Table of Contents

Wayne Intro………………………………………………..…..…..00:39

The Challenges of Remote Leadership………….......…...01:38

The Human Dynamic………………………………….……..….03:26

Leading Remotely is Leading differently……….....…..…05:02

Advantages of Remote Teams………….....….….………..…08:02

Organizations Struggling with Remote Teams? ….......10:37

Tools: Richness vs. Scope of Media…………......…..…..…12:59

3 Dimensional vs 2 Dimensional Communication….....22:41

Use Technology to Build Relationships………..…....…...25:21

Where to find Wayne…………………………………….....……31:08

NICK WALKER:  Welcome to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers.  This is our chance to sit down and talk about what matters to you as a professional project manager.  We get inside the heads of people who are doing the job and doing it well.  We talk with them about leadership, we talk about methods, and we talk about what works and what doesn’t work, all with the purpose of learning and improving our game.

I’m your host, Nick Walker.  And with me are the two guys who never stop learning, Andy Crowe and Bill Yates.  And Andy, I’m anxious to hear what we can learn from our guest today.

ANDY CROWE:  You know, I definitely think there are things we can learn today.  We’re going to be diving into remote leadership, long-distance leadership, remote teams, that kind of thing.  And it’s going to be very informative.  I can feel it.

NICK WALKER:  Well, let’s meet our guest.  Wayne Turmel is the cofounder of the Remote Leadership Institute and the author of many books, including Association for Talent Development’s “10 Steps to Successful Virtual Presentations.”  He also coauthored a book with Kevin Eikenberry, “The Long-Distance Leader:  Rules for Remarkable Remote Leadership.”  Wayne and Kevin cofounded the Remote Leadership Institute to help remote leaders succeed in a virtual workplace.  And Wayne, I think it’s appropriate that we are speaking to you remotely today from Chicago.  Thank you so much for being here with us on Manage This.

WAYNE TURMEL:  I’m delighted to be here, guys.  This is going to be fun.

NICK WALKER:  Now, you state in your book that today, according to the Project Management Institute, 90 percent of project teams have at least one member, usually more, who aren’t colocated with the rest of the team.  Remote leading, that’s got to be a challenge.  What are some of the challenges of it?

WAYNE TURMEL:  Sure.  Well, you know, you’re more likely to find pandas mating in the wild than a project manager that has all their people in one place anymore.  So it’s absolutely – this is now a fundamental skill, right, that we need to get our mitts around.  On one level, not much has changed.  I mean, if you look at the job of the PM, what’s the job; right?  We need to help figure out scope.  We need to assign resources.  We need to coach periodically.  All the stuff that we need to do.  Nothing’s changed.  I mean, Peter Drucker said the greatest project job of all time was building the pyramids, and we’ve just been trying to live up to that ever since.

BILL YATES:  Right.

WAYNE TURMEL:  The difference, of course, is the guy who built the pyramids was at the pyramids.  He wasn’t trying to flog people by email.  So if we think about what we have to do, in many ways it’s not that different.  What has changed radically is how we do it.  We’re now forced to communicate through technology, which fundamentally changes the way people interact.  It changes the human dynamic.  And I know a lot of PMs get real nervous when we talk about human dynamic, right, because it’s all about process.  But the fact of the matter is that communicating through technology is radically different than the way we were born and raised to communicate.  And some people adapt naturally, and others need to be very mindful of how we do that.

ANDY CROWE:  You know, Wayne, it’s interesting because I think for a long time,

Table of Contents

1. Meet Stephen

2. The Telos Corporation

3. Addressing adversity with excellence

4. Cut and Run vs Building trust

5. Get the 1st call when news is bad

6. Intellectual and Emotional courage

7. Creating Desire

8. Communicating respect

9. Get in touch with Stephen

Time

00:46

02:28

02:49

06:15

09:00

13:50

17:37

24:25

27:09

 

NICK WALKER:  Welcome to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers.  Every two weeks we meet to discuss what matters to you in the field of project management.  We talk with the movers and shakers, those who have been through the wringer, PMs just like you, about their successes and their failures, too.

I’m your host, Nick Walker, and with me are the guys with a long string of successes behind them, Andy Crowe and Bill Yates.  And Bill, we have somebody with us via Skype from Tampa, Florida, someone who has been a leader in just multiple capacities.

BILL YATES:  Yes.  Steve, we are so excited to have you as our guest.  You’ve got experiences recently in the private sector.  But for 28 years you served our country.  We thank you for that, and I’ll let Nick describe more of that.  But welcome to the show.

STEVE CORCORAN:  Thank you.

NICK WALKER:  Yeah, let’s meet Steve.  Well, Steve Corcoran retired from the United States Marine Corps after 28 years of active service.  In that time he was recognized for distinguished service in combat and peacetime.  Steve is now the Chief of Cyber Strategy for the Telos Corporation, successfully taking his leadership knowledge from the Marine Corps, and also from the National Outdoor Leadership School, into a corporate environment.  He mentors other veterans transitioning into the civilian workforce and sits on the Board of Directors for Warriors at Ease.  Steve, thanks so much for joining us here on Manage This.

STEVE CORCORAN:  Thank you for having me.

NICK WALKER:  I am intrigued that you’ve made that transition from a career in the military to a career in the corporate world, and that you actually help others in that transition, as well.  Was that an easy transition for you?  Did it come naturally?

STEVE CORCORAN:  Well, you know, I was very fortunate.  You know, United States Marine Corps is what I considered a bubble of excellence.  And when I made my transition, I left the United States Marine Corps, I just lifted up another bubble of excellence and walked into that, which was the Telos Corporation.  And that for me was a very, very easy transition.  And I didn’t realize that, you know, until quite a few years.  I’ve been with them for six years.  And they’re absolutely a phenomenal organization on many different levels.  But the reason why I’m staying with them is because of the leadership that is there and the lessons that they’ve taught me.  And what I’ve been able to do is take those lessons and impart them to veterans and to other individuals that are transitioning in.

BILL YATES:  Let me ask a quick question.  What does that company do?  What do you do?  What do you do, and what does the company do at Telos?

STEVE CORCORAN:  Telos is a top 25 internationally ranked cybersecurity company, and we primarily work in cybersecurity, standard cybersecurity.  We work in mobility and also identity management.

BILL YATES:  Excellent.  Steve, when we were talking before, one of the things that you said you realized after you had transitioned from a long military career was you realized, okay, wow.  I benefited from years and years of leadership excellence.  I had excellent leaders I worked with.  I had excellent training.  I had excellent preparation.  And then when you moved into the private sector you were fortunate enough to find that again.  And two of the key words that you’ve said that really stick to me is what made that clear to you was how the organization handled adversity and uncertainty.  So tell us, in your transition,

Table of Contents

Kupe intro……………………………………………………..00:46

The BA and PM coexistence…………………………..05:45

The greatest value a BA can deliver……………….10:00

Helping others make decisions………………………11:22

Lean BA & Course………………………………………….14:10

Learning from Amazon 70% Rule……………………18:32

Agile………………………………………………………………20:09

Decision Responsibility Matrix....……………………21:40

Role of culture in an organization…………………..24:10

Taking a hit and the outcome……………………….26:00

Where to find Kupe………………………………………30:40

KUPE KUPERSMITH:  The moral of the story is you’ve got to keep your eyes open for opportunities and say yes when they come about.

NICK WALKER:  Welcome to Manage This!, the podcast by project managers for project managers.  Twice a month we get together to talk about the world of project management, and what matters to you is part of that world.  We talk with experts, veterans in the field, and those who are finding creative ways to take the profession to the next level.

I’m your host, Nick Walker, and with me are the guys you might say are at a level of their own, Andy Crowe and Bill Yates.  And Andy, I cannot wait to see what today’s guest holds for us.

ANDY CROWE:  This is going to be a good one.  You know, Kupe is kind of famous around the office here, and so a lot of people know him.  He’s got a good reputation.  And I’m really eager to get into this new topic for us of business analysis.

NICK WALKER:  Well, we should mention that we recently took a survey of our listeners, and one of the topics they requested was the subject of business analysis.  So today’s podcast is a result of those requests.  So let’s meet him.

Kupe Kupersmith is an accountant, an IT consultant, a writer, speaker, coach, trainer, and improv comedian.  He helps individuals and businesses achieve their goals through focusing on professional skills, business analysis, project management, and leadership skills.  Kupe is the author of “Business Analysis for Dummies” and is known throughout the industry as someone who can make you laugh while learning.  He has stated that one of his life’s goals is to meet everyone.  Kupe, we’re bringing you just a little bit closer to that goal here today.  It’s great to have you here on Manage This.

KUPE KUPERSMITH:  And I’m excited to be here.

NICK WALKER:  Now, I think we need to talk about that unique combination first of business coach and improv comedian.  How did that come about?

KUPE KUPERSMITH:  Yeah, I think it all started – well, I think I’ll start with the end in mind.  The moral of the story is you’ve got to keep your eyes open for opportunities and say yes when they come about.  So I was 17 years old, didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life, and was going to college and didn’t know what major to pick.  And my dad said:  “Jonathan, you love math.  Why don’t you become an accountant?  Everybody needs an accountant.  You’ll have a good job, benefits.”  I was like, “Okay, Dad, I’ll become an accountant.”

So I went to school for an accounting degree.  I got my degree.  Was pretty bored along the way but thought, you know what, I graduated.  Now I’ve got to use this degree.  And sometimes, I hate to admit it, but what do all good accountants try to do in the end?  They try to get their CPA exam.  So I’m two years into my career, sit for the CPA exam, and I still think I’m on record as being the best failure of the CPA exam.

BILL YATES:  That’s an honor.

KUPE KUPERSMITH:  I knew that was kind of like the tipping point for me of, okay, well, you know, I wasn’t too excited about this career.  Maybe I need to look into something else.  And I had this creative itch.  So I kind of looked into becoming a comedian.  I was actually, you know, in the early ‘90s there was a lot of standup comedy in Atlanta.  So I went to a show, and it was like, I think I can do that.  Well, I failed at standup comedy as well as I did the CPA exam.  But...

ANDY CROWE:  A debit and a credit walk into a bar...

NICK WALKER:  Welcome to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers.  Every other week we get together to talk about the things that matter to you as a professional project manager.  And it doesn’t really matter whether you’re a PM veteran or someone simply exploring what the field is all about.  We’re here to offer some ideas, some perspective, and draw on the experiences of others who have been down that road and have realized success.

I’m your host, Nick Walker, and with me are two who are still on that road, Andy Crowe and Bill Yates.

ANDY CROWE:  Thanks, Nick.  We’ve had so much interest in the topic of artificial intelligence within project management, and we’ve got somebody here who knows a lot about AI who’s going to be processing that with us.

NICK WALKER:  Our guest here in the studio is Chris Benson.  He’s an artificial intelligence machine learning strategist, a solution architect, and a keynote speaker who specializes in deep learning.  That’s the computation technology that is driving the artificial intelligence revolution.

Chris is the co-host of the Practical AI podcast, produced by Changelog Media, designed to make artificial intelligence practical, productive, and accessible to everyone.  He’s the founder and organizer of the Atlanta Deep Learning Meetup, one of the largest AI communities in the world, with nearly 2,000 members.  Chris, it’s great to have you here on our podcast.

CHRIS BENSON:  Thank you very much.  Happy to be here.

NICK WALKER:  Could we start off by just defining for our listeners what artificial intelligence is?

CHRIS BENSON:  So artificial intelligence means a lot of different things to a lot of different people.  In my view it’s really a marketing word more than it is anything else because over the years the definition of artificial intelligence has changed and evolved.  So what you might have thought of in the 1980s is vastly different from what it is in 2018.  So before I define it, I want to point out I was in a group of artificial intelligence experts that Adobe was hosting about six weeks ago.  And in doing that, they asked us all that same question; and all 10 of us gave 10 different answers.

ANDY CROWE:  Well, and the joke is, if you ask two economists for a definition, you get three answers.

CHRIS BENSON:  Absolutely.

ANDY CROWE:  Same idea, huh.

CHRIS BENSON:  Yup.  So it was very much that.  So I wanted to note that.  Take what I say with a grain of salt.

ANDY CROWE:  What do you think it is, yeah.

CHRIS BENSON:  So what I think it is, is a narrow definition.  I would consider that in 2018 artificial intelligence is synonymous with deep learning, which is the application of deep neural networks.

ANDY CROWE:  Interesting.  Well, learning is certainly a part of AI that I think that’s almost a universal component that goes across most definitions.  Most definitions talk about the ability to imitate intelligence and things like that, imitate human intellect.  But that ability to learn and grow as a neural network is an interesting part of it.  So how do machines learn?

CHRIS BENSON:  So there’s different techniques.  And those all broadly fall under the definition of machine learning.  The thing that separates deep learning, which is how I’m defining AI, from the rest is that it can take an enormous number of inputs – we call them “features” in data science – and process them in a highly nonlinear manner and give inferences, which are essentially probabilistic predictions on what the answer might be.

For instance, to make it real:  If you have machine vision, and you are putting a cat in front of the camera, and it will come back and identify that it thinks it’s a cat.  It might come back 97 percent.  But the difference is these technologies aren’t going to come back with 100 percent.  They’re probabilistic technologies.  But they can make these identifications using a model that is many orders of magnitude ...

NICK WALKER:  Welcome to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers.  It’s our chance to meet with you and discuss what really matters in the world of project management, whether you’re new to the field or have been doing it for decades.  We want to encourage you and challenge you, to cheer you on and help you avoid some of the pitfalls that can come along the way.  We talk to the experts, people who have gone before us, so we can benefit from their experiences and their successes.

I’m your host, Nick Walker, and with me are the guys who make it all happen here, Andy Crowe and Bill Yates.

ANDY CROWE:  Nick, it’s great to be here today, and I’m really excited about this ‘cast.

NICK WALKER:  Okay.  Spoiler alert, it’s very possible that we’re going to laugh some today.  Our guest is Sean Glaze, an author, speaker, and teambuilding facilitator who is all about inspiring groups to have fun laughing together so they can have more success working together.  He’s the author of three books:  “The Unexpected Leader,” “Rapid Teamwork,” and “The 10 Commandments of Winning Teammates.”

Sean has been a successful basketball coach, an educator for more than 20 years, and in that time has gained some valuable insights into how to develop winning teams.  He’s the founder of Great Results Teambuilding, which he uses to share those lessons all over the country, through entertaining speaking engagements and teambuilding events.  Sean, thanks for joining us here on Manage This.

SEAN GLAZE:  Appreciate it, Nick.  Looking forward to being here and sharing some great information with your audience.

NICK WALKER:  Sean, I’m always fascinated how skills developed in one area can transfer over into others.  For example, when did you realize that the lessons you’ve learned from years of coaching basketball could translate well to business leaders?

SEAN GLAZE:  That is a tremendous question.  And honestly, it was probably about eight years into my coaching career when I realized I wasn’t as good a coach as I thought.  I had spent most of that first decade as a coach, like many project leaders, like many team leaders regardless of industry, focused on strategy.  And for basketball, that’s X’s and O’s, and that’s skill development and strategy.  And you realize after you go through a couple of seasons where you know you’ve not gotten as much out of your talent as you should have that there’s something missing.  And what I had neglected for nearly a decade was culture.

And everybody has probably heard culture eats strategy for breakfast, but as a young coach I had never heard that.  But I certainly lived it.  And so the eye-opening mirror moment for me was recognizing, at the end of a really tough losing season, I’m going to have to change if I want my team to change.  And leading teams as a project manager, as a coach, you realize that strategy is what you want to do.  Culture determines how well your people are going to do it.  And so the relationships and connections that I then began to focus on made us far more successful in the future.  And I realized that what I had done with my team could hopefully help other leaders with their teams, regardless of athletics or business or others.

ANDY CROWE:  You know, as I listen to this, Sean, I’m thinking, strategy you could change over a long weekend.  But culture is a slow turning ship a lot of times to turn that around.  And especially if you’ve got a toxic culture or a problematic culture, to reframe that in a positive way takes a lot of time and tremendous energy.

SEAN GLAZE:  Absolutely.  And that’s something I think first as a leader you need to know what it is you want.  Because if I don’t have clarity about what I want my culture to be and what actually constitutes culture, I can’t deliver that or influence that on my team.  So a lot of my growth as a leader was me educating myself.  And hopefully those are some things that I’ll be able to share toda...

"I always like to say that common sense and respect get you about 90 percent there to avoid sexual harassment claims." - Sarah Lamar

NICK WALKER:  Welcome to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers.  Every two weeks we meet and talk about what matters to you as a professional project manager.  Whether you’re a newcomer to the field or a seasoned professional, we offer opinions, advice, and real-life experiences from those who are right there in the trenches right now and those who have been there before.

I’m your host, Nick Walker, and with me are two who have been there before and lived to tell about it, Andy Crowe and Bill Yates.  And today, Andy, we’re going to lay down the law when it comes to business and corporate environments.

ANDY CROWE:  You know what, Nick, we’re really fortunate to have an expert in an area that’s on a lot of people’s minds these days.

NICK WALKER:  Our guest is Sarah Lamar, a partner with the Savannah law firm of HunterMaclean, where she practices in the area of employment law.  Sarah has experience in state and federal courts in the areas of discrimination, harassment, wage-hour questions, breach of contract, and tort claims.  She also conducts in-house training for employers and advises clients on a variety of employment law issues, including immigration and affirmative action.

She received her B.A. degree from Yale University and her law degree from Emory University.  Sarah is currently the co-chair of the State of Georgia Society for Human Resource Management: Government Affairs Committee; and a past chair of Alpha International, a global legal networking organization.  Sarah, it is a privilege to have you here with us on Manage This.

SARAH LAMAR:  Well, thank you.  I’m thrilled to be here.

NICK WALKER:  Now, there are so many topics that we hope to get into, and we could get into right off the bat.  But maybe this would be a good place to start.  We’ve seen over the past year so many publicized cases of sexual harassment and discrimination as more individuals come forward with complaints.  Is this a problem that is becoming more widespread, or is it just simply the reporting and the prosecution of it that’s increased?

SARAH LAMAR:  Well, that’s a good question.  I think that for the most part this is an issue that has just been more widely reported, and the awareness of harassment has increased over the last, really, only since about October 15th, which was when the #MeToo movement went viral.  And in fact it had been a movement.  It was a thing before October 15th.  The movement #MeToo was started in ‘06 by an activist trying to address sexual harassment and abuse.  But when the actress Alyssa Milano tweeted on October 15th words to the effect of, “If you’ve been harassed or abused, tweet back #MeToo,” that’s when it really took off and went viral.  And that tweet was about a complaint regarding Harvey Weinstein that had been reported in the media.

NICK WALKER:  Do you think there are still some people who don’t really understand what sexual harassment is?  I mean, is there a working definition we can go with?

SARAH LAMAR:  Well, yes.  There’s a working legal definition.  And I’ll spare you the legal geekdom on all of that.  But the essence of it is that someone is subject to unwelcome harassment, unwelcome behavior based on sex, that creates a severe and pervasive change in their working environment.  And then there has to be a way for the employer to become liable.  That’s the definition that comes from federal civil rights law.  There are some other definitions that come into play with criminal law or other claims.  But that’s the fundamental definition.  Were you subjected to unwelcome conduct that severely and pervasively interfered with your working environment?  And essentially was the employer involved, or did they know about it?

NICK WALKER:  Now, this is something obviously that project managers need to be aware of.

NICK WALKER:  Welcome to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers.  This is our every-other-week time to meet and discuss what matters to you as a professional in the field of project management.  We talk about trends in the profession.  We share opinions and perspectives.  And we pick the brains of some of the best in the business, getting to the heart of what motivates them and what makes them successful.

I’m your host, Nick Walker, and with me is the one who is never hesitant to share his opinion, Andy Crowe.  Bill Yates is on vacation; so Andy, it’s all on you today.

ANDY CROWE:  And I’ve got an opinion about Bill choosing to take a vacation, but yeah.

NICK WALKER:  Uh-huh.  Well, today we are privileged to talk with someone who has built her reputation on bringing out the best in people.  Kim Brainard is a trainer, a coach, a facilitator, and consultant.  It is her passion to help organizations and individuals develop a vision for their potential growth and development.  Through her company, Agile Brain, she utilizes creative tactics and street-style coaching that brings out the best in people.  Kim has over eight years of Agile experience, and 15 years of experience in IT project planning, implementation, and execution.  She is a certified Scrum professional and an active participant in the Scrum Alliance community

Kim is also the founder of Santa Pays It Forward, a nonprofit organization committed to giving back to elderly men and women who are without family and in need.  She implements the Scrum framework and Agile principles to make the organization successful.  Kim joins us from the Washington, D.C. area.  And Kim, thank you so much for being here on Manage This.

KIM BRAINARD:  Andy and Nick, thank you so much for having me.  Happy Monday.

NICK WALKER:  Over the years, Kim, you have become what some people have called the “People Whisperer,” connecting with people on an intimate, individual level.  What is it about your techniques that have earned you that name?

KIM BRAINARD:  So it’s very interesting.  In fact, I just had a meeting last week with someone I had interviewed for a position with a client.  And one of the things they said was, “Well, we felt maybe you would never act that way or be that way in front of a client.”  And I said, “Oh, I’m sorry, which way is that?”  And they said, “Well, you were a little goofy, and it almost just seemed like I was sitting down with you, and we were just having a good time.  Would you really act that way at a client site?”  I said, “Absolutely.”

That’s why I say I’m a little unconventional, because it’s about humanizing work.  Sometimes we get dressed up in our three-piece suits and our heels, and we go out, especially in the D.C. area, and we speak one way, but we mean the other.  And what I mean about meaning the other is humanizing what we do and say.  And so we all get dressed and go in to work, but let’s not forget to be human.  And so my approach to things is let’s sit down and form relationships and build relationships.  Let’s get to know one another so we can have a sense of trust.  And so that’s what it’s – it’s just whispering, “Let’s be human to one another.”

ANDY CROWE:  You know, Kim, I started my career when I was in college, co-oping with IBM.  And that was a really amazing experience.  But it’s funny because I did not at that point get the importance of being human.  It almost felt like everybody there was on their “A” game all the time, that they were so incredibly professional.  And again, this is in the ’80s, and things have changed with IBM.  IBM’s an amazingly resilient and adaptive organization, so they aren’t the same as they were then.  But I was intimidated to no end.  And I never wanted to bring anything personal into that office.  I was all work, all the time.

KIM BRAINARD:  Oh, yeah.

NICK WALKER:  It seems like this is almost a paradigm shift maybe for some organizations.  Is it?

MIKE GOSS:  I believe that everything in life in one way or another is a project.  So if that’s true, how do I increase my chances of it being successful, and who can I help with it?

NICK WALKER:  Welcome to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers.  Every two weeks we get together to talk about the ins and outs of project management and what matters to you as a professional in the field.  We’ll talk with some of the leaders in project management to find out what motivates them, what drives them to succeed, and to get some encouragement and inspiration from them.

I’m your host, Nick Walker, and with me are the two main motivators around here, Andy Crowe and Bill Yates.  And Bill, today we have with us via Skype someone who has made it a life goal to inspire people.

BILL YATES:  Yeah.  And Mike, I’m excited about having you on this ‘cast because you’ve been entertaining our operations team for weeks and weeks and weeks.  I can always tell when they’re on the phone with you, so I’m looking forward to this.

NICK WALKER:  Well, let’s meet Mike.  He has held sales and leadership positions with four multinational companies, several small and mid-size businesses, and three of his own businesses.  He’s an accomplished sales trainer, a project management trainer, contract project manager, speaker, and author.  And one of Mike’s lifetime goals is to reach 10 million people with a message of hope and inspiration.  Today he’ll get a little closer to that goal right here in our studio.  Mike, via Skype from Portland, Oregon, it’s great to have you with us here on Manage This.

MIKE GOSS:  Well, I’m honored to be here.  I'm glad I was invited because this – Velociteach, Andy Crowe, Bill Yates – this is the big-time.  I got invited to the big-time.  Hallelujah.

NICK WALKER:  Well, you know, that goal of reaching 10 million people might seem unusual to a lot of people.  Why did you set that particular goal?

MIKE GOSS:  A few years ago I had open heart surgery.  I had chest pains and didn’t tell my wife.  And when she finally found out, things happened, and suddenly I’m having a five-way heart bypass.  When I woke up, I checked around, and I said, “I’m still alive.”  I wiggled my toes.  They're still working.  I tried my fingers.  They're still working.  I couldn’t talk because they had these huge things down my throat.  But I thought, you know, I must be here for a reason.  God must still not be done with me.

So I set a goal to see how many people I could enrich.  And if you’re going to make a goal, you might as well make a big one.  I didn’t set out to enrich 10 people.  I set out to enrich 10 million in one way or another.  And when I speak or when I create a course or when I’m teaching boot camps, it’s all about making the other person better off.  I want to be able to say I did something; I made my mark by helping others.

NICK WALKER:  Well, let’s go way back.  Way back, I guess, even when the first little seeds of your career began to be planted.  You had the nickname of “Otis” in junior high school and in high school.  Tell us why.

MIKE GOSS:  I lived in Pendleton, which had a total of four elevators – Pendleton, Oregon.  But I was always fascinated by the box moving up and down with people or materials in it, the counterweight behind it, all the mechanical and electronic things that had to happen to make it work.  I was fascinated with it, and I always talked about it.  My friends got very tired of listening to it.  I made scale model elevators and entered them in science fair projects.  It just went on and on.  And eventually I got to work for my dream company, Otis Elevator.

NICK WALKER:  As a matter of fact, I understand one of your usernames is ElevatorFan.  Would that be true of you?

MIKE GOSS:  Well, yes.  When I was setting up my account in Skype it said, “What handle do you want?”  And I, well, thinking Otis, somebody took Otis.  So I said ElevatorFan.

NICK WALKER:  Welcome to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers.  Every couple of weeks we meet to discuss what matters to you in the wide and diverse field of project management.  It’s our chance to reflect on our purpose; to take stock in how we’re doing; and, when needed, challenge ourselves to step it up.  We talk with project managers about real-life situations.  We pick their brains to discover their ideas and motivations and find out what has worked for them.

I’m your host, Nick Walker, and with me are the two main brains of the outfit, Andy Crowe and Bill Yates.  And today, Andy, we’re talking with the guy who literally wrote the book on measuring strategic gold.

ANDY CROWE:  Nick, I have been looking forward to this all week, just to get into the topic of strategy, to look at it; and to also look at it from a project management standpoint.

NICK WALKER:  Well, let’s get right to it.  Joining us via Skype is David Barrett, a professional speaker, a regular blogger, a podcast host, an education advisor, and author of five books.  His career includes the creation and directing of a conference business; a training company; a software development firm; a speakers bureau; and, most recently, a TED-style event series for project professionals across North America.  He specializes in helping people and organizations manage the uncertainty by creating healthy projects and strategies.  David Barrett, thanks so much for joining us today here on Manage This.

DAVID BARRETT:  I’m thrilled to be here, gentlemen.  Great to join you.

NICK WALKER:  You’ve recently coauthored a new book, coming out just in a few days, titled “Seven Elements of Strategy Execution.”  David, what prompted this book?  How did it come about?

DAVID BARRETT:  Well, 25, almost 30 years later into this business, and things have changed a lot.  It’s no longer build it on time, on scope, on budget for all of us project managers.  The day is now here where we’re being asked to step it up, to be more involved in the organization, to add value, and to be more than just the tickbox project manager that many of us grew up to know.  So this whole piece of strategy is, in my mind, a natural evolution on many different fronts.  I think it’s now to everyone’s benefit, to everyone’s favor to start understanding why we’re doing the work we’re doing.

And this portfolio of work that we’re managing and working on is huge.  It’s mission critical.  It’s driving the business.  And so the day has come that we’re being asked, and we should be asking, why are we doing this?  How does it fit into the strategic plan?  So this is the connection of the work of all of us, of this wonderful community of project managers worldwide, to the “why.”  In my opinion, just to that one word.  Why are we doing this?  How does this fit into the bigger picture?  And that’s a strategic plan.

ANDY CROWE:  I’ve heard it said before, David, that a man with a “why” can defeat a man with a “what” any day.

DAVID BARRETT:  Absolutely.  The “what” is important.  The “what” is important to know, to see that vision down at the end of the road.  But just to drive us down to some object is not going to work.  It never has.  It never will.  But to give us purpose to build, which gives us passion for what we are doing, it’s so important today.  You know, we’re no longer staying with these organizations for many days, for our lives.  We have options.  So on both fronts it’s important that we’re connected.

BILL YATES:  That’s true.  David, I’ve seen this with PMI, as well.  They’ve really, as they look at the performance that leads to exceptional project managers, those who are able to recognize the why, to see that context and understand how strategy influences their day-to-day decisions, they bring more value to their organization.  I think even of the Talent Triangle when PMI rolled that out.  Strategy is really, you know, it’s named a little bit differently.

AAnNICK WALKER:  Welcome to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers.  Every other week we meet in an effort to get to the heart of what matters to you as a professional project manager.  We do that by talking with some of the leaders in the field, sharing their successes and sometimes their failures.  And we dig deep to find out what motivates them to be at their best.

I’m your host, Nick Walker, and with me are two guys who are always at their best, Andy Crowe and Bill Yates.  Andy, our guest in the studio today will be familiar to football fans, but he’s actually moved on to a different field.

ANDY CROWE:  Yeah, and we’ve got a lot of energy in this small podcast studio today, though.  We’re kind of bursting at the seams.  It’s a good thing.

NICK WALKER:  But you know it’s not every day that we can refer to a former NFL star as “Doctor.”

TOMMY JACKSON:  Ah, that’s what I’m told, that’s what I’m told.

NICK WALKER:  Yeah, but Dr. Tommy Jackson was a defensive tackle for the Atlanta Falcons and the Kansas City Chiefs.  He now serves as the Director of Advising for University College at Kennesaw State University.  Jackson holds five university degrees.  Count ‘em:  a Master of Business Administration, Master of Public Administration, Bachelor of Arts in Public Administration, a Master of Education, and a Doctorate in Philosophy and Adult Education with Higher Education Administration.

TOMMY JACKSON:  A lot of “tions,” right.

NICK WALKER:  Yeah, yeah.

ANDY CROWE:  That’s a long business card, my friend.

BILL YATES:  It’s typical for a football player.

NICK WALKER:  Of course, yeah, exactly.

TOMMY JACKSON:  That’s why you just put “T.J.” on the card.  It makes it so much easier.

NICK WALKER:  Well, you know, as a student at Auburn University, Dr. Jackson received an All-SEC honor both in football and in academics.  As a television sports analyst, he’s been nominated for an Emmy Award.  And in between his work in education he was also the program director for the at-risk student program within the city school system in Opelika, Alabama, his hometown.  Dr. Tommy Jackson, it’s a pleasure to have you with us here on Manage This.

TOMMY JACKSON:  I am so glad to be here. Thank you for having me. Truly, truly.

NICK WALKER:  You had a stellar career in football, both at Auburn University and for two NFL teams.  And in that career you developed, should I say, a reputation for destroying your opponents on the field.  But also you have a passion for building people up.

TOMMY JACKSON:  Yeah.

NICK WALKER:  And helping them succeed in life.  How do you sort of reconcile those two extremes?

TOMMY JACKSON:  You know, because it’s very funny, you have to basically have the same mentality for both, whether you know that or not; right?  And people are like, wait, what do you mean?  Hold on, I’m going to explain it.

No, working with people is something that takes a lot of – it takes having a passion for it.  And that’s something I’ve always had, whether it was playing football, whether it was working with students, you have to have a great passion for it because in order for you to be successful at anything, you have to have a high degree of passion, and you have to have a high degree of education.  And that doesn’t necessarily mean degrees from that standpoint.  But it’s like having an understanding of what you’re doing.  That’s what really – that’s what buys your credibility.  People are able to say, “Ah, he’s done it.  He’ll do it.”  And these are just things I’ve done over life.

So, yeah, I enjoy football that way.  I was always in the classroom.  I was always looking at video.  And I was always studying my opponent.  And it’s the same thing you do when you work at a university or you work in the private sector.  You’re going to study.  You’re going to study your opponents.  ou’re going to study everything you do.

BILL YATES:  Can we call you Tommy?

TOMMY JACKSON:  Yes.  I’m glad you said that.