In this episode, Project journal editor Emma De Vita meets Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez, who is on a mission to champion project management as a central issue for every CEO. He is the author of Lead Successful Projects, published by Penguin, and he is also a Harvard Business Review author and has been recognised by Thinkers50 as an influential global business thinker.

Antonio is the co-founder of the Strategy Implementation Institute, and his day job is as director of the Program Management Office at GlaxoSmithKline Vaccines. He is also a former chair of PMI. He has vast global experience leading complex projects, and previously worked as Head of Project Portfolio Management at BNP Paribas Fortis. 

Antonio spoke to us about why and how project management and project managers need to become more strategic if they are to innovate. Projects are the future of organisations, but project managers need to sit at the top table, he argues. CEOs need to accept project management as part of the strategic conversation within their organisation, and project managers need to learn new skills and think about their role differently in order for this to happen. Antonio kindly shares his thoughts on how this can be done.