
People and Projects Podcast: Project Management Podcast
Welcome to the People and Projects Podcast, where we provide interviews and insights to help you lead people and deliver projects. Since 2009, this show is brought to you by speaker, author, and executive coach Andy Kaufman. If you're looking for insights on project management, leadership, and how AI influences both of those, you've come to the right place! And if you hold a project management certification, you can even earn free PDUs for listening!
Latest episodes

Feb 16, 2019 • 3min
PPP 247 | (Video) Two Tips to Making Better Decisions
Have a decision to make, whether on your projects, about your team, maybe outside of work? There are some predictable reasons why we don't make better decisions. I'm giving a keynote today in Anaheim, California on the topic, and in this video I share a couple ideas from the session. In the video, I mention two books that I recommend you get on your reading list when they come out: Aaron Dignan's book Brave New Work Marcus Buckingham's book Nine Lies About Work Let Me Hear From You! What are some traps you've seen people fall into when it comes to making bad decisions? What are some lessons you've learned about making better decisions? Let's connect on LinkedIn and discuss! I'd love to hear your thoughts! Also, what have you been learning lately? What are you reading? Please e-mail me (show [AT] PeopleAndProjectsPodcast [DOT] com) or leave a message on our Listener Feedback Line (847-550-3747). I look forward to hearing from you! Please give us feedback about The People and Projects Podcast! Take our Listener Survey at https://PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com/ListenerSurvey. Thank you! Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Have a great week! Total Duration 3:05 Download episode 247

Feb 14, 2019 • 33min
PPP 246 | The Surprising Science of Meetings, with author Steven G. Rogelberg
The Science of Meetings We too easily tolerate bad meetings. We begin to settle. We eventually resign ourselves to the fact that meetings are a necessary evil that will never change. We don't drift towards good meetings. To the contrary, it's like entropy. On its own, we drift to dysfunction and waste. Part of our role as leaders is to steward our own time and the time of those we lead, and if we can make even small improvements to how we gather, there’s a big payoff for all of us. That's why we're investing another episode on the topic, to arm you with insights to help set you and your teams up for better meetings. We're joined in episode 246 by Steven G. Rogelberg, author of a new book entitled The Surprising Science of Meetings. The Washington Post has it as their number one leadership book for this year and it shows up on many other recommended lists, and I'm excited to introduce you to some ideas in the book. Learn more about Steven and his book at https://www.stevenrogelberg.com/ Let's Stay In Touch! I hear from listeners almost every day, and I love it! How about you and I connect on LinkedIn? Go to https://PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com/LinkedIn and send me an invite! Also, if you know of a group at your organization that has an upcoming large group gathering and uses outside speakers, let them know about the podcast! I'd love to work with them to help improve their ability to lead and deliver. Learn more at https://i-leadonline.com/keynotes. Thanks! Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! CHIPPER DOODLE v2 by Kevin Macleod Licensed under a Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 License. RETRO FUTURE CLEAN by Kevin Macleod Licensed under a Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 License. A SONG 'MEETINGS' by CLEANERWYJ available on YouTube

Feb 6, 2019 • 51min
PPP 245 | What Your Meetings Say About Your Culture, with the Meeting Maven J. Elise Keith
Do Your Meetings Suck? When you think of meetings, what thoughts come to mind? Words like productivity, efficiency, and great use of time isn’t what I normally hear. But if you look over your last week, you’ve likely spent a significant amount of your time in meetings so in the next couple full-length episodes, we’re going to be talking about how we gather to help you and your teams maximize that time together. In this episode, we talk with the J. Elise Keith, author of the new book Where the Action Is, and I'm excited to introduce you to some ideas in the book. Learn more about Elise and her book at https://www.lucidmeetings.com/book. Check Out Backlog Backlog is project management software trusted by over 9,000 companies worldwide. Learn more about our sponsor at Backlog.com/projects. Let's Stay In Touch! I hear from listeners almost every day, and I love it! How about you and I connect on LinkedIn? Go to https://PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com/LinkedIn and send me an invite! Also, if you know of a group at your organization that has an upcoming large group gathering and uses outside speakers, let them know about the podcast! I'd love to work with them to help improve their ability to lead and deliver. Learn more at https://i-leadonline.com/keynotes. Thanks! Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! WASTING TIME by DAY WAVE available on YouTube CHEERY MONDAY by Kevin Macleod Licensed under a Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 License.

Feb 2, 2019 • 3min
PPP 244 | (Video) How Do You Deal With Endings?
How do you deal with endings? This was a week of endings for me. We moved my dad into assisted living. He's excited about the change. For anyone who has had to go through this with an unwilling parent, I can only imagine how much more trying that is. But endings are not easy, right? He moved out of the house he built. He lived in it for over 50 years. It's the home we grew up in, soon to be refurbished and lived in by someone we've never met. They'll never know the memories that were made in that home. Whether with a home, with a parent, a relationship, a job, a project, and in so many other ways, we have to navigate endings. Some are easier than others, but endings offer up challenges as well as opportunities. In this brief video, I share some important lessons about dealing with the endings we face. For my LinkedIn article on the topic, see https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-do-you-deal-endings-andy-kaufman-pmp-pmi-acp/ Let Me Hear From You! What do you think about these ideas on endings? How do you try to end well? Let's connect on LinkedIn and discuss! I'd love to hear your thoughts! Also, what have you been learning lately? What are you reading? Please e-mail me (show [AT] PeopleAndProjectsPodcast [DOT] com) or leave a message on our Listener Feedback Line (847-550-3747). I look forward to hearing from you! Please give us feedback about The People and Projects Podcast! Take our Listener Survey at https://PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com/ListenerSurvey. Thank you! Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Have a great week! Total Duration 3:06 Download episode 244 FUNKORAMA by Kevin Macleod Licensed under a Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 License.

Jan 26, 2019 • 3min
PPP 243 | (Video) Getting Thrown Into the Deep End (How We Really Learn)
I was never a proponent of throwing one of our young kids into the deep end and saying, "OK, swim!" But could it be that the best way to learn how to lead is to, well, have to lead? We continue our series of short videos to share something that I've recently taught or learned, and in this episode, I share an important lesson learned from our discussion with Marc Effron back in episode 226 regarding his book 8 Steps to High Performance. Let Me Hear From You! What's your take on the 70/20/10 idea? What's an example of how you've learned by doing or by spending time with people who are doing it? What questions do you have about the idea? Let's connect on LinkedIn and discuss! I'd love to hear your thoughts! Also, what have you been learning lately? What are you reading? Please e-mail me (show [AT] PeopleAndProjectsPodcast [DOT] com) or leave a message on our Listener Feedback Line (847-550-3747). I look forward to hearing from you! Please give us feedback about The People and Projects Podcast! Take our Listener Survey at https://PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com/ListenerSurvey. Thank you! Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Have a great week! Total Duration 3:18 Download episode 243 FUNKORAMA by Kevin Macleod Licensed under a Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 License.

Jan 9, 2019 • 46min
PPP 242 | An Easy and Proven Way to Help Leaders Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones, with author James Clear
How to Create Better Outcomes This Year One of the most powerful ideas I've learned in the last year is the relationship between habits and outcomes. If you're not happy with your outcomes—look to your habits. Outcomes are lagging measures of your habits. Change your habits and you will, eventually, change your outcomes. In this episode, we talk with the guy I learned that idea from. James Clear is the author of the powerful new book Atomic Habits, and I'm excited to introduce you to some ideas in the book. Learn more about James and his book at https://jamesclear.com/, where you can download the first chapter for free. Let's Stay In Touch! I hear from listeners almost every day, and I love it! How about you and I connect on LinkedIn? Go to https://PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com/LinkedIn and send me an invite! Also, if you know of a group at your organization that has an upcoming large group gathering and uses outside speakers, let them know about the podcast! I'd love to work with them to help improve their ability to lead and deliver. Learn more at https://i-leadonline.com/keynotes. Thanks! Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! SEMI-FUNK by Kevin Macleod Licensed under a Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0 License. CRYSTAL ECHOES by Sergey Cheremisinov Licensed under a Creative Commons: Attribution License.

Dec 25, 2018 • 3min
PPP 241 | (Video) When It Doesn't Feel Like The Most Wonderful Time of the Year
"It's the most wonderful time of the year!" Though the Christmas songs may say that, your experience as we end the year may not exactly line up with the sentiment. In this short video, I share a lesson that I've learned in the last couple of weeks when it comes to disappointment. Let Me Hear From You! What do you think about this idea of disappointment being a function of what we put our hope in? Let's connect on LinkedIn and discuss! I'd love to hear your thoughts! Also, what have you been learning lately? What are you reading? Please e-mail me (show [AT] PeopleAndProjectsPodcast [DOT] com) or leave a message on our Listener Feedback Line (847-550-3747). I look forward to hearing from you! Please give us feedback about The People and Projects Podcast! Take our Listener Survey at https://PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com/ListenerSurvey. Thank you! Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Have a great week! Total Duration 2:45 Download episode 241

Dec 21, 2018 • 46min
PPP 240 | (Video) How to Speak Up When It Feels Risky
Speaking Up When It's Risky How do you speak truth to power? In episode 236 we talked with Harvard's Amy Edmondson, who made the evidence-based case for how important it is to foster psychologically safe environments for those we lead. But most of us don't work in such environments. What do we do then? How do you speak truth to power when it's not a psychologically safe environment? In this video episode, we're joined by Jim Detert from the Darden Business School at the University of Virginia. Jim shares four principles to improve your ability to affect positive change when speaking truth to power. Click here to read Jim's HBR article entitled "Cultivating Everyday Courage." Also, click here to take the assessment survey that Jim talks about in the interview. Let Me Hear From You! What have you learned about speaking up, even when your point could be considered controversial? Let's connect on LinkedIn and discuss! I'd love to hear your thoughts! Also, what have you been learning lately? What are you reading? Please e-mail me (show [AT] PeopleAndProjectsPodcast [DOT] com) or leave a message on our Listener Feedback Line (847-550-3747). I look forward to hearing from you! Please give us feedback about The People and Projects Podcast! Take our Listener Survey at https://PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com/ListenerSurvey. Thank you! Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Have a great week! FUNKORAMA by Kevin Macleod Licensed under a Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 License.

Dec 15, 2018 • 3min
PPP 239 | (Video) What If Every Meeting Was Optional?
What I Taught Today The last time you said "I love meetings!" was probably, when? Never? Hah! To the contrary, meetings seem like an enormous waste of time in too many situations, right? I recently interviewed Elise Keith about her new book Where The Action Is. The full interview will be published in January, but in this 3-minute episode, I share two ideas from the book and a challenge for you to consider while in meetings in the next couple weeks. Let Me Hear From You! What do you think about the idea of meetings as anthropology and the "game changer" discussed in this episode? How would things change if every meeting was optional? What's something you do to make your meetings more valuable? Let's connect on LinkedIn and discuss! I'd love to hear your thoughts! Also, what have you been learning lately? What are you reading? Please e-mail me (show [AT] PeopleAndProjectsPodcast [DOT] com) or leave a message on our Listener Feedback Line (847-550-3747). I look forward to hearing from you! Please give us feedback about The People and Projects Podcast! Take our Listener Survey at https://PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com/ListenerSurvey. Thank you! Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Have a great week! Total Duration 3:02 Download episode 239

Dec 9, 2018 • 3min
PPP 238 | (Video) The Mistake We Make When Building Our Network
What I Taught Today You're likely making this mistake when building your network. Whether it's your connections social media or how you build relationships at work or with your projects, left to our own devices we fall into the trap that I learned from Herminia Ibarra when discussing her book Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader back in episode 130. Let Me Hear From You! What do you think about Herminia's point? What do you do specifically to not fall into the trap? Let's connect on LinkedIn and discuss! I'd love to hear your thoughts! Also, what have you been learning lately? What are you reading? Please e-mail me (show [AT] PeopleAndProjectsPodcast [DOT] com) or leave a message on our Listener Feedback Line (847-550-3747). I look forward to hearing from you! Please give us feedback about The People and Projects Podcast! Take our Listener Survey at https://PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com/ListenerSurvey. Thank you! Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Have a great week! Total Duration 3:24 Download episode 238
Remember Everything You Learn from Podcasts
Save insights instantly, chat with episodes, and build lasting knowledge - all powered by AI.