Summary In this episode, Andy talks with Scott Walker who spent 16 years as a Scotland Yard detective. Scott and Andy delve into lessons on emotional intelligence and negotiation skills gleaned from Scott's new book Order out of Chaos: Win Every Negotiation, Thrive in Adversity, and Become a World-Class Communicator. Key takeaways include seeking to understand before being understood, managing emotional states, and using empathy to build trust. Walker also discusses the importance of buying...

Summary In this episode, Andy interviews Laura Mae Martin, Google's productivity expert and author of the book Uptime: A Practical Guide to Personal Productivity and Wellbeing. They discuss the concept of productivity and how it is often misunderstood. Laura shares her perspective on productivity, emphasizing the importance of intention and execution. She introduces the five C's of productivity and explains the concept of the list funnel. They also discuss the challenges of procrastination...

Summary In this episode, Andy Kaufman interviews Ryan Hawk, host of the Learning Leader podcast and author of the book The Score That Matters: Growing Excellence in Yourself and Those You Lead. They discuss the importance of valuing excellence and pursuing personal growth, as well as the dangers of comparing oneself to others and keeping score based on external metrics. They also explore the role of self-awareness and fear in leadership, and the importance of surrounding oneself with people...

Summary In this episode, Andy talks with K. Scott Griffith about his new book, The Leader's Guide to Managing Risk. The book explores the importance of building resilience and reliability in projects, teams, and life. The conversation delves into the social and technical aspects of producing results, the need for human-resilient systems, and the impact of at-risk choices and cutting corners. It emphasizes the importance of recognizing and addressing risks, as well as creating a culture of...

Summary In this episode, Andy welcomes Paul Falcone to discuss his book The First-Time Manager: Leading Through Crisis. The conversation dives into common challenges faced by managers such as performance conversations, dealing with dysfunctional teams or bosses, and navigating situations like having to fire an employee or dealing with a younger (or older) manager scenario. Whether you're a new manager or been around for a while, there's insight in this episode for you. Chapters 00:00...

Summary In this episode, Andy interviews Ben Guttmann about his book, Simply Put: Why Clear Messages Win and How to Design Them. They discuss how to design and deliver messages that not only capture attention but also evoke meaningful responses. They delve into concepts like simplicity, fluency, and minimal messaging. Ben demonstrates how linguistic complexity can impact a message's success. Additionally, he shares practical examples, shedding light on how to make your communication more...

Summary In this episode, Andy interviews Tara Miller, a successful project manager and the founder of Artemis, a management consulting business. Tara shares her journey into project management and highlights the misconceptions about the role. She also discusses important lessons she has learned about leading people and delivering projects. Tara emphasizes the significance of building strong team dynamics and fostering individual connections. She provides practical management practices for...

Summary In this episode, Andy Kaufman interviews Gil Broza about his new book, Deliver Better Results: How to Unlock Your Organization's Potential. They discuss the importance of systems thinking in value delivery and the six aspects of system fitness. Gil shares practical strategies for improving value delivery and emphasizes the significance of mindset over tactics. He also provides examples of successful transformations and offers resources available on the book's website. Takeaways ...

Summary In this episode, Andy interviews author Anne Morris about key concepts from her book Move Fast and Fix Things: The Trusted Leader's Guide to Solving Hard Problems. She emphasizes the importance of building trust and moving fast in change initiatives. Morris introduces the FIX Map, which illustrates the relationship between trust and speed. She also explores the significance of inclusion and the power of storytelling in driving successful change. Additionally, Morris addresses common...

Summary In this episode, Andy Kaufman interviews Kayla McGuire, a seasoned project manager and coach who runs a boot camp to help people learn and prepare for becoming a freelancer. They discuss Kayla's journey to project management and freelancing, lessons in leading projects, practical tips for running projects, reasons for pursuing freelancing, common mistakes in freelancing, and the importance of mentors. Kayla also shares insights on using LinkedIn effectively and the value of continual...

Summary In this in-depth discussion, Andy is joined by Eduardo Briceño, author of The Performance Paradox: Turning the Power of Mindset Into Action, to delve into the concepts of a growth mindset versus a fixed mindset. The conversation covers how these mindsets are not as binary or mutually exclusive as we may think, but rather can be found within us at different times and in different contexts. The theme of maintaining a balance between having a growth mindset, which holds the belief in the...

Summary In this conversation, Andy Kaufman interviews Micah Solomon, author of the book Can Your Customer Service Do This? Create an Anticipatory Customer Experience that Builds Loyalty Forever. They discuss the importance of customer service and how it applies to project managers and leaders, not just people in hospitality or retail. They explore examples of good and bad customer service experiences, debunk myths about customer service, and provide strategies for improving customer service....

Summary In this episode, Andy Kaufman celebrates the 400th episode of the People in Projects Podcast with special guest Adam Grant. They discuss Adam's new book, Hidden Potential, and the importance of assessing and unlocking potential in individuals. The conversation covers various topics, including keeping projects on track, the truth about hiring based on experience, a lesson Adam learned about feedback that he's a terrible writer, and overcoming criticism. Adam reflects on the past and...

Summary In this conversation, Andy interviews Doug Lennick and Chuck Wachendorfer about their book Don't Wait for Someone Else to Fix It! They discuss the importance of managing ourselves effectively, practicing self-awareness, and mastering our behavior. They also emphasize the significance of integrity and responsibility in leadership. The conversation explores barriers to better decision-making and the importance of continuous learning. The interview concludes with insights on how parents...

Project Manager Burnout There is so much focus these days on getting more done with less. Delivering faster. Increasing efficiency. Being excellent at work while rocking it all well at home too, right? And though I’m all for staying focused and productive, here’s something I’ve observed. One consequence of trying to stay hyper-productive and being everything you can possibly be--or feel like you should be--can be increased stress. Less downtime. More hours. More caffeine. Less sleep. And all...

When Emotions Are Rising On Your Project Let’s say you’re sitting in a meeting tomorrow for a project you are leading. You’re looking to get sign-off and, based on the pre-meetings you had with key stakeholders, the meeting should go smoothly. But seemingly out of the blue, a key stakeholder speaks up and starts sharing objections. Right there in front of everyone, which includes your boss, by the way. Things are starting to derail and you can feel some anger starting to build up. If we...

Stop Saying You're a Perfectionist There’s a classic question that is often asked somewhere during a job interview: “So, what’s your biggest weakness?” Perhaps you’ve been asked that somewhere along your career journey. My favorite answer to that is from Michael Scott in the television show The Office: "I work too hard, I care too much, and sometimes I can be too invested in my job." Perfect, right? Oh wait. Did I say Perfect? I did. Because in a sense, the answer that Michael gave there is...

Your Power Barometer There is so much focus these days on optimizing our time, right? And though I’m all for staying focused and productive, here’s something I’ve observed: one consequence of trying to stay hyper-productive can be increased stress. Less downtime. More hours. More caffeine. Less sleep. And all of that can lead to burnout. A lot of us are leading lives and teams with batteries that are low on power. And that’s a losing proposition for all of us. In this episode, I’m excited...

What Is Emotional Intelligence, Really? You’ve heard of emotional intelligence, right? You know it’s important. But a lot of us haven’t had formal training on the topic--or maybe it’s been a while. In this episode, I’m excited to introduce you to Joshua Freedman, author of the international best-selling book At the Heart of Leadership: How to Get Results with Emotional Intelligence. Plenty of books can give you an academic understanding of emotional intelligence. But Joshua’s book is...

Inspiring Women in Project Management Most days, you can find me working with a group of people, helping them learn how to improve their ability to lead and deliver. If you’ve listened to this podcast for a while, you may recall hearing me saying this previously--in our project management courses, the majority of participants are women. It’s characteristic of a trend we see week in and week out—project management is a rewarding and accessible career path for women to pursue. Because of that,...

Leading In The Age of Deep Expertise Not everyone aspires to be a VP or higher someday, nor should they. But could it be that some of us are held back because the deep expertise that got us to our current position isn’t what is needed to get to additional levels of responsibility? Or, if that additional responsibility is given to us anyway, we struggle to thrive because the skills to succeed at that next level are different from what we’re used to? I think so, which is why I’m excited to...

Do You Really Want to Lead? Making the leap to leadership can be one of the most rewarding--and challenging--moves we can make. And I’m excited in this episode to bring you what I think is the best guide I’ve come across to date on how to make that jump. Adam Bryant joins us to talk about his new book The Leap to Leader: How Ambitious Managers Make the Jump to Leadership. In this episode, you’ll learn the first question you should be asking about leadership--and why it’s important. Adam...

Introducing Jen Dary In most of our episodes, I’m introducing you to an author of a new book, looking for ways to apply key ideas from what they’ve written. But every once in a while, I come across someone who I just think is interesting--someone who brings a fresh perspective to the discussion that would help all of us who want to get better at leading teams and delivering projects. Today, I’m excited to introduce you to Jen Dary. Jen is the founder of a company that champions the concept...

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 as you grow as a leader, it’s only a matter of time before you’re put into situations that can...

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 AI processes and so I thought I would try another experiment with PMeLa. In today's episode,...