“Project management is my favorite process, project managers are my favorite people, and there is not much I’d rather do than talk with project managers about project management!” Margo Love Table of Contents 01:26 … Meet Margo 04:31 … The One Process Margo has Not Performed 06:45 … The Customer on Internal and External Projects 09:32 … Margo’s Pick from the PMBOK Guide’s 33 Project Documents 13:33 … Requirements Traceability Matrix 16:43 … RACI Chart 21:19 … Work Breakdown Structure 25:08 … A Project Charter 29:47 … Rolling Wave Planning 33:52 … Lessons Learned 38:10 … Final Words of Wisdom 40:52 … Closing MARGO LOVE: The other thing is get training.  I can’t say enough how important I think it is for people who are managing projects to recognize that this is a professional undertaking.  And you would not ask a dentist to go into the dentist’s office and just look in your mouth and figure out what to do.  I’m sure you’ll be able to figure it out.  You’re smart.  You know, you brush your teeth, so go help.  But we ask our project managers to do that all the time. You know, you’re a great programmer, you’re great with people.  They’ll say, “Oh, you’re great with people.  We need you to manage this project.”  Well, fine, but being great with people doesn’t mean that you know how to manage a project.  And I think training is invaluable in that regard. NICK WALKER:  Welcome to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers.  We’re setting aside this time to talk about what’s important to you as a professional project manager.  Our guests include some of the best in the field, those who live and breathe project management and want to share their passion. I’m your host, Nick Walker, alongside resident expert Bill Yates.  And Bill, this time around we’re talking with someone who really does epitomize that passion. BILL YATES:  Yeah.  Margo is a delight.  She is a wonderful trainer.  She was born for facilitation and training, and so it comes from her heart and passion for project management and for people. Meet Margo NICK WALKER:  Well, let’s learn a little bit more about her.  Margo Love became a fellow of the Life Management Institute in 1987, achieved her PMP (Project Management Professional) certification in 2000, and earned her Six Sigma Black Belt in 2001, making her a certified project management and process improvement nerd.  She also has over 30 years’ experience managing projects and project managers in information technology for the life insurance and utility industries.  So Margo is Skyping us from a very rainy Greenville, South Carolina today.  Margo, welcome to Manage This. MARGO LOVE:  Thank you.  I am delighted to be here. NICK WALKER:  I love this quotation from you.  You say “Project management is my favorite process.  Project managers are my favorite people.  And there is not much I’d rather do than talk with project managers about project management.”  So can you tell us a little bit about your experience and how it’s brought about that kind of affection for the profession and the people in it? MARGO LOVE:  I’d be glad to.  And in fact, it’s funny to hear you say – to read my words because, when I managed my first project, I hated it and I was terrible at it.  My background is in programming, software programming.  And I had been a programmer for about two years, I guess, when my company asked me to manage a project. I was so impressed with myself, and told my mother I was managing a project, and I had no clue what I was doin, I was terrible at it, I hated it.  Everybody hated me.  And so I was done with that for the rest of my life. And about 10 years later, maybe 15, our company went through a traumatic project.  Then coming out of that, the new CIO asked me if I would head up a project management organization, which was just hilarious.  And I said, “You don’t understand that I don’t do that.”  But he talked me into it.  He said,

Hear how to support your team’s success when transitioning to Agile. The adaptation of the Aikido principle of Shu Ha Ri, as well as more info on Disciplined Agile. Table of Contents 00:58 … Meet Alan 02:07 … Defining Agile 04:20 … Shu Ha Ri 08:26 … Non Traditional and Non Profit uses of Agile. 14:43 … Challenges with Transitioning to Agile 17:41 … Disciplined Agile Train the Trainer Seminar 21:48 … Choosing your WoW 23:14 … D.A. and Lean 26:01 … Value Stream Mapping 27:33 … Fundamentals of Agile InSite Course 29:51 … Closing Alan Zucker: ...as long as you are stepping in and making those decisions, the team won’t.  So you really need to focus on stepping back and giving the team that space to make those decisions and allowing them to stub their toes and skin their elbows. So that they will become successful over time. NICK WALKER:  Welcome to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers.  We’re back with another episode, bringing the kind of information you’ve been asking for.  We hope you’ll keep the requests and comments coming in.  You can always comment right there on your listening app, or on Velociteach.com, or on social media.  We love hearing from you. I’m your host, Nick Walker, and with me are the two guys who guide our discussion, Andy Crowe and Bill Yates.  And this time around we’re featuring a member of the Velociteach family.  And like most of the folks around here, Andy, he has credentials a mile long. Meet Alan ANDY CROWE:  He does indeed, Nick.  And we have Alan Zucker on the show today.  And Alan and I go back a good ways.  He and I interacted back before he worked for Velociteach.  We had a relationship.  Somebody I have deep respect for, and I’m really looking forward to today’s podcast. NICK WALKER:  Before we hear from Alan, I want to tell you a little bit more about him.  He’s a certified project management professional, an ITIL Foundation certificate holder, a Scrum master, a scale Agilist, and an Agile certified practitioner.  Alan Zucker is a keynote speaker, and he has more than 25 years of experience as a leader in Fortune 100 companies.  In 2016 he founded Project Management Essentials to provide training and advisory services.  He recently completed a new course for Velociteach titled “Fundamentals of Agile.” Alan, welcome to Manage This.  We want to talk Agile today. And before we really get into it, can you tell me a little bit about what Agile is, particularly for my benefit and for the benefit of those who maybe are coming from a predictive or waterfall background. Defining Agile ALAN ZUCKER:  Sure, Nick.  Well, first of all, Andy, thanks so much, it’s great to be on the podcast again. So Agile is a way of managing projects and it goes back formally about 20 years. And it started out as a way of developing software using incremental and iterative development techniques. So what we try to do with Agile is try to develop our projects and deliver our projects in smaller pieces. And then learn from what we’ve delivered in order to make things better with each of the successive increments. BILL YATES:  Those are some of the keys; right?  Small batches, quick iterations, quick turnaround, get it in the hands of the customer, deliver value quickly.  Those are some of the keys. ANDY CROWE:  Value, value, value. BILL YATES:  Yeah, value, value. ALAN ZUCKER:  And so I think one of the other really big pieces of Agile is that it changes the way we work, and it really focuses on having empowered teams and people really engaged, both from a customer’s perspective, as well as from the technology team perspective. In our traditional projects, particularly our waterfall projects, there’s a big separation between the customers, the business, the development team, the testing team, and on an Agile project we try to get everybody to collaborate together more effectively. So, it’s really interesting,

The podcast for project managers by project managers. Hiring the best is a significant undertaking. Our guests Don Lang and Laura Butcher offer excellent advice on how to approach filling a critical position, and choosing a candidate who is a right fit for your organization. Table of Contents 00:48 … Meet Don and Laura 02:03 … Understanding the Whole Person 03:21 … Job Description vs Job Specification 07:00 … Measurable Job Specs 08:12 … Candidate Specification 11:03 … Deal Breakers 11:55 … Talent Brand 13:35 … Being Transparent and the Cost of a Bad Hire 19:23 … Planning for the Interview 21:08 … Building Rapport 23:12 … Laying out the Interview Plan 24:40 … Non-Verbal Cues 25:48 … Note Taking 28:46 … Roles of Multiple Interviewers 32:12 … When No Candidates are a 100% Match 35:10 … Assessing Capability 37:04 … “Hire The Best” Insite Course 38:23 … Closing DON LANG: Oftentimes companies will spend more time investing in a new piece of software or a photocopy machine in terms of doing research and scouring prices and so forth.  And they’ll do a couple of quick interviews and think you’ve made the right decision.  NICK WALKER:  Welcome to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers.  Every couple of weeks we meet to discuss what’s important to you and to all professional project managers.  We try to talk with the best of the best, drawing on their experience and seeing what has worked for them. I’m your host, Nick Walker, and with me is the true voice of experience, Bill Yates.  And today, Bill, we have another full house here in the studio. Meet Don and Laura BILL YATES:  Yes, we do.  It’s great to have Laura and Don in the room with us.  And I cannot wait to dig into this topic because they are experts when it comes to hiring the best. NICK WALKER:  So let’s talk about hiring.  As we all know in today’s economy, hiring the best people is more critical than ever.  It costs a lot to find and interview candidates and to train new employees.  No one can afford to lose time and money from a bad hiring choice.  Employees are an investment, and we want a good return on that investment.  That’s why Don Lang and Laura Butcher are here with us.  They are the founders of Blue Key Partners, a consulting firm focused on helping organizations develop their leadership talent through learning and executive coaching. Don and Laura wrote a course titled “Hire the Best” for Velociteach’s InSite Mobile Learning Platform.  Laura has a background as an HR leader, supporting hiring and talent decisions across multiple industries; and Don has experience as an assessor of talent and in helping leaders apply skills and techniques to get the right person in the right job at the right time.  Don, welcome to Manage This.  Laura, great to see you again.  Welcome back. LAURA BUTCHER:  Thank you. DON LANG:  Thank you. Understanding the Whole Person NICK WALKER:  Let’s just start with the basics; all right?  First, getting to know a job candidate.  To what extent is it important to learn more than just the person’s job skills? DON LANG:  Well, it’s certainly important to understand the whole person because that’s who shows up at work.  Oftentimes in an effort to try and get the best person we focus on some technical competency, some experience, some skills, at the exclusion of really understanding how is this person going to fit in the organization? And I was reminded of that the other day when I was talking to a hiring manager who hired a construction estimator.  Lots of great experience in estimating significant construction projects.  But when they got to work, immediately they started looking at different ways of changing the work environment in their office.  They wanted to move to a different floor because it was too noisy where the other estimators were.  They wanted a microwave brought in.  They wanted someone to help do some of the tasks that typically the other estimators would...

The Podcast for Project Managers by Project Managers. In the 1900’s, a fungal pathogen which causes chestnut tree blight destroyed 90% of nearly 4 billion American chestnut trees. In this episode Dr. Bill Powell shares his vision and research processes which bring hope to this majestic tree. Table of Contents 01:10 … Meet Dr. Powell 02:57 … What Happened to the American Chestnut Tree 05:27 … The American Chestnut Foundation and Backcross Breeding Program 08:47 … Hypovirulence and Finding a Solution 10:03 … The Solution Process 11:20 … Blight Tolerant Samples 11:56 … The Regulatory Process 13:10 … Dr. Powell’s Career Vision 15:09 … Overcoming Challenges 16:33 … A Prepared Ecosystem 18:21 … American Chestnut Tree Project risks 19:36 … Responding to Critics 21:59 … Identifying Genetic Loci and using Oxalate Oxidase 23:40 … American Chestnut Tree Restoration Project Team 24:50 … Keeping Communications in Sync 25:38 … Project Funding 27:12 … Lessons Learned 28:14 … How to get Involved in the American Chestnut Tree Project 29:00 … Preparing the Next Generation 30:17 … About the Chestnut 32:18 … Learn More about the American Chestnut Foundation 33:24 … Closing BILL POWELL: Our grandparents knew the chestnut tree.  We did not.  But our grandchildren will know it again. NICK WALKER:  Welcome to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers.  Every couple of weeks we meet to talk about how people like you are managing projects both big and small.  Our guests include speakers, authors, and trainers, but also those who are right there in the trenches, getting the stuff of project management done on a daily basis. I’m your host, Nick Walker.  And before we get to today’s guest, we are thrilled to acknowledge the return of one of the founding fathers of this podcast, Andy Crowe, back from, well, I guess the project of a lifetime.  Welcome back. ANDY CROWE:  Thank you so much, yeah, we’ve taken a short break. The boat, which is named Gratitude, is in Grenada right now. So we’ve sailed it from Florida, all the way down through the Caribbean, down to Grenada, which is really close to South America, and are waiting out hurricane season there. NICK WALKER:  Well, we’re going to talk with you more in detail about your adventure in the next podcast but... ANDY CROWE:  Great. Meet Dr. Powell NICK WALKER:  So let’s meet our guest, Professor William A. Powell is the director of the American Chestnut Research and Restoration Program.  Dr. Powell received his Ph.D. in 1986 at Utah State University, studying ways to bring back the American chestnut tree, a tree that became functionally extinct after being devastated by a fungus from Asia.  Approximately 90 percent of the nearly four billion trees were killed by blight. In 1989 he became a faculty member at the State University of New York’s College of Environmental Science and Forestry at Syracuse, New York.  There he began collaborating with his colleague, Dr. Charles Maynard, and the American Chestnut Foundation, researching methods to develop a tree resistant to the blight.  He’s worked for the last three decades to reintroduce the American chestnut to the wild, and their efforts are succeeding.  Dr. Powell, so great to have you with us, welcome to Manage This. DR. BILL POWELL:  Thank you. NICK WALKER:  So let’s start off the conversation by learning more about your career path and how you became passionate about the American chestnut tree. DR. BILL POWELL:  So like most people, when I was younger, I actually hadn’t heard about the American chestnut, you know, it’s been gone for a while.  But when I went to graduate school I was very fortunate to get into Dr Neal Van Alfen’s lab, and there we worked on the fungus that causes chestnut blight.  And that’s where I kind of learned the chestnut story, and it’s a fascinating story because the American chestnut was once one of the most common trees in the east...

The podcast for project managers by project managers. The NTSB: hear about managing projects for the National Transportation Safety Board. Our guest Michele Beckjord is the Supervisory Investigator in Charge and Project Manager for the NTSB Office of Highway Safety. Michele explains the investigative process and describes some positive changes from NTSB projects. Table of Contents 00:52…The NTSB02:48…Meet Michele05:16…The Supervisory Investigator in Charge05:16…NTSB Project Manager Role08:02…Disaster Response Teams09:50…Incident Response Criteria12:14…NTSB Most Wanted List13:46…Sharing Lessons Learned16:00…Following Up NTSB Recommendations 17:34…Some NTSB Projects19:09…Avoiding Emotional Burnout22:58…Stages of the NTSB Investigation Process28:17…Growing into the Job32:01…Getting Accurate Information33:18…Positive Changes from NTSB Investigations36:40…Find Out More about NTSB Projects37:47…Closing MICHELE BECKJORD: You’re never an expert in a project you’re handed.  You’re the project manager.  It’s not your job to be the expert in that particular area.  It’s your job to get that project managed to its completion point.  NICK WALKER:  Welcome to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers.  Every couple of weeks we meet to try to get to the heart of what you face every day as a professional project manager.  And we do that by talking with people who are right there with you, facing their own challenges and finding their own solutions. I’m your host, Nick Walker, and with me is Bill Yates, who thankfully is the one who keeps us on track around here.  And Bill, we often hear in the news stories of accidents involving aircraft, railways, ships at sea, vehicles on highways.  Our guest is someone right there in the thick of all those stories. The National Transportation Safety Board. BILL YATES:  She is.  And we’re going to talk about the National Transportation Safety Board and have a conversation with Michele.  And just I’m fascinated in seeing how does a project manager manage the situations that she deals with, with the high impact that it has, the high visibility, and just the high stakes of these types of projects. NICK WALKER:  Yeah.  Let’s get into this just by talking a little bit about the National Transportation Safety Board.  The NTSB is an independent federal agency charged with investigating every civil aviation accident in the U.S., and other significant accidents on land and sea.  It also issues safety recommendations aimed at preventing future accidents.  Listen to this number:  14,900.  That’s how many safety recommendations the NTSB has made in its 52 years of existence.  And more than 80 percent of them are implemented. Meet Michele We’re looking at kind of a different approach to project management today with our guest, Michele Beckjord.  Michele is the Supervisory Investigator in Charge for the NTSB Office of Highway Safety.  She has a B.A. in Criminal Justice from American University and a Master of Forensic Science from George Washington University.  She has worked for the National Transportation Safety Board since 1995 and has served as a senior survival factors investigator and senior project manager.  Ms. Beckjord has led investigations of major highway crashes involving school buses, motor coach fires, and bridge collapses.  As a project manager, she’s also taken the lead role in managing major investigative hearings, safety forums, and workshops. Michele, thank you so much for joining us on Manage This.  And we want to start by just hearing more about your position as the Supervisory Investigator in Charge and Project Manager for the NTSB Office of Highway Safety.  What does that entail? The Supervisory Investigator in Charge.  MICHELE BECKJORD:  Well, I’ll start with the Supervisory Investigator in Charge.  We call it an IIC for short.  What the ICC does is lead a team of investigators.  And each of our investigators have a different backg...

The podcast for project managers by project managers. From choosing the best strategy and establishing ground rules, to finally implementing an agreed plan, our guest Neal Whitten describes a thorough and effective approach to managing conflict. Table of Contents 01:54 … Meet Neal 02:44 … Defining Conflict 03:42 … Indicators of Conflict 05:30 … Sources of Conflict 08:06 … Conflict Resolution Strategy – Thomas Kilmann Model 08:46 … Competing Strategy 09:10 … Collaborating Strategy 09:37 … Compromising Strategy 10:15 … Avoiding Strategy 12:40 … Accommodating Strategy 12:55 … Choosing a Strategy 14:23 … 7 Steps to Conflict Management 16:08 … Step 1: Choose the Strategy 16:17 … Step 2: Establish Ground Rules 16:48 … Step 3: Define the Conflict 18:02 … Step 4: Explore Solutions 18:17 … Step 5: Select best Solution 18:11 … Step 6: Agree to Implementation Plan 18:55 … Step 7: Implement and Verify 19:00 … Collaboration 20:09 … PM’s Role in Conflict Management 21:34 … A Benefit of Conflict 22:36 … Overcoming Emotions and Egos 25:04 … Face to Face is Best 26:53 … Instill Confidence in a Team 29:47 … Conflict Mangement with a Boss 32:11 … How to Escalate 32:59 … “I Will Not…” Post Conflict Statements 34:28 … Get in Touch with Neal 35:17 … Closing The podcast for project managers by project managers. Conflict management advice for the project manager on resolution strategies and how to implement a conflict management plan. NEAL WHITTEN: We need each other more than ever.  There’s so much data, so much information there, you cannot be an expert on everything anymore.  We need to work and collaborate with one another.  So that’s part of the theme through conflict resolution. NICK WALKER:  Welcome to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers.  This is our chance to talk as professionals in the field of project management.  We want to address your concerns, your needs, and to give you, not only some tips on bettering your game, but to encourage you in it.  We feature guests who have developed their skills and want to help you develop yours. I’m your host, Nick Walker, and before we get to our guest, I’d just like to personally thank our listeners for the comments we’ve received about our podcasts.  This is how we know if we’re succeeding, how we know if we’re really helping you, so please continue to leave your comments on Google, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or whichever podcast listening app you use.  You can also leave us a message on our website, Velociteach.com, or on social media, we want to hear from you. And right now I want to hear from Bill Yates because our guest today is somebody that you have known for a while.  And he’s going to be speaking to something that is, well, I guess inevitable in any project manager’s line of work. BILL YATES:  Conflict is going to happen, when you have two or more people working on something, you’re going to naturally have conflict, and I’m delighted to have Neal Whitten speak into that.  When he and I were talking several months ago about what topic should we address next for project managers, we landed on conflict management.  And I got excited about that right off the top because this is just a part of life, especially in projects.  We have conflict at home, we have it in school, we have it in every phase of life, but absolutely in the workplace.  So addressing that with Neal is going to be a great conversation. Meet Neal NICK WALKER:  And of course we’ve had Neal on before.  But let me reintroduce him to our listeners.  President of the Neal Whitten Group, Neal Whitten, PMP, is a course author and contributor to Velociteach InSite’s elearning courses and has also been a contributing editor of PMI’s PM Network Magazine for over 15 years.  Neal previously worked for 23 years at IBM, in both project leader and management positions.  Neal is a popular speaker, trainer, consultant, mentor,

The podcast for project managers by project managers. Many of our projects face uncertainty and complexity; we’re talking with Carole Osterweil about the importance of understanding how the brain works to clear the “fog”. Table of Contents 02:10 … Meet Carole and Visible Dynamics 05:08 … Project Delivery, Uncertainty and Neuroscience 08:08 … Walking in Fog 10:38 … Painting by Numbers 11:39 … Project 2020 12:53 … Understanding the Fog 13:41 … Understanding How the Brain Works 17:23 … Wiring of the Brain and Keeping track of Projects 21:29 … Creating a Circle of Safety 25:00 … Motivating Creativity and Collaboration 28:01 … Dealing with Fog in Your Team 30:13 … Bringing the Thinking Brain Online 32:36 … Facing Uncertainty 34:27 … Projects Where the Goalposts are Shifting 35:19 … Get in Touch with Carole 36:15 … Closing CAROLE OSTERWEIL: And if we can create a psychologically safe environment, then everyone’s thinking brains are online, and the team works really, really well together. NICK WALKER:  Welcome to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers.  We’ve set aside this time for you as a professional in the field of project management.  Our goal is to get to the heart of what you really need, providing ideas and encouragement.  We talk with some of the most creative and successful people in the field, finding out what has worked for them, and even sometimes learning from their mistakes. I’m your host, Nick Walker.  We’ll get to our guest in just a moment, but let me just take this opportunity to thank you, our listeners, for your feedback on our podcasts.  We appreciate your comments on Google, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and many other podcast-listening apps.  If you have a suggestion or just want to tell us how the podcasts have worked for you, please don’t hesitate to comment.  You can also leave us a message on our website, Velociteach.com, or on social media.  It’s a great help, as we continue to bring what we think are helpful conversations your way.  We want to know what works for you and what can help us improve. And what works for me is having our ever-present Bill Yates.  You’ve been involved in project management for, what, how many years? BILL YATES:  We’re looking at decades.  There’s a list.  Let’s move on. NICK WALKER:  Yeah, I guess we don’t have to, yeah; we don’t have to talk about it.  BILL YATES:  Got a lot of gray hair here.  Let’s just leave it at that. NICK WALKER: Let’s talk about this one.  But I’m sure that over the course of your career you’ve led projects that are unpredictable, with goal posts seeming to shift all the time.  And that’s what we want to talk about this time around. BILL YATES:  Yes.  Carole, our guest, has written a book, and we’ll talk more about it.  But the book is so clarifying on this idea of uncertainty.  So many of our projects have uncertainty.  There’s complexity.  There are unknowns.  Could be an undefined scope.  Could be we’re using some kind of solution we’ve never used before.  There’s something in there that introduces our new favorite three-letter word, a “fog.”  So we’re going to talk about fog with Carole. Meet Carole and Visible Dynamics NICK WALKER:  Well, let’s meet Carole.  Carole Osterweil is the author of “Project Delivery, Uncertainty and Neuroscience:  A Leader’s Guide to Walking in Fog.”  Carole is an adjunct at Ashridge, part of Hult International Business School just outside of London.  And she runs Visible Dynamics, a boutique consulting and coaching practice.  As a troubleshooter and coach to executives and project delivery teams, Carole’s current projects include work with Cranfield University and PA Consulting to increase the U.K. government’s senior project and program management capability.  So she knows firsthand what leading projects in the midst of turmoil is all about.  Did anyone say “Brexit”? Carole, to start off, could you tell us a little bit about

Table of Contents 01:49 … Meet Colin 06:18 … Key to Achieving Project Success 09:53 … Know Yourself, a Key to Success 12:31 … EQ vs IQ 14:40 … Project Manager vs Project Leader 16:19 … Focus on Relationships 19:44 … Characteristics of a Great Project Leader 23:15 … Value of Team Culture 26:28 … The Challenge of Pleasant Cultures 27:22 … Building the Culture upfront 29:08 … Focusing on Culture While Focusing on Deadlines 31:08 … Utilizing Personality Tests 32:49 … Team Support when Times are Tough 34:53 … How to Use Humor as a Key to Success 37:06 … Importance of Being Honest 39:10 … Get in Touch with Colin 39:59 … Closing COLIN ELLIS: also remember, that you need to be a role model for other human beings.  And when you’re being the best of you, you will always bring out the best in other people. NICK WALKER:  Welcome to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers.  Every couple of weeks we meet to talk about what really matters to you as a professional in the field of project management.  We sort of pride ourselves on finding the top experts in the field, those who can speak to the challenges you face and draw on their own experiences. I’m your host, Nick Walker, and before we get to our guest today, we’re going to ask our listeners a favor.  We’d like to know your experience with these podcasts.  Would you be willing to share your feedback?  Just leave a review on Google, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or whichever podcast listening app you use.  You can also leave us a comment on our website, Velociteach.com, or on social media.  We want to know what works best for you, and what can help us improve. And one of the folks here who is always calling us to a higher standard, of course, is Bill Yates.  And Bill, we’re going to tackle a question on this podcast.  And that question is what makes a great leader?  And it’s possible we’re going to find some answers that maybe we’ve never heard before. BILL YATES:  I think so.  We’ve got an author of a book, and this is not just one of those theoretical books.  If I were to think about one word to summarize this book, the word would be “practical.”  Project managers are going to find this conversation, and certainly the book if they go and purchase it, very practical, hands-on advice. Meet Colin NICK WALKER:  Well, let’s meet our guest.  Colin D Ellis moved through the ranks from project manager to program manager to PMO to heading up large project departments, and sponsoring projects in both the private sector and government.  He did this in three countries:  the U.K., New Zealand, and currently in Melbourne, Australia.  He is an award-winning speaker and best-selling author, and he helps organizations around the world to build delivery cultures that apparently everyone wants to be part of.  Speaking to us all the way from Australia – we’re up early, he’s up late – Colin, welcome to Manage This. COLIN ELLIS:  Thank you, Nick.  Great to be here. NICK WALKER:  Want to start off just hearing a little bit about your background, your professional career.  Tell me how you got started on all this. COLIN ELLIS:  Oh, that’s a great question, Nick.  So, yeah, 2:24 stutters I’ll just cover it in the next 40 minutes.  I left school pretty early, didn’t really know what I wanted to do, Nick.  And I think often when I talk to project managers a lot of us are in the same boat.  It took me you know, probably about 10 years to get my first project management job.  I worked my way through banking, from a front-counter cashier-type role, where I really learned to enjoy working with people.  My last role before project management was working for a newspaper in telesales.  And I really loved the interaction with people.  I really loved creating and being part of teams.  And so they asked me to be a project manager for Year 2000, back when the world was going to end. BILL YATES:  Y2K. COLIN ELLIS:  We remember those days; right?

Advice on leading a multigenerational team to create productive, modern, cross-generational workplaces, and redefining what culture looks like in the digital age. Bridge the gap between productivity and building relationships that keep team members fulfilled at work.

The podcast for project managers by project managers. Ethics seeks to answer two questions: what should I do, and who should I be? Hear expert ethical advice from The Ethics Guy, Bruce Weinstein. Table of Contents 00:54 … Meet Bruce 01:34 … Ethics and an Ethicist 03:15 … Becoming an Ethicist 05:53 … It Takes Courage to be Ethical 07:10 … Emotional Intelligence vs. Ethical Intelligence 08:43 … Five Ethical Intelligence Principles 09:05 … 1. Do No Harm 09:58 … 2. Make Things Better 12:11 … 3. Respect Others 12:30 … 4. Be Fair 12:49 … 5. Be Caring 14:55 … Fearsome foursome Topics to Avoid 17:51 … An Unethical Assignment 20:46 … Telling the Truth the Ethical Way 23:57 … Building Trust 25:33 … Withholding Information 27:51 … Ethical Response to Anger 31:55 … Get in Touch with The Ethics Guy 33:59 … Closing BRUCE WEINSTEIN: “There are essentially two questions that ethics seeks to answer:  what should I do, and who should I be?”  NICK WALKER:  Welcome to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers.  Every couple of weeks we meet to talk about what really matters to you as a professional project manager.  We seek out people who are right there in the thick of all kinds of projects to see what motivates them, what challenges them, and also how they manage those challenges. I’m your host, Nick Walker, and with me is the one who is constantly challenging me to be my best, Bill Yates.  And Bill, this time around we’re going to talk about the difference between right and wrong, am I right? BILL YATES:  You’re right.  You’re always right.  And fortunately we’ve got an answer man in the room with us.  So all of our questions, all of our ethical questions that we ever have about any project or project team situation, he’s going to answer. NICK WALKER:  Every one. BILL YATES:  Every one. NICK WALKER:  Okay.  Okay.  I can’t wait. BILL YATES:  This one could run long. Meet Bruce NICK WALKER:  So our guest is Bruce Weinstein, known as “The Ethics Guy” he shows organizations around the world how ethical leadership is the key to sustained success.  Bruce has a Ph.D. in philosophy, with a concentration in bioethics.  He’s an ethics and leadership speaker and trainer.  He’s also appeared more than 200 times on national and international news programs, and he writes a leadership column for Forbes.com. His books include “Ethical Intelligence: Five Principles for Untangling Your Toughest Problems at Work and Beyond”, “The Good Ones: Ten Crucial Qualities of High-Character Employees”, and, for tweens and teens, “Is It Still Cheating if I Don’t Get Caught?”  Ethics and an Ethicist BILL YATES:  Bruce, one of the first things I’ve got to ask you is this fancy word “ethicist.”  So give us a definition for an ethicist, and then how did you decide you wanted to become one? BRUCE WEINSTEIN:  Well, an ethicist is someone who teaches ethics for a living. And so that strange word that no one can pronounce or spell is the reason why I decided to call myself “The Ethics Guy” and trademark it because that’s something that everyone can say. And I think it conveys a sense of, you know, ethics is really for everyone, and so it shouldn’t be solely the domain of academics. BILL YATES:  Okay, so one of the definitions I saw for ethics, and this may have been in your book, was to identify right conduct and good behavior.  Is that a good working definition? BRUCE WEINSTEIN:  So, there are essentially two questions that ethics seeks to answer:  what should I do, and who should I be? And the first focuses on conduct or behavior, and it appeals to the principles that I’ll be talking about here today, the principles of ethical intelligence.  And it’s almost like solving a puzzle, what should I do here, in this case, with these facts, at this time? The second question goes deeper.  To ask "who should I be" talks about the qualities of character that we should develop over the course of a lifetim...