Chapter 1: Why You Must Develop Leadership Skills to Succeed As a Project Manager
Congratulations! You have one of the best jobs available anywhere in the world today. You also have one of the most difficult jobs in existence.
You’ve won the career lottery.
Kind of.
There are few roles that have the ability to impact a firm in more ways than the project manager.
Project Managers:
- Are at the epicenter of an organization’s strategy execution. Strategy is executed in projects, and an organization’s project management skills play a significant role in success or failure in the marketplace.
- Shepherd new product development from the fuzzy front-end to market launch.
- Facilitate the creation of IT and technology infrastructure that enables a firm to serve clients and compete in the market.
Of course, you are making all of this magic happen without the benefit of a great deal of formal leadership authority. This would be the “Kind Of” part for winning the career lottery. Your job is important and importantly, your job is very difficult.
I’ve served as a Project Manager (in function, not title), managed, hired and acted as executive sponsor for project managers for over twenty years. I’ve concluded that the best ones are game changers for a firm’s ability to execute. They are also outstanding leaders. The rest are administrators.
Don’t get me wrong. There’s nothing wrong with being a good administrator. Chances are however, that you are not reading this to improve your administrative skills.
Simply stated, if you want to climb the ladder, grow your career and your earnings and increase your visibility as a senior, “go-to” project manager, you must master the very difficult skills of leading others.
And remember, leadership is not for the faint of heart.
Project Management Perspective: According to a survey by Ernst & Young, 80% of the issues surrounding project failure are people issues.
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Proceed to Chapter 2: Your First Lesson, Leading is Hard Work. Getting it Right is Even Harder.
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