previous book Lead by Example: 50 Ways Great Leaders Inspire Results. Also, I recommend you check out the other book John mentioned in the interview: Lead Your Boss: The Subtle Art of Managing Up.

Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Have a great week!

PPP 057 | Rescuing the Problem Project, with author Todd C. Williams, PMP

Total Duration 33:53

Download episode 57

Lead projects long enough and eventually you'll have to deal with the problem project. Whether you were involved with the project from the beginning or inheriting problems from someone else, the reality is we need to be able to rescue the problem project.

That's not only true--it's also the name of a new book from Todd C. Williams, PMP. In this episode I talk with Todd about ideas and recommendations from his book Rescue the Problem Project: A Complete Guide to Identifying, Preventing, and Recovering from Project Failure.

You can learn more about Todd by visiting http://ecaminc.com/. His blog Back From Red can be found at http://ecaminc.com/index.php/blog.

Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Have a great week!

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  1. PPP 056 | Improving Your Success through Little Bets, with author Peter Sims
  2. Taking Action on Your Crazy Ideas
  3. PPP 055 | Change Anything, with best-selling author Kerry Patterson
  4. PPP 054 | Become a Better Problem Solver, an interview with author and management thinker Roger L. Martin
  5. PPP 053 | Saving Your Good Ideas From Getting Shot Down, with John Kotter
  6. PPP 052 | Leading Change, an interview with John Kotter
  7. PPP 051 | Great on the Job, with author and Harvard blogger Jodi Glickman
  8. PPP 050 | Managing Project Risks (Part 2) with Dr. David Hillson
  9. PPP 049 | Managing Project Risks (Part 1) with Dr. David Hillson
  10. PPP 048 | Get Free PDUs for Listening to the People and Projects Podcast
  11. PPP 047 | Management: It's Not What You Think! An interview with Henry Mintzberg
  12. PPP 046 | Get Your PMP®, an interview with Cornelius Fichtner, PMP
  13. PPP 045 | Being a Student of PM, with Josh Nankivel
  14. PPP 044 | Think Small! An interview with Phil Simon, author of The New Small
  15. PPP 043 | The Way We're Working Isn't Working, Part 2
  16. PPP 042 | The Way We're Working Isn't Working, Part 1
  17. PPP 041 | New Year's Resolutions for Project Managers
  18. PPP 039 | Networking for People Who Hate Networking: An interview with author Devora Zack
  19. PPP 038 | How to Manage Your Boss, an interview with author and speaker Bruce Tulgan
  20. PPP 037 | Making Better Decisions through 10-10-10
  21. PPP 036 | Engaging Your Employees, with author Brad Federman
  22. PPP 035 | Delivering Projects Through People, with author Dave Po-Chedley, PMP
  23. PPP 033.1 | Premium: Discussion Questions for Leading Teams, with Harvard Professor Dr. J. Richard Hackman
  24. PPP 033 | Leading Teams, with Harvard Professor Dr. J. Richard Hackman
  25. PPP 032 | Become a More Effective Leader Using the Latest Brain Science
  26. PPP 031 | Leading Teams with Meaning, with Dr. Adam Grant
  27. PPP 030 | Wired to Care, with author Dev Patnaik
  28. PPP 029 | The Project Success Method, with author Clint Padgett
  29. PPP 028 | Influence Without Authority Scenarios, Part 2
  30. PPP 027 | How to Influence Without Authority, an interview with author Dr. Allan Cohen
  31. PPP 026 | How to Offer, Give, and Receive Help. Part 2 of an Interview with Dr. Ed Schein
  32. PPP 025 | Corporate Culture Survival, with Sloan Fellows Professor of Management Emeritus, Dr. Ed Schein
  33. PPP 024 | PDUs for PMPs, with guest Cornelius Fichtner, PMP
  34. PPP 023 | Steve Martin and Andy Kaufman on Influence
  35. PPP 022 | Who's Got Your Back? An interview with bestselling author Keith Ferrazzi
  36. PPP 021 | The New Year Money Episode, with author and speaker Matt Bell
  37. PPP 020 | Accountability That Works! An interview with author and speaker John G. Miller
  38. PPP 019 | Making New Year's Resolutions StickK! An interview with Jordan Goldberg, CEO of stickK.com
  39. PPP 018 | Project Management Beyond PMI, an interview with Bill Duncan, primary author of the original PMBOK(R) Guide
  40. PPP 017 | Take Back Your Life! An interview with author John Wittry
  41. PPP 016 | World of Thanks, a special Thanksgiving podcast episode
  42. PPP 015 | Is Failure an Option? An interview with Ralph Heath, author of Celebrating Failure
  43. PPP 014 | How to Know What You Don't Know, an interview with author Michael Roberto
  44. PPP 013 | Managing Politics and Conflict in Projects, with author Brian Irwin, PMP
  45. PPP 012 | Why Feedback Doesn't Work, with Charles Jacobs, author of Management Rewired
  46. PPP 011 | Fierce Leadership, an interview with author Susan Scott
  47. PPP 010 | Managing Generation Y, an interview with author and speaker Bruce Tulgan
  48. PPP 009 | Why New Systems Fail, an interview with author Phil Simon
  49. PPP 008 | Managing Extreme Projects, with author and consultant Doug DeCarlo
  50. PPP 007 | Leading and Delivering with Virtual Teams, with guest Dr. Karen Sobel Lojeski
  51. PPP 006 | Getting More Done with Less Stress, with guest Jason Womack
  52. PPP 005 | How Engaged Are Your Teams? Got Conflict? A conversation with Kenneth W. Thomas, author of "Intrinsic Motivation at Work"
  53. PPP 004 | Increasing Your Charisma, with guest Dr. Nick Morgan, author of "Trust Me: Four Steps to Authenticity and Charisma"
  54. PPP 003 | The Myth of Multitasking, with guest author Dave Crenshaw
  55. PPP 002 | Project Sponsorship, with guest Alfonso Bucero, PMP
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