People and Projects Podcast: Project Management Podcast

Epizodai

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  PPP 517 | The Hidden Costs of Avoiding Difficult Conversations (And What To Do Instead), with Gustavo Razzetti 30.07.2026 47min

  Summary In this episode, Andy sits down with Gustavo Razzetti, culture consultant and author of Forward Talk. Gustavo makes a case that surprises a lot of leaders: fear is only part of why people stay quiet at work. The bigger driver is what he calls the pointlessness paradox, the belief that speaking up will not change anything. Andy and Gustavo talk about conversational debt and how it compounds over time, why silence is so often mistaken for alignment, and the subtle signs that a team is drifting into avoidance, blame, or groupthink. Gustavo unpacks the difference between backward talk and forward talk, offering practical ways to turn an objection into a question that opens possibilities. You'll also hear about conversational agency, why the second person who speaks up matters more than the first, and how the CPR approach of courage, perspective, and responsibility plays out under pressure. Along the way, Andy shares stories from Alfred Sloan at GM and Alan Mulally at Ford, and Gustavo shares a memorable one about his son and a crashed car. If you're looking for a more confident way to raise the issues your team keeps avoiding, this episode is for you! Sound Bites "However, fear only explains part of why people don't speak up. At some point, people feel nothing will change." "I like to say that agreement happens in the room, alignment happens after the meeting." "When you become the team leader, the number of people giving you feedback reduces, and when you become a senior executive, no one gives you feedback.  Or if they do, it's not honest." "But what you want is people to challenge your perspective, to show you what you're missing, to see the things you're not seeing or maybe you stop seeing." "The problem is when we put being accepted, being respected over the outcome." "So forward talk is when can we frame that objection into a question." "So you're not being difficult. You're being realistic, but trying to find a solution, and you're giving the other person options." "Most people don't regret the difficult conversations they had. What we regret are the ones that we never had." "There's research that shows that the person who speaks up first is not the most important person. The second person who reciprocates is actually the one that creates the change. That moment when two people are talking about the same issue, it gives permission to the other people to jump in and also participate." "Staying silent also backfires, not only because it hurts the company, but if you're seeing the problem and you're staying silent, you become part of the problem." "It's not the absence of conflict that makes us a good team. It's that we can do it and we can work through it." Chapters 00:00 Introduction 02:05 Start of Interview 02:17 Growing Up in a Family of Nine in Argentina 05:18 Learning New Ways Beyond Your Family Culture 06:16 Why Fear Is Not the Whole Story 09:06 Why Waiting for Perfect Psychological Safety Backfires 10:37 Explaining the Pointlessness Paradox 11:37 Mistaking Silence for Alignment 13:35 Alfred Sloan and the Value of Disagreement 15:32 Subtle Signs You Are Drifting Into Groupthink 17:58 Backward Talk vs. Forward Talk 19:43 The Way to the Sun Is Through the Storm 21:05 How Organizations Quietly Reward Avoidance 23:08 When Speaking Up Gets You Labeled 25:09 Alan Mulaly, Ford, and the Power of the Second Voice 27:39 Alignment Debt, Belonging Debt, and Collaboration Debt 29:11 Why Conversational Debt Compounds 30:05 Surrendering Conversational Agency 32:40 Complaining, and the CPR Approach 36:31 You Get What You Tolerate 37:42 Applying These Ideas at Home 40:06 Conflict Is Fuel When You Channel It 41:07 End of Interview 41:37 Andy Comments After the Interview 45:10 Outtakes Learn More You can learn more about Gustavo and his work at GustavoRazzetti.com. For more learning on this topic, check out: Episode 284 with Peter Boghossian. He wrote a book about how to have impossible conversations, and it's full of ideas Andy still uses almost every week. Episode 148 with Daniel Shapiro. Dan is the author of Negotiating the Nonnegotiable, an insightful guide to dealing with difficult conversations and influence situations. Episode 371 with Amanda Ripley. Her book High Conflict offers practical guidance on navigating even the most challenging of conflicts in an empowering way. Chat with PMeLa You can chat directly with PMeLa, the podcast's AI persona, to get episode recommendations and answers to your project management and leadership questions. Visit PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com/PMeLa to chat with her. Join Us for LEAD52 I know you want to be a more confident leader–that's why you listen to this podcast. LEAD52 is a global community of people like you who are committed to transforming their ability to lead and deliver. It's 52 weeks of leadership learning, delivered right to your inbox, taking less than 5 minutes a week. And it's all for free. Learn more and sign up at GetLEAD52.com. Thanks! Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Talent Triangle: Power Skills Topics: Difficult Conversations, Conversational Debt, Psychological Safety, Groupthink, Team Culture, Leadership, Project Management, Conflict, Alignment, Accountability, Communication, Speaking Up The following music was used for this episode: Music: Summer Morning Full Version by MusicLFiles License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license Music: Tropical Vibe by WinnieTheMoog License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
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  PPP 516 | Becoming the Project Manager, with Stuart Taylor 27.07.2026 52min

  Summary In this episode, Andy welcomes back his friend Stuart Taylor, a PMO leader and PMI PMO Awards judge, author of Becoming the Project Manager. Most of us didn't grow up dreaming of leading projects. We drifted into the role, and then discovered it's far less about plans and methodologies than it is about people, pressure, and learning to lead while you yourself still feel unsure. Stuart shares the story behind the book, including the university project where he publicly chastised a teammate and the response from his dad that changed how he understood leadership. He and Andy dig into the real value and limits of PM certifications, why AI can help you communicate but can't replace the human part, the stakeholder questions younger Stuart was afraid to ask, what his mentor Wayne taught him about proximity and follow-through, and why a new sponsor has to be sold on your project rather than assumed into it. You'll also hear the 30-minute CV rule and the trouble it once caused him. If you're looking for an honest, human look at what it actually takes to become the project manager, this episode is for you! Sound Bites "Well, now that you've reprimanded that person, you do realize you've got to go and pick them back up again?" "So going out into the world with this as my toolkit, and I thought it was a toolkit, but actually it turned out to be more like a life raft because I ended up clinging onto it without reasoning at an early point in my career." "There's an awful lot that falls between the processes, and that's what the early part of the book is really exploring." "I don't believe there's great value in repeatedly recycling the same learning over and over and over again. I think there's much greater value in taking that energy and going to learn something about your industry, the, actual industry that you're working in." "And also, I should add, you will have greater value to them by being there too, because you're the interesting change person in the room then, rather than one of another 200 change people walking around all talking about the same methodologies." "So be the person who is not avoiding hearing about challenges, but actively seeking them out, and cataloging them, and managing them." "Something else I've learned: they don't like you tiptoeing around them." "But if anybody's having to go into the office more frequently now, go and spend some of that time sitting with the people whose world you are changing." "But if your own leader, the person who's supposed to be championing you in the organization just doesn't get it, then you've got an impossible task on your hands." "When your sponsor goes or leaves and somebody else comes in and replaces them, don't just assume that, that because they've now been told they're gonna have to be the sponsor of your project, that they understand it and they can see the value in it." "Every project that you work on, the benefits, they are your accomplishments." "There is no point in being loyal to organizations. Be loyal to people." Chapters 00:00 Introduction 01:56 Start of Interview 02:15 Growing Up in Walsall and Learning Leadership from Dad 07:15 Drifting Into Project Management 09:06 When the Methodology Becomes a Life Raft 10:14 Why the Playbook That Worked Elsewhere Fails Here 11:49 Will AI Create PMs Who Look Prepared but Aren't? 13:37 Using AI to Understand a Difficult Stakeholder 15:31 The Value and Limits of PM Certifications 17:44 The Talent Triangle and Learning Your Industry 19:34 Stakeholders Are People, Not Org Charts 20:46 Curiosity and Asking Better Questions 21:54 Stop Tiptoeing: Busy Stakeholders Want the Point 22:55 What Wayne the Mentor Taught Stuart to Notice 25:47 Go Sit With Operations 28:19 The Power of Proximity 29:33 Sponsorship and Why PMOs Collapse 34:18 Earning Support and Managing Up 35:07 When a New Sponsor Takes Over 37:08 Keep Your CV 30 Minutes From Ready 39:39 When the 30-Minute Rule Got Stuart in Trouble 41:28 Project Lessons That Carried Into Family Life 43:23 End of Interview 43:58 Andy Comments After the Interview 47:08 Outtakes Learn More You can learn more about Stuart and his work at InfluentialPMO.com. For more learning on this topic, check out: Episode 474, which is an earlier and pretty candid conversation with Stuart about LinkedIn, careers, and AI. Episode 429 with Bill Dow. Bill and Andy talk about the signs that your PMO is going to fail, and you don't have to be in a Project Management Office to get value out of that discussion. Episode 441 with Michaela Flick. A discussion on the human side of project management that resonates with much of what you hear from Stuart. Chat with PMeLa You can chat directly with PMeLa, ;the podcast's AI person, to get episode recommendations and answers to your project management and leadership questions. Visit PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com/PMeLa to chat with her. Join Us for LEAD52 I know you want to be a more confident leader–that's why you listen to this podcast. LEAD52 is a global community of people like you who are committed to transforming their ability to lead and deliver. It's 52 weeks of leadership learning, delivered right to your inbox, taking less than 5 minutes a week. And it's all for free. Learn more and sign up at GetLEAD52.com. Thanks! Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Talent Triangle: Business Acumen Topics: Project Management, Leadership, Stakeholder Management, Sponsorship, PMO, Mentoring, Career Development, Certifications, Artificial Intelligence, Communication, Influence, Professional Growth The following music was used for this episode: Music: Brooklyn Nights by Tim Kulig License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license Music: Fashion Corporate by Frank Schroeter License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
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  PPP 515 | The Dangerous Drift Away from What Matters Most, with author Tom Rath 14.07.2026 48min

  Summary In this episode, Andy sits down with Tom Rath, one of the most respected researchers on wellbeing and human potential, author of What's the Point? Turning Your Purpose Into a Superpower. Tom argues that we can be incredibly busy while slowly drifting away from what matters most, optimizing our schedules while our lives quietly leak away. Andy and Tom explore why "follow your passion" can be harmful advice, how status seeking becomes career quicksand, and why our smartphones may be one of the greatest threats to purposeful living. They also discuss how many of us inherit ambitions from our parents that we never consciously chose, and how an honest awareness of mortality can sharpen our clarity, intentionality, and sense of purpose. Rather than treating purpose as one grand calling, Tom reframes it as something we create in small moments throughout the day. If you're looking for a practical, and honestly a little uncomfortable, guide to leading and living with more purpose, this episode is for you! Sound Bites "Here's what I know with absolute certainty: you're wasting most of your day. Not because you're lazy, but because you've never asked the right question. You're so busy being busy that you've forgotten to ask why. You're optimizing your schedule while your life leaks away, hour by hour in meetings that don't matter and tasks that won't be remembered next week, let alone next year." "If you fail to do those things in a day and take that initiative and have those meaningful and purposeful conversations, and you put those off until tomorrow, tomorrow never really comes because we get into that responsive mode." "Passion by definition starts with you, and it's a little self-oriented, whereas I would argue purpose by definition has an other orientation to it, which is a much better idea for anchoring your energy in a day." "If you're not connecting back with the impact that it made on one person that day, it fails to kind of count in the way we motivate ourselves and think about our work on a daily basis." "I would argue that 90% of the purpose in life is built in those moments, not in some epiphany on a sunny day." "I would estimate that at least 80% of people, maybe 90%, make it all the way to the very end of their career in their life without ever seeing what they could have been best at in life." "Even as managers and leaders, if we don't take care of our own health and wellbeing first, we just have no shot at even being our best for other people that we manage." "There's always someone making twice as much as you or 10 times as much as you, and there's always somebody with more followers or more listeners or more readers or whatever it might be." "The eulogy virtues are about what am I doing today so I'll be a better dad, a better husband, a better friend, to help readers, to help people with the products I'm working on." "I would argue that 80% of people I see out in public today, out in the wild, are essentially working for their smartphone." "Their smartphone's running their life, and they're the ones salivating like one of Pavlov's dogs every time the darn thing blinks or buzzes or vibrates, right?" "Having your phone out sends an implicit message to the other person that the little black box on the table matters more than the other person, and it degrades the quality of the conversation." "The one thing we've all got in common is we have today to try and do some things that serve a purpose and help another person, and if you miss that opportunity, it's gone." "None of them, none of the headstones say anything about those kind of resume virtues that we were talking about." Chapters 00:00 Introduction 02:00 Start of Interview 02:08 Busy, Yet Drifting from What Matters 05:50 Rethinking the "One True Calling" 07:38 Why "Follow Your Passion" Can Backfire 09:26 From "What Do I Do?" to "Who Do I Help?" 11:20 How Our Parents' Paths Shape Us 12:11 When Admirable Influence Becomes a Limiting Script 15:01 Unlearning the "Always the Hardest Worker" Mindset 16:55 Are We Nudging Our Kids Into Our Dreams? 19:23 Status Seeking as Career Quicksand 22:02 Choosing Your Own Scoreboard 23:38 Smartphones and the Threat to Purpose 26:28 Making Technology Work for You 28:05 How Mortality Sharpens Purpose 30:52 What the Headstones Don't Say 32:33 Helping Kids Build Lives That Matter 35:21 End of Interview 35:48 Andy Comments After the Interview 40:20 Outtakes Learn More You can learn more about Tom and his new book at tomrath.org/whats-the-point. For more learning on this topic, check out: Episode 132 with Tom Rath. An earlier conversation with Tom, digging into his story and his research on wellbeing. Episode 140 with Tom Rath. Another previous discussion with Tom on wellness and living with strengths. Episode 31 with Adam Grant. Adam's first-ever podcast interview, where he shares insights on how to lead with meaning. Episode 261 with David Epstein. A conversation about his book Range, a helpful complement on career decisions for kids and for us. Chat with PMeLa You can chat directly with PMeLa—the podcast's AI persona—to get episode recommendations and answers to your project management and leadership questions. Visit PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com/PMeLa to chat with her. Join Us for LEAD52 I know you want to be a more confident leader–that's why you listen to this podcast. LEAD52 is a global community of people like you who are committed to transforming their ability to lead and deliver. It's 52 weeks of leadership learning, delivered right to your inbox, taking less than 5 minutes a week. And it's all for free. Learn more and sign up at GetLEAD52.com. Thanks! Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Talent Triangle: Business Acumen Topics: Purpose, Leadership, Career Development, Passion, Wellbeing, Intentionality, Status, Comparison, Digital Distraction, Mortality, Parenting, Meaningful Work, Project Management The following music was used for this episode: Music: Summer Awakening by Frank Schroeter License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license Music: Tuesday by Sascha Ende License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
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  PPP 514 | Never Settling for Less: Why You're Leaving Value on the Table, with Attia Qureshi 10.07.2026 1val 1min

  Summary In this episode, Andy sits down with Attia Qureshi, a coach and negotiation expert who is co-author, with John Richardson, of Never Settle. There's no shortage of great negotiation advice out there, yet in real conversations with real stakes and real emotions, that advice often fails to turn into action. This book tackles that gap between insight and habit. Attia shares why emotions are not a distraction from negotiation but central to it, why getting clear about what you actually want is harder than it sounds, and how we leave value on the table without realizing it. You'll hear practical stories, from resetting a difficult relationship with a glass of lemonade to expanding the pie in a salary negotiation, plus small daily exercises for building resilience to rejection and learning to say no in a way that strengthens relationships rather than damaging them. If you're looking for practical, doable ways to become a more confident negotiator and influencer, this episode is for you! Sound Bites "You can get more by caring about what the other person needs and building a strong relational foundation." "People are not born amazing negotiators. They develop that skill over time, just like people are not born confident." "You have to practice that small step out in the real world where the stakes are low and build that skill day after day, month after month." "You and I have probably already negotiated half a dozen times today." "When someone gives us something, we want to return the favor." "New studies now show that 90 to 95% of decision-making comes from unconscious emotional processing." "So many of us quit before we even start." "But if we do have a goal and we do prepare for the conversation, our likelihood of success is double." "A good negotiation doesn't always mean getting 'yes' at the end of it." "I always tell my students, people can almost always help you. It depends on if they want to or not." Chapters 00:00 Introduction 02:06 Start of Interview 02:17 Growing Up: Early Lessons in Conflict 07:10 Negotiation and Confidence Are Skills, Not Personality 08:04 Life Is Full of Everyday Negotiations 10:30 Why Negotiation Training Often Fails 12:30 Resetting a Difficult Relationship 17:20 Influence vs. Manipulation 22:33 Emotions, Fear, and Building Resilience 28:00 Using the Emotion Wheel 29:36 Getting Clear on What You Really Want 33:39 Expanding the Pie: Creating Value 40:50 The Power of Saying No 47:27 Teaching Kids to Negotiate 51:23 End of Interview 51:55 Andy Comments After the Interview 55:22 Outtakes Learn More You can learn more about Attia and her work at AttiaQureshi.com. For more learning on this topic, check out: Episode 157 with Dr. Robert Cialdini. Known as the godfather of influence, his name came up several times during today's discussion, making this a great follow-up. Episode 412 with Scott Walker. A former Scotland Yard hostage negotiator who shares a lot of practical lessons about influence. Episode 385 with Vanessa Patrick. She wrote one of the best books on how to say no, a fitting companion to today's conversation. Chat with PMeLa You can chat directly with PMeLa—the podcast's AI persona—to get episode recommendations and answers to your project management and leadership questions. Visit PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com/PMeLa to chat with her. Join Us for LEAD52 I know you want to be a more confident leader–that's why you listen to this podcast. LEAD52 is a global community of people like you who are committed to transforming their ability to lead and deliver. It's 52 weeks of leadership learning, delivered right to your inbox, taking less than 5 minutes a week. And it's all for free. Learn more and sign up at GetLEAD52.com. Thanks! Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Talent Triangle: Power Skills Topics: Negotiation, Influence, Leadership, Project Management, Reciprocity, Emotional Intelligence, Resilience, Saying No, Stakeholder Management, Relationship Building, Value Creation, Confidence The following music was used for this episode: Music: Quantum Sparks (Full Version) by MusicLFiles License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license Music: Tropical Vibe by WinnieTheMoog License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
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  PPP 513 | Thriving in an Age of AI: What Most Leaders Are Getting Wrong About the Future, with Fred Marshall 08.07.2026 48min

  Summary In this episode, Andy sits down with Fred Marshall, entrepreneur, founder of Quantum Learning, and author of Thrive: The Antidote to Future Shock. Fred introduces his Super Eight, eight interconnected areas of life that shape our ability to adapt, lead, and grow in a world of accelerating change. Together, they explore why doing all the seemingly right things, the endless life hacks, can still leave you feeling off. Fred makes the case that attention is the single variable that governs almost everything, and that you can ignore almost all of the change coming at you and still thrive. You'll hear about managing your neural net, guarding your time with two 90-minute focus blocks, clearing the open loops that clog your thinking, and choosing the relationships and ecosystems that lift you up. Fred also walks through PANDA, a simple five-step method inspired by a panda that helps you stop a mental spiral and regain focus. If you're looking for a practical, hopeful way to lead through an age of AI and constant change, this episode is for you! Sound Bites "You can ignore almost all of it." "So everything, everything you look at, every book you read, every text you read, everything you do is shaping your neural net." "If you look at that rock, you're gonna hit that rock." "Two 90-minute blocks a day is my new normal." "If you want time to go fast, turn on your computer, open your iPad, or look at your phone." "An open loop is something that needs to get done, that's not done yet, that's still taking up space in your head." "The worst thing is to think of something when you can't act on it." "The people you surround yourself with have an enormous impact on your life and how you think and how everything unfolds, and it's probably the most important choice you make is who you hang out with." "If you develop relationships with people in a growing ecosystem, you're gonna have a great career, you're gonna have a great life." "I want to prepare people so that it's, it's more of surfing a big wave rather than getting overwhelmed by a tsunami." "And I think if you're in your head and you're spiraling, getting out of your head and into action is how you really close the loop." "But if you can just stop for a second and give that person your full attention, even if it's just for a minute, it's so powerful." Chapters 00:00 Introduction 01:47 Start of Interview 02:00 Getting to Know Fred 04:29 What Most People Get Wrong About Change 06:29 Designing Your Life 08:03 The Life Hack Paradox 08:34 Attention: The Single Variable 10:20 The Super Eight and the Neural Net 13:00 Guarding Your Time: Fred 3.0 15:38 Take Care of Your Cells 16:09 Rethinking Sleep and Open Loops 17:46 Minimum Viable Exercise 21:23 The PANDA Method 26:22 Designing Your Relationships 28:32 Riding Growing Ecosystems 31:00 Building Systems for the Future 34:12 Applying It at Home 36:48 End of Interview 37:19 Andy Comments After the Interview 40:32 Outtakes Learn More You can learn more about Fred and his work at thrivefutureyou.com. For more learning on this topic, check out: Episode 437 with Nada Sanders. A conversation about future-prepping your career in the age of AI. Episode 382 with Hal Hershfield. Ideas from his book Your Future Self that remain completely relevant to our times today. Episode 313 with futurist Brian David Johnson. A discussion that changed how Andy thinks about trying to predict the future. Chat with PMeLa You can chat directly with PMeLa—the podcast's AI persona—to get episode recommendations and answers to your project management and leadership questions. Visit PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com/PMeLa to chat with her. Join Us for LEAD52 I know you want to be a more confident leader–that's why you listen to this podcast. LEAD52 is a global community of people like you who are committed to transforming their ability to lead and deliver. It's 52 weeks of leadership learning, delivered right to your inbox, taking less than 5 minutes a week. And it's all for free. Learn more and sign up at GetLEAD52.com. Thanks! Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Talent Triangle: Power Skills Topics: Artificial Intelligence, Change Management, Leadership, Attention, Focus, Productivity, Resilience, Relationships, Systems Thinking, Future of Work The following music was used for this episode: Music: Imagefilm 034 by Sascha Ende License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license Music: Fashion Corporate by Frank Schroeter License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
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  PPP 512 | Science-Based Principles to Lead Change That Sticks, with Julia Dhar and Kristy Ellmer 29.06.2026 1val 3min
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  PPP 511 | How Great Leaders See Differently, with Cornelia Choe 20.06.2026 46min

  Summary In this episode, Andy sits down with Cornelia Choe, leadership advisor and founder of global CEO peer groups, author of The Panoramic Leader: How Great Leaders See Differently, co-authored with Marshall Goldsmith. Cornelia's core idea is that the "mental maps" we form early in life quietly shape how we lead today, and that our decisions are only as good as the world we're actually able to see. Andy and Cornelia explore why so many new executives fail within their first 18 months, what she calls a visibility problem rather than an execution problem. They dig into practical tools: microtranslations for sharing ideas others can absorb, optimistic fear that lets us move forward without ignoring real risk, and the balcony-and-dance-floor balance of perspective and proximity. Cornelia also shares how getting up close to stakeholders, and even to her own kids, opens up options we couldn't see before. If you're looking for practical ways to see more clearly and make better decisions in an uncertain world, this episode is for you! Sound Bites "And the truth is, sometimes the problem is not that we lack data, it's that we're not seeing broadly enough." "And if you truly believe something, stick with it, keep it on your map, and have the courage to go through with it." "But the problem is it's no longer enough to be right in today's world, and having an incomplete picture is just as dangerous as getting it wrong." "Optimistic fear is the ability to keep the risks and the danger in mind, yet to still go forward and to use our fear to fuel our momentum going forward." "We don't need to have everything solved, but just getting up close can reward us with a lot of options." "I mean, in some ways you could argue that our brain's autopilot is not a bug, it's a feature." "You don't have to accept everything you hear or everything your stakeholders tell you, but we do need to think about it and, in a thoughtful way, choose to accept it or not." "And in a world that's constantly changing, this is going to be an even more crucial skill because your decisions are only as good as the world you see, and the most successful leaders learn to see more in today's world." "It's just a good reminder to me that a smart, well-intentioned person can see situations quite differently." "Our identity is created by the people around us, the people who share their perspectives with, and the perspectives that we allow to become part of our mental maps." "I heard someone once say that we're all driven by just a few lines of code that run in the background, and as a former software developer, I can relate to that." Chapters 00:00 Introduction 01:48 Start of Interview 02:00 How Early Life Experiences Shape Our Maps 07:50 Why New Executives Fail in the First 18 Months 12:20 Microtranslations 16:01 Optimistic Fear vs. Pessimistic Fear 21:53 Keeping Curiosity Alive and Getting Off Autopilot 25:59 How We React When Our Map Is Challenged 29:25 The Balcony and the Dance Floor 34:41 How Our Circles Shape and Narrow Our Maps 38:33 Panoramic Leadership at Home 41:20 End of Interview 41:57 Andy Comments After the Interview 45:00 Outtakes Learn More You can learn more about Cornelia and her work at substack.com/@corneliachoe. For more learning on this topic, check out: Episode 489 with Marty Dubin. It's a book about blind spots and how they can easily derail us, an excellent complement to this discussion. Episode 318 with John Stepper. He's the author of Working Out Loud, and his approach to developing people has a lot of similarities to the leader circles that Cornelia runs. Episode 54 with Roger L. Martin. Roger is often in the top 10 of the Thinkers50, and we talk about how you can hold opposing ideas at the same time, very aligned with this book. Chat with PMeLa You can chat directly with PMeLa—the podcast's AI persona—to get episode recommendations and answers to your project management and leadership questions. Visit PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com/PMeLa to chat with her. Pass the PMP Exam If you or someone you know is thinking about getting PMP certified, we've put together a helpful guide called The 5 Best Resources to Help You Pass the PMP Exam on Your First Try. We've helped thousands of people earn their certification, and we'd love to help you too. It's totally free, and it's a great way to get a head start. Just go to 5BestResources.PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com to grab your copy. I'd love to help you get your PMP this year! Join Us for LEAD52 I know you want to be a more confident leader–that's why you listen to this podcast. LEAD52 is a global community of people like you who are committed to transforming their ability to lead and deliver. It's 52 weeks of leadership learning, delivered right to your inbox, taking less than 5 minutes a week. And it's all for free. Learn more and sign up at GetLEAD52.com. Thanks! Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Talent Triangle: Power Skills Topics: Leadership, Decision-Making, Mental Models, Stakeholder Engagement, Perspective, Curiosity, Self-Awareness, Change, Psychological Safety, Executive Effectiveness, Project Management The following music was used for this episode: Music: Brooklyn Nights by Tim Kulig License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license Music: Energetic Drive Indie Rock by WinnieTheMoog License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
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  PPP 510 | The Word Great Leaders Keep Using (And Most Leaders Avoid), with Marcus Buckingham 19.05.2026 1val 8min

  Summary In this episode, Andy welcomes back Marcus Buckingham, bestselling author and researcher, to discuss his new book, Design Love In: How to Unleash the Most Powerful Force in Business. For 25 years, Marcus studied the most productive teams, loyal customers, and effective leaders in the world, and the word that kept appearing in his data was one he kept changing: love. Andy and Marcus explore what love actually means in a business context, including how leaders are really experience makers whether they know it or not. You will hear the remarkable story of Josh D'Amaro, the CEO of Disney, and what his leadership reveals about designing love into a team's daily experience. Marcus unpacks the five feelings that lead people to say they love working for a leader, starting with something counterintuitive: control. The conversation also covers tough love, AI's limits as an experience maker, and how these principles can transform how we lead our families too. If you're looking for a fresh, evidence-based look at what drives sustained high performance, this episode is for you! Sound Bites "I kept hearing that word (love) and shame on me, but I did keep changing it because I felt like it was a careless exaggeration of the word like or something." "Don't keep changing the word (love). The word's the word. The question really should be why and how do we replicate it?" "You're paid to change behavior. That's all you're paid to do. You're not paid to run a project. You're paid to change behavior as a leader." "When you send an email, it's not an email. It's an experience for the person on the other end. When you call that team meeting, it's not a team meeting. It's an experience." "You join a company and then you quit your boss." "Undesigned experiences lead to unpredictable outcomes." "It's cowardly, not loving. It's cowardly to leave them in that job." "I am for you. I am for you. That doesn't always mean that I am going to tell you what you wanna hear. It means I want you to flourish." "Loving's an ingredient, right? Loving isn't, 'Be nicer.' Loving's like, 'What are you trying to do for me?'" "The beginning of love is rules. The beginning of love is clarity." Chapters 00:00 Introduction 01:48 Start of Interview 01:57 Why Marcus Spent Decades Avoiding the Word "Love" 05:47 Misconceptions About Love in Business 11:29 Inside the "Josh Effect" 18:02 What Great Leaders Don't Do 22:13 Local Leadership and Variation in Team Experience 27:54 When Senior Leaders Couldn't Say the Word 31:04 Applying the "Is This Loving or Unloving?" Lens 37:43 Tough Love and Difficult Performance Conversations 46:20 Practical Takeaways: The Five Feelings of Love 50:25 AI and the Role of Love in Leadership 56:34 Designing Love Into Parenting and Family 1:01:26 End of Interview 1:01:57 Andy Comments After the Interview 1:05:03 Outtakes Learn More You can learn more about Marcus and his work at BuckinghamInstitute.com. For more learning on this topic, check out: Episode 252, which is our earlier interview with Marcus Buckingham. That book still impacts how Andy leads years after having Marcus on the first time. Episode 332 with Kevin Eikenberry and Wayne Turmel. A discussion about keeping your teams engaged and connected, even if they're not co-located. Episode 324 with Jim Harter. Jim is the Chief Scientist at Gallup and they have an insightful discussion about building resilient and thriving teams. Chat with PMeLa You can chat directly with PMeLa—the podcast's AI persona—to get episode recommendations and answers to your project management and leadership questions. Visit PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com/PMeLa to chat with her. Pass the PMP Exam If you or someone you know is thinking about getting PMP certified, we've put together a helpful guide called The 5 Best Resources to Help You Pass the PMP Exam on Your First Try. We've helped thousands of people earn their certification, and we'd love to help you too. It's totally free, and it's a great way to get a head start. Just go to 5BestResources.PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com to grab your copy. I'd love to help you get your PMP this year! Join Us for LEAD52 I know you want to be a more confident leader–that's why you listen to this podcast. LEAD52 is a global community of people like you who are committed to transforming their ability to lead and deliver. It's 52 weeks of leadership learning, delivered right to your inbox, taking less than 5 minutes a week. And it's all for free. Learn more and sign up at GetLEAD52.com. Thanks! Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Talent Triangle: Power Skills Topics: Leadership, Love in Business, Team Culture, Employee Engagement, Customer Experience, Project Management, AI, Artificial Intelligence, Parenting, Organizational Culture, Experience Design The following music was used for this episode: Music: Summer Morning Full Version by MusicLFiles License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license Music: Tuesday by Sascha Ende License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
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  PPP 509 | Stop Letting Great Ideas Slip Away: A System for Leadership Recall, with author Steve Kahle 13.05.2026 39min

  Summary In this episode, Andy welcomes back Steve Kahle, entrepreneur, executive, and fractional CIO, author of Leadership Recall: Harness Insights. Accelerate Innovation. LEAD WITH AUTHORITY. Steve first joined the podcast in episode 184 to discuss email overload. This time, the conversation turns to a challenge every leader faces: the forgetting curve. Research suggests we forget up to 83% of what we learn within a week, and Steve argues this is not just a learning problem, it's a leadership problem. Steve shares his CCR framework (Capture, Catalog, and Recall), along with practical tools such as the Anki flashcard app and the Email Me voice-note app, to build what he calls a learning operating system. The discussion covers how to design a recall fitness practice in as little as three minutes a day and how removing friction at every step keeps the system sustainable. If you're looking for a practical system to stop letting great insights slip away and start leading with more authority, this episode is for you! Sound Bites "I think God put in my heart to be a relentless optimizer. I like to see things work and work well." "When you really zoom out in life, those who are really successful have figured out what are the frameworks, what are the methodologies that work, and they simply apply those." "Our subconscious mind can handle about 11 million bits of data per second, but about 40 bits conscious mind." "I went all in. Christ totally transformed my heart, and I'm realizing that scripture memory is a superpower." "Time swiftly washes away the obvious." "Learning really is a privilege, and we need to be able to find time that works with our daily rhythms." "Three minutes a day is really all you need to be able to see tremendous traction on being able to recall things that matter" "Instead of 'I'm bad at remembering names,' you could, do a reframe like, 'Hey, I'm getting better at remembering people's names.'" Chapters 00:00 Introduction 01:48 Start of Interview 02:06 Early Experiences and the Instinct to Remember 04:08 Is Memory a Natural Gift or a Trainable Skill? 05:19 Forgetting as a Feature, Not Just a Bug 07:10 The Leadership Cost of Forgetting 09:10 Shifting the Bottleneck from Input to Retention 12:02 The Five-Hour Rule and Three Learning Archetypes 14:19 The CCR Framework in Practice: Capture, Catalog, and Recall 19:50 Removing Friction from Your Learning System 23:23 Inside Anki: Cloze Deletions and Building Cards 26:10 Organizing Your Recall Decks 27:30 Real-World Results: When Readers Apply the System 28:56 Building Recall Habits in Your Kids 32:50 How to Get the Book 34:01 End of Interview 34:17 Andy Comments After the Interview 37:46 Outtakes Learn More You can learn more about Steve and his work at leadershiprecall.com. For more learning on this topic, check out: Episode 184 with Steve Kahle. It's our previous conversation about keeping your head above water when drowning in email and commitments. Definitely recommend checking it out. Episode 411 with Laura Mae Martin. She's the head of productivity at Google and shares ideas that I still use to this day. Episode 376 with Nick Sonnenberg. It's a book about helping you and your team stop drowning in all the information and commitments at work. Chat with PMeLa You can chat directly with PMeLa—the podcast's AI persona—to get episode recommendations and answers to your project management and leadership questions. Visit PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com/PMeLa to chat with her. Pass the PMP Exam If you or someone you know is thinking about getting PMP certified, we've put together a helpful guide called The 5 Best Resources to Help You Pass the PMP Exam on Your First Try. We've helped thousands of people earn their certification, and we'd love to help you too. It's totally free, and it's a great way to get a head start. Just go to 5BestResources.PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com to grab your copy. I'd love to help you get your PMP this year! Join Us for LEAD52 I know you want to be a more confident leader–that's why you listen to this podcast. LEAD52 is a global community of people like you who are committed to transforming their ability to lead and deliver. It's 52 weeks of leadership learning, delivered right to your inbox, taking less than 5 minutes a week. And it's all for free. Learn more and sign up at GetLEAD52.com. Thanks! Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Talent Triangle: Power Skills Topics: Leadership, Memory, Learning, Productivity, Knowledge Management, Recall, Spaced Repetition, Personal Development, Continuous Learning, Networking, Project Management The following music was used for this episode: Music: Imagefilm 034 by Sascha Ende License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license Music: Tuesday by Sascha Ende License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
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  PPP 508 | Why Where You Work May Matter More Than How You Work. The Indoor Epidemic, with Dr. John La Puma 09.05.2026 37min

  Summary In this episode, Andy welcomes Dr. John La Puma, a board-certified internal medicine physician, professionally trained chef, regenerative organic farmer, and two-time New York Times bestselling author of The Indoor Epidemic. Did you know most of us spend about 93% of our lives indoors? Dr. John makes the case, backed by more than 2,200 studies, that where we spend our time may matter just as much as the soft skills and productivity systems we so often focus on. In this conversation, Andy and Dr. John dig into what he calls digital obesity and analog wellness, the science of morning sunlight and circadian rhythm, why looking at the horizon for just one minute per hour can improve focus and eye health, and what forest bathing actually does to your immune system. They also explore loneliness as a health crisis, the social dimension of outdoor time, and practical ways to build a 17-minute daily nature habit that doesn't require moving to Santa Barbara. If you're looking for science-backed ways to boost your energy, focus, and long-term wellbeing, this episode is for you! Sound Bites "Digital obesity is when you consume more pixels than you can metabolize." "What people don't understand about this is that it's not a character flaw, that it's a biological mismatch." "People don't appreciate that nature is actually social, and that social part is good for you." "And loneliness is what? 15 cigarettes a day in mortality." "Nature works through your senses. You touch, you listen, you see, you smell, you taste." "You have a 56% higher function and number of natural killer cells because you are in the company of trees that are making these chemicals, alpha-pinene, D-limonene in citrus trees, many other trees, that improve your ability to kill tumor cells and kill virus infected cells." "But immersion in the forest means that you're immersing your senses in it, and the forest is, is the therapist, and the walk is the therapy." "Rest is actually self-preservation and capital investment." "Often you can upgrade the thinking in a room just by opening a window." "But you don't need a forest, and you don't need a park even. You just need a sky view." Chapters 00:00 Introduction 01:56 Start of Interview 02:06 Background: Origins of the Indoor Epidemic 07:03 Digital Obesity and Analog Wellness 10:33 Dr. John's Morning Outdoor Routine 13:21 The Benefits of Looking at the Horizon 17:22 Experiencing Vastness and Awe 22:47 Forest Bathing: More Than Just a Walk 24:32 Walking Habits and Nature Recalibration 26:52 Loneliness and Outdoor Social Connection 30:04 Practical Tips for Parents 32:03 End of Interview 32:39 Andy Comments After the Interview 35:15 Outtakes Learn More You can learn more about Dr. John and his work at drjohnlapuma.com. For more learning on this topic, check out: Episode 461 with Dr. Patricia Grabarek. We talk about why our typical approaches to wellness are missing the mark. Episode 421 with Dr. Bijoy John. He's a practicing sleep doctor and I think you'll find some practical ideas from our discussion. Episode 200 with Jeffrey Pfeffer. He's the author of a book entitled Dying for a Paycheck and I think you'll find his insights challenging enough to look at work differently. Chat with PMeLa You can chat directly with PMeLa—the podcast's AI persona—to get episode recommendations and answers to your project management and leadership questions. Visit PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com/PMeLa to chat with her. Level Up Your AI Skills Join other listeners from around the world who are taking our AI Made Simple course to prepare for an AI-infused future. Just go to ai.PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com. Thanks! Pass the PMP Exam If you or someone you know is thinking about getting PMP certified, we've put together a helpful guide called The 5 Best Resources to Help You Pass the PMP Exam on Your First Try. We've helped thousands of people earn their certification, and we'd love to help you too. It's totally free, and it's a great way to get a head start. Just go to 5BestResources.PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com to grab your copy. I'd love to help you get your PMP this year! Join Us for LEAD52 I know you want to be a more confident leader–that's why you listen to this podcast. LEAD52 is a global community of people like you who are committed to transforming their ability to lead and deliver. It's 52 weeks of leadership learning, delivered right to your inbox, taking less than 5 minutes a week. And it's all for free. Learn more and sign up at GetLEAD52.com. Thanks! Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Talent Triangle: Power Skills Topics: Nature, Digital Obesity, Analog Wellness, Productivity, Loneliness, Forest Bathing, Morning Sunlight, Wellbeing, Leadership, Sleep The following music was used for this episode: Music: On Point by Steven OBrien License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license Music: Energetic Drive Indie Rock by WinnieTheMoog License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
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  PPP 507 | Why Smart Teams Still Fail, with Stephen Shapiro 29.04.2026 35min

  Summary In this episode, Andy talks with Stephen Shapiro, innovation expert and author of You're Not Playing With a Full Deck: Why the People Who Drive You Crazy Are Your Unfair Advantage. Stephen's journey starts with a costly failure: a $30 million innovation project at Accenture that fell apart, not from a lack of talent, but because everyone on the team thought the same way. Out of that failure came a framework built around a familiar metaphor: a deck of cards. Stephen introduces four distinct personality styles tied to the four suits and explains why teams missing certain suits are setting themselves up to struggle, even when everyone is smart and capable. In this conversation, you'll hear why unanimous agreement is actually a warning sign, how strengths can quietly sabotage performance when overplayed, and why the people who drive you crazy may be exactly who your team needs. Andy and Stephen also explore what the rise of AI means for the uniquely human qualities that only certain suits can provide. If you're looking for a fresh, practical framework to build stronger teams and unlock better results, this episode is for you! Sound Bites "We were smart people. We had smart people on the team, and we somehow failed miserably." "I realized I was the problem. And it wasn't just me, it was the way we constructed the team." "Anytime you have everybody agreeing, that's a warning sign." "I actually think the bigger enemy of innovation is, 'Wow, this is a great idea!' because then what ends up happening is we believe it's a great idea." "It's less of a personality test and more of an opportunity to just stimulate some conversation that typically doesn't happen inside of organizations." "Left to their own devices, diverse teams perform terribly." "So it's not just diversity, it's diversity plus appreciation." "I try to make it very clear to AI: don't agree with me!" "Part of this is who are we really versus who did we become?" "There's a difference between a strength and a strong suit. A strength means you're good at it. A strong suit means you're good at it and it energizes you because it's who you are at your core." Chapters 00:00 Introduction 01:25 Start of Interview 01:37 When Teaming Started Going Wrong 02:52 Recognizing the Real Root Cause 03:38 Choosing Your Team Members 04:45 Similarity vs. Genuine Trust 06:00 A Real-World Team Turnaround 07:51 Overcoming Resistance to Difference 09:04 The Origin of the Card-Based Framework 10:47 When Strengths Become Liabilities 13:10 Warning Signs of Strengths Gone Wild 16:03 Meeting Personalities and How to Balance Them 22:00 How AI Changes the Human Equation on Teams 23:45 Which Personality Suits Are Hardest for AI to Replace 24:53 How Stephen Uses AI in His Own Work 26:18 Applying the Framework Outside of Work 29:42 End of Interview 30:20 Andy Comments After the Interview 33:36 Outtakes Learn More You can learn more about Stephen and his work at StephenShapiro.com/fulldeck. For more learning on this topic, check out: Episode 286 with Ruth Pearce. Ruth wrote a book about the power of character strengths, and she definitely comes at it through the lens of project managers. Check out episode 286 to learn more. Episode 283 with Tom Rath. Tom is the StrengthsFinder guy and it's an engaging discussion that goes beyond personality to what he thinks is the most important question you need to be asking. Episode 489 with Martin Dubin. It's an intriguing discussion about blind spots that, if you haven't already listened to, I highly recommend. Chat with PMeLa You can chat directly with PMeLa—the podcast's AI persona—to get episode recommendations and answers to your project management and leadership questions. Visit PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com/PMeLa to chat with her. Join Us for LEAD52 I know you want to be a more confident leader–that's why you listen to this podcast. LEAD52 is a global community of people like you who are committed to transforming their ability to lead and deliver. It's 52 weeks of leadership learning, delivered right to your inbox, taking less than 5 minutes a week. And it's all for free. Learn more and sign up at GetLEAD52.com. Thanks! Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Talent Triangle: Power Skills Topics: Team Building, Leadership, Cognitive Diversity, Collaboration, Innovation, Project Management, Meeting Effectiveness, Personality Frameworks, AI, Human Potential, Self-Awareness, Strengths, Organizational Culture The following music was used for this episode: Music: Summer Awakening by Frank Schroeter License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license Music: Synthiemania by Frank Schroeter License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
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  PPP 506 | Stop Optimizing Meetings. Start Reducing Them, with Rebecca Hinds 15.04.2026 38min

  Summary In this episode, Andy welcomes Rebecca Hinds, organizational behavior researcher and author of Your Best Meeting Ever. Rebecca brings a behavioral science lens to one of the most persistent pain points in modern work: meetings that multiply, linger, and drain rather than deliver. Andy and Rebecca explore the concept of meeting debt, and why reducing meeting volume often matters far more than optimizing agendas. They discuss why meetings have become status symbols and performance art, how a simple social contract makes it nearly impossible to decline an invite, and what meeting minimalism actually means (hint: it's not about ruthless efficiency). Rebecca shares practical ideas, like calendar cleanses, Return on Time Invested (ROTI) ratings, and unexpected guardrails, including the fascinating case of the 27-minute meeting. They also wrestle with AI's potential to either genuinely improve meeting culture or simply make expensive, inefficient meetings feel more productive. If you're looking for a research-backed, practical guide to finally taking back your calendar, this episode is for you! Sound Bites "Why do we cling to this practice that has largely remained unchanged for decades and decades, and yet we know, we're highly aware that it's highly inefficient and dysfunctional." "It's ironic and unfortunate that we now consider so many of these dysfunctional practices, so many of these tactics as business as usual." "We tend to associate visibility with value and presence with productivity. A packed calendar is a very clear indication that you are busy, you're important, and you have high status within the organization." "Meetings are the most important product in our entire organization, and yet also the least optimized." "Meeting debt is so bad that it's not worth it to tinker at the edges and try to optimize the meetings that already exist because fundamentally, many of them should not exist in the first place." "Return on Time Invested (ROTI) is a concept I learned from my colleague Elise Keith. It asks people to rate the effectiveness of a meeting on a scale of zero to five based on whether this meeting was well worth it in terms of the time invested." "I don't mean efficiency for efficiency's sake, right? The goal isn't to make our meetings ruthlessly efficient at all costs." "He was tasked with running these 30-minute meetings. He was seeing them drag on and on rather than make the meeting longer, he made them exactly 27 minutes, and that jolted people out of autopilot." "What we're seeing in meetings overwhelmingly is people using AI to cognitively offload the work that they should be doing as humans." "I continue to believe there's nothing that communicates your leadership more clearly than being able to run a good meeting, but also being able to steer a bad meeting back on track because people very quickly make the cognitive jump that if you can lead a meeting, if you can lead a meeting back on track, you can probably lead a team, you can probably lead a project, you can maybe lead a function." "And the reverse is also true. If you can't lead a good meeting, it doesn't instill a whole lot of confidence in your ability to lead anything bigger." Chapters 00:00 Introduction 01:27 Start of Interview 01:36 Rebecca's Background and Journey 02:51 The Meeting Sabotage Manual 04:38 Meetings as Status Symbols and Performance Art 07:30 Meeting Debt: Why Reducing Volume Comes First 10:12 Calendar Cleanses: Wiping the Slate Clean 11:28 Guardrails Against Meeting Bloat 14:30 Better Meeting Metrics: Return on Time Invested 17:34 Meeting Minimalism: What It Really Means 18:43 Minimalism in Practice 21:30 AI and Meeting Culture 27:50 Changing Meeting Culture Without Full Authority 32:06 End of Interview 32:39 Andy Comments After the Interview 35:34 Outtakes Learn More You can learn more about Rebecca and her work at RebeccaHinds.com. For more learning on this topic, check out: Episode 503 with Evan Unger. Evan shares some helpful ideas on leading better decision-making meetings. Episode 246 with Steven Rogelberg. Steven is a leading meeting researcher whose work also appears in Rebecca's book. Episode 72 with Steven Rogelberg. An earlier conversation with this leading meeting researcher. Episode 245 with Elise Keith. Elise shares some practical insights on how to make meetings more effective. Chat with PMeLa You can chat directly with PMeLa—the podcast's AI persona—to get episode recommendations and answers to your project management and leadership questions. Visit PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com/PMeLa to chat with her. Pass the PMP Exam If you or someone you know is thinking about getting PMP certified, we've put together a helpful guide called The 5 Best Resources to Help You Pass the PMP Exam on Your First Try. We've helped thousands of people earn their certification, and we'd love to help you too. It's totally free, and it's a great way to get a head start. Just go to 5BestResources.PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com to grab your copy. I'd love to help you get your PMP this year! Join Us for LEAD52 I know you want to be a more confident leader–that's why you listen to this podcast. LEAD52 is a global community of people like you who are committed to transforming their ability to lead and deliver. It's 52 weeks of leadership learning, delivered right to your inbox, taking less than 5 minutes a week. And it's all for free. Learn more and sign up at GetLEAD52.com. Thanks! Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Talent Triangle: Power Skills Topics: Meeting Culture, Meeting Debt, Meeting Facilitation, Return on Time Invested, Organizational Behavior, Leadership, Project Management, Behavioral Science, Meeting Minimalism, AI and Meetings, Team Productivity The following music was used for this episode: Music: Brooklyn Nights by Tim Kulig License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license Music: Fashion Corporate by Frank Schroeter License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
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  PPP 505 | You've Got This: A Practical Way to Lead When You're Not Sure, with Ashley Herd 11.04.2026 46min

  Summary In this episode, Andy talks with Ashley Herd, HR and legal leader turned management coach, and author of The Manager Method. Ashley has led HR and legal teams at organizations like McKinsey and Yum Brands, and she brings a refreshingly real-talk approach to the challenges every manager faces, especially those quiet moments of self-doubt that come with growing responsibility. In this conversation, you'll hear Ashley's take on why imposter feelings are so common among thoughtful leaders, and how her concept of the "career quilt" reframes even the most uncomfortable professional experiences. She introduces her simple but powerful Pause, Consider, Act framework, which is a practical tool for navigating tough management moments without reacting on instinct. You'll also hear how the language we use about people shapes the way we lead them, why delegation is harder than it looks, and how accountability can be reframed as a positive force on your team. Ashley even shares how Pause, Consider, Act has made her a better parent. If you're looking for a grounded, practical guide to leading people well (without burning yourself out) this episode is for you! Sound Bites "We all have our career quilts. And sometimes those are different, like different jobs, actual different experiences like that." "I felt very much like the other at McKinsey." "When you open up and show that you are real, you tend to gain the trust and respect that you're so afraid you'll lose if you do that." "People don't care that you know the message. They want to hear the message for themselves." "What would I want to have happen to me if I were in the other person's shoes?" "A rolling stone gathers stress, not moss." "Just thinking about the people that are doing a lot of the work, how you treat them and talk with and about them? That can shape a lot of the outcomes." "Tasks can quietly become symbols of our value." "When you treat your people well, they are a better parent, friend, relative." Chapters 00:00 Introduction 02:17 Start of Interview 02:45 What's A Leadership Experience That Shaped You? 05:27 The Career Quilt Concept 07:47 Imposter Phenomenon in Leadership 11:45 Spotlight Effect and How We Worry About Being Watched 14:10 Introducing Pause, Consider, Act 15:05 What Pausing Actually Looks Like 21:30 Empathy Without Carrying Too Much 23:47 Rethinking Empathy 25:40 How Language Shapes How We Lead People 28:52 The Delegation Trap 30:33 What Ashley Still Struggles to Delegate 33:15 Reframing Accountability 38:10 Applying the Book Outside of Work 39:43 End of Interview 40:22 Andy Comments After the Interview 43:20 Outtakes Learn More You can learn more about Ashley and her work at ManagerMethod.com. For more learning on this topic, check out: Episode 468 with James Turk. It's a discussion about what to do during the first 45 days when you take on new responsibility. Episode 467 with Sabina Nawaz. She was a coach to Microsoft leaders, such as Bill Gates, and she shares insights that, according to her, no one tells you about becoming a boss. Episode 142 with Amy Cuddy. Amy is most famous for her TED Talk on power posing. But episode 142 is more about presence and how you can more confidently rise to the most daunting challenges. It's a nice follow-up to what Ashley talked about with the imposter phenomenon. Chat with PMeLa You can chat directly with PMeLa—the podcast's AI persona—to get episode recommendations and answers to your project management and leadership questions. Visit PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com/PMeLa to chat with her. Level Up Your AI Skills Join other listeners from around the world who are taking our AI Made Simple course to prepare for an AI-infused future. Just go to ai.PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com. Thanks! Pass the PMP Exam If you or someone you know is thinking about getting PMP certified, we've put together a helpful guide called The 5 Best Resources to Help You Pass the PMP Exam on Your First Try. We've helped thousands of people earn their certification, and we'd love to help you too. It's totally free, and it's a great way to get a head start. Just go to 5BestResources.PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com to grab your copy. I'd love to help you get your PMP this year! Join Us for LEAD52 I know you want to be a more confident leader–that's why you listen to this podcast. LEAD52 is a global community of people like you who are committed to transforming their ability to lead and deliver. It's 52 weeks of leadership learning, delivered right to your inbox, taking less than 5 minutes a week. And it's all for free. Learn more and sign up at GetLEAD52.com. Thanks! Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Talent Triangle: Power Skills Topics: Leadership, Management, Imposter Phenomenon, Delegation, Accountability, Empathy, Team Culture, Communication, Self-Awareness, New Managers, Personal Growth, Psychological Safety The following music was used for this episode: Music: Underground Shadows by MusicLFiles License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license Music: Tuesday by Sascha Ende License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
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  PPP 504 | How Leaders Can Reduce Stress Without Lowering the Bar, with Amy Leneker 31.03.2026 33min

  Summary In this episode, Andy talks with Amy Leneker, leadership coach, joy strategist, and author of Cheers to Monday. Amy's journey began with a burnout so severe that her doctor put her on medical leave. It took 10 words on a medical form to change everything: "What are your hobbies? What do you do for fun?" She couldn't answer it. That moment sent her on a mission to help leaders recognize stress earlier and respond to it far more intentionally. In this conversation, Amy shares the stress stories many leaders carry without ever questioning them, and why those stories get quietly rewarded in so many organizations. You'll hear how the body whispers warnings long before burnout hits, why most common stress-relief advice actually makes things worse, and how Amy's three-step Un-Stressing Method gives leaders a clear, practical framework to move forward. She also shares a powerful real-world example of a team carrying 73 stressors that simply didn't need to be there—and what happened when they finally saw that. If you're looking for a practical, empowering guide to break the cycle of stress and overwhelm in leadership, this episode is for you! Sound Bites "The story that I inherited, either intentionally or unintentionally, was you just work hard because that's the only choice you have." "I think one of the biggest mistakes that I made was not recognizing how much choice I had." "I couldn't remember the last time that I had real fun." "Those unhealthy stress stories are rewarded." "The majority of ways that we try to manage stress at work actually increase our stress." "When I ignored the whispers, it got to the point where ignoring it was no longer an option.... If you ignore them long enough, then the body's going to scream." "Talking about stress is stressful, but we've got to be able to see it if we're going to be able to do anything about it." "Unclear expectations are resentments waiting to happen." "People pleasing—it's not a healthy dynamic. It's not something that serves you or the people around you." "Stress is contagious. There is no question about it." "Yes, stress is wildly contagious, but so is joy." Chapters 00:00 Introduction 01:39 Start of Interview 01:52 Early Messages About Work and Stress 04:36 The 10 Words That Changed Everything 06:39 Postponing Joy 07:30 Stress Stories Leaders Believe 08:19 How the Body Signals Burnout Before the Brain Does 11:44 What's Broken About Typical Stress Advice 12:58 Walking Through the Un-Stressing Method 15:03 Why Sequence Matters: See, Sort, Solve 17:32 Solving Stress vs. Fixing It 18:44 The Un-Stressing Method in Action: A Team Story 21:58 The Danger of Unstated Priorities 22:42 People Pleasing as a Warning Sign 23:38 Breaking the Cycle of Stress as a Parent 24:41 End of Interview 25:11 Andy Comments After the Interview 28:16 Outtakes Learn More You can learn more about Amy and her work at AmyLeneker.com. For more learning on this topic, check out: Episode 448 with Marie-Helene Pelletier. It's a book on how to develop resilience when demands are piling up. It's a great follow-up to today's discussion. Episode 398 with Dr. Neha Sangwan, which is a book about learning to recognize wake up calls to help us avoid burnout. Episode 164 with stress researcher Derek Roger. Derek brings a unique perspective to the discussion about stress. Chat with PMeLa You can chat directly with PMeLa—the podcast's AI persona—to get episode recommendations and answers to your project management and leadership questions. Visit PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com/PMeLa to chat with her. Pass the PMP Exam If you or someone you know is thinking about getting PMP certified, we've put together a helpful guide called The 5 Best Resources to Help You Pass the PMP Exam on Your First Try. We've helped thousands of people earn their certification, and we'd love to help you too. It's totally free, and it's a great way to get a head start. Just go to 5BestResources.PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com to grab your copy. I'd love to help you get your PMP this year! Join Us for LEAD52 I know you want to be a more confident leader–that's why you listen to this podcast. LEAD52 is a global community of people like you who are committed to transforming their ability to lead and deliver. It's 52 weeks of leadership learning, delivered right to your inbox, taking less than 5 minutes a week. And it's all for free. Learn more and sign up at GetLEAD52.com. Thanks! Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Talent Triangle: Power Skills Topics: Stress Management, Leadership, Burnout Prevention, Wellbeing, Resilience, Team Culture, People Pleasing, Priority Setting, Workplace Conflict, Joy, Self-Awareness, Communication The following music was used for this episode: Music: Tropical Vibe by WinnieTheMoog License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license Music: Summer Morning Full Version by MusicLFiles License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
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  PPP 503 | How to Facilitate Meetings That Actually Lead to Decisions, with Evan Unger 25.03.2026 42min

  Summary In this episode, Andy sits down with Evan Unger, a consultant and trainer who has spent more than 30 years helping leaders facilitate collaborative decision making across projects, programs, and organizations around the world. Evan's work focuses on helping groups move forward when opinions differ, tension is present, and time is limited. This conversation is packed with immediately actionable ideas. Andy and Evan dig into why even experienced leaders struggle in high-stakes meetings, and how Evan's POPRA model (Purpose, Objectives, Process, Roles, Agreements) can transform the way you prepare and run them. They talk about how to manage the "HIPPO" (Highest Paid Person's Opinion) without suppressing the voices you most need to hear, a simple virtual technique called the simultaneous chat that can change the dynamic of any online meeting, and how to make sure your meetings actually land, with clear action items and time to close things out properly. Evan also shares his perspective on where AI fits in the future of facilitation, and some surprisingly personal advice about what he'd tell his younger self. If you're looking for practical, immediately usable tools to run better meetings and lead more collaborative decisions, this episode is for you! Sound Bites "On a scale of zero to a hundred percent, how effective are the meetings you attend? On average, and I can't tell you most of the time I get a number below 60% and often much lower." "My confusion as a leader, as a project manager, is immediately the confusion of the group because the group goes to where I'm at. And if I'm confused, welcome to what's about to happen in your meeting: Confusion, Chaos, Dysfunction." "The other extreme, and this is truly the art of leadership, is even though I have strong opinions as the project manager, I remain completely neutral, but I'm an expert in process, an expert in how I get other experts to come together, collaborate, make decisions, get 'em to buy in." "If I'm the HIPPO and I run the meeting as the expert, I will suppress conversation. People will not tell me what I need to know to make the decision, and I'm going to sub-optimize decisions, and I'm not going get people to buy in." "So the art of leadership is knowing how to start and work from the right side of the continuum where I'm an expert in the process of getting others to collaborate and asking questions to elicit their thinking." "If I'm not hearing from people as the facilitator of the collaborative conversation, that is a first sign that something's gone awry and I need to know how to hold space." "The meeting's purpose and objectives, that's the first tether, the first anchor. If that's not clear, there is no tool or technique that is going to save me." "Time is fuel. And we have limited fuel in the plane flight. When time is running out, we don't go knock on the cockpit and say to the pilot, fly faster." "People say to me, 'Evan, I've got Copilot now. I got these AIs doing all the monitoring and tracking'. It's like, yeah, great, but you can't trust what it said. You still have to come back and say, 'Do we all agree what we decided and where we go from here?'" "The five points were: 1, learn Spanish and become fluent in Spanish. 2, become fluent in Mandarin. 3, make sure you get a hard sciences or engineering degree when you go to school. Do it. Take all the liberal arts courses you want, but have something that people actually want. 4, go do a 10-day silent meditation as soon as you get out of school. And 5, take a backpack when you get out of school. Travel the world for a year.... That list is now down to two points." "The plan is now to find something that can't be AI'd out of existence." "But really, the art of being a good coach, a good consultant, a good parent, a good manager is querying the people to help them figure out their own answer." Chapters 00:00 Introduction 01:44 Start of Interview 02:00 Evan's Background and Work 03:13 Why Meetings Fail — The Plane Metaphor 05:07 Preparing for High-Stakes Meetings: The POPRA Model 07:48 Distinguishing Purpose from Objectives 08:39 Facilitating Without Formal Authority 11:43 Spotting Meeting Drift 12:58 Balancing Dominant and Quiet Voices 16:12 Face-to-Face Facilitation Techniques 17:22 Handling Challenging Participants 21:17 Ensuring Meetings Land: Follow-Up Habits 23:59 AI and the Future of Facilitation 32:25 Advice to Younger Self 34:37 How These Skills Apply to Life 36:03 End of Interview 36:29 Andy Comments After the Interview 41:22 Outtakes Learn More You can learn more about Evan and his work at terischwartzassociates.com. You can also connect with him on LinkedIn. For more learning on this topic, check out: Episode 413 with Rich Malman and Jim Stewart. They talk about what they call meeting goblins and how to deal with them. It's a very project management-specific take on running better project meetings. Episode 246 with Steven Rogelberg. Steven is a meeting researcher, but a really practical guy, and he shares great ideas about running more effective meetings. Episode 72 with Steven Rogelberg. An earlier conversation with Steven that is still packed with practical ideas on making meetings work. Episode 245 with Elise Keith. Elise is a meeting researcher who shares so many practical ideas on how to make meetings more effective—ideas Andy still calls back to years later. Chat with PMeLa You can chat directly with PMeLa—the podcast's AI persona—to get episode recommendations and answers to your project management and leadership questions. Visit PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com/PMeLa to chat with her. Pass the PMP Exam If you or someone you know is thinking about getting PMP certified, we've put together a helpful guide called The 5 Best Resources to Help You Pass the PMP Exam on Your First Try. We've helped thousands of people earn their certification, and we'd love to help you too. It's totally free, and it's a great way to get a head start. Just go to 5BestResources.PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com to grab your copy. I'd love to help you get your PMP this year! Join Us for LEAD52 I know you want to be a more confident leader–that's why you listen to this podcast. LEAD52 is a global community of people like you who are committed to transforming their ability to lead and deliver. It's 52 weeks of leadership learning, delivered right to your inbox, taking less than 5 minutes a week. And it's all for free. Learn more and sign up at GetLEAD52.com. Thanks! Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Talent Triangle: Power Skills Topics: Meeting Facilitation, Collaborative Leadership, Decision Making, HIPPO Effect, Virtual Meetings, Meeting Preparation, Time Management, AI, Project Management, Change Management, Communication, Facilitation Tools The following music was used for this episode: Music: Ignotus by Agnese Valmaggia License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license Music: Fashion Corporate by Frank Schroeter License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
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  PPP 502 | When Process Is Not Enough: The Human Side of Project Leadership, with Brett Harned 17.03.2026 44min

  Summary In this episode, Andy talks with Brett Harned, founder of the Digital PM Community and the Digital PM Summit, and author of Project Management for Humans: Helping People Get Things Done. Brett has spent years coaching project leaders and helping organizations rethink what project management really is. His core conviction: the human side of the work is not a nice-to-have. It is the work. In this conversation, you'll hear how Brett fell into project management and what early experiences shaped his perspective on people and projects. You'll learn the patterns he sees repeated across teams and industries, practical habits for when projects feel messy or start to drift, and why he believes project management is a leadership role that most organizations still undervalue. Brett also shares his candid take on AI, what it can and cannot do for project leaders, and what advice he would give his younger self. If you lead projects or teams, whether or not you have a PM title, this episode is for you! Sound Bites "Often with PMs, it's finding or receiving or feeling the permission to lead like a human instead of like a machine or a robot." "Projects fail because conversations didn't happen or they happened way too late." "Project management is a leadership role and too often organizations don't see it as a leadership role the way that they should." "Project managers are quietly carrying emotional labor that no one really acknowledges." "You can't earn trust by being invisible." "The role has become less about task tracking and more about judgment, good communication and trust building." "If you call people on your team resources, they have every right to call you overhead." "Slowing conversations down before speeding up the work is like the biggest thing." "Drift isn't usually about effort. It's about misaligned understanding." "AI is not going to replace a really good leader." "AI is great at admin. It's terrible at the leadership stuff. It can't read the room, it can't navigate tension, it can't earn trust." "Say the thing now. Saying something early is almost always safer than saying it too late." "The job of a project manager isn't to absorb chaos. It's to make it a conversation." "Caring about people and building relationships is a skill, and it's a skill that's necessary for this career." Chapters 00:00 Introduction 01:52 Start of Interview 01:57 How Brett Describes What He Does 03:29 When the People Side Became Clear 06:52 Patterns Across Teams and Organizations 10:32 How Expectations of the PM Role Have Changed 12:28 The Impact of Remote and Hybrid Work 15:26 Practices for When Projects Feel Messy 18:20 How to Name What Is Happening Out Loud 21:30 A Question for When Projects Start to Drift 23:43 How AI Will and Won't Change the PM Role 25:50 Practical Ways Brett Uses AI 30:21 Advice to Younger Brett 33:40 How PM Skills Show Up Outside of Work 35:58 The PM Squad and Same Team Partners 38:01 End of Interview 38:22 Andy Comments After the Interview 41:30 Outtakes Learn More You can learn more about Brett and his work at SameTeamPartners.com and BrettHarned.com. For more learning on this topic, check out: Episode 336 with Clint Padgett. During the interview with Brett, Andy mentioned the weakness of using only percent complete or status colors. That's something Clint and Andy talked about in episode 336. Episode 99 with Mike Roberto. The topic of conflict came up several times in this discussion. In episode 99, Mike and Andy talk about managing the tension between conflict and consensus. It's a discussion worth hearing, especially if you grew up thinking conflict is mostly a negative. Episode 500 with Steve Brown, former Google DeepMind futurist. Andy and Steve talk about AI and the future of work, and it's a discussion highly recommended for anyone leading projects today. Chat with PMeLa You can chat directly with PMeLa—the podcast's AI persona—to get episode recommendations and answers to your project management and leadership questions. Visit PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com/PMeLa to chat with her. Pass the PMP Exam If you or someone you know is thinking about getting PMP certified, we've put together a helpful guide called The 5 Best Resources to Help You Pass the PMP Exam on Your First Try. We've helped thousands of people earn their certification, and we'd love to help you too. It's totally free, and it's a great way to get a head start. Just go to 5BestResources.PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com to grab your copy. I'd love to help you get your PMP this year! Join Us for LEAD52 I know you want to be a more confident leader–that's why you listen to this podcast. LEAD52 is a global community of people like you who are committed to transforming their ability to lead and deliver. It's 52 weeks of leadership learning, delivered right to your inbox, taking less than 5 minutes a week. And it's all for free. Learn more and sign up at GetLEAD52.com. Thanks! Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Talent Triangle: Power Skills Topics: Project Management, Leadership, Team Dynamics, Communication, Emotional Labor, Human-Centered Leadership, Conflict Management, AI, Future of Work, Stakeholder Management, Psychological Safety, Remote Work, Project Recovery The following music was used for this episode: Music: Echo by Alexander Nakarada License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license Music: Synthiemania by Frank Schroeter License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
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  PPP 501 | Hope Is Not a Strategy… Or Is It?, with author Jen Fisher 10.03.2026 47min

  Summary In this episode, Andy welcomes Jen Fisher, author of Hope Is the Strategy: The Underrated Skill That Transforms Work, Leadership, and Wellbeing. In project management circles, we often hear the phrase "hope is not a strategy." Jen challenges that assumption, arguing that real hope is not wishful thinking at all. Instead, it's a practical cognitive process that can help leaders navigate uncertainty, pressure, and change. In the discussion, Jen explains how hope requires three elements: clear goals, multiple pathways to reach them, and the agency to believe we can influence outcomes. You'll also hear her personal story of realizing she was languishing under constant performance pressure, and how a candid conversation with her boss sparked the beginning of a healthier and more hopeful way of working. Along the way, Jen shares practical tools such as possibility journaling, energy ledgers, and hope spotting. She also explains why vulnerability can be a leadership superpower and how simple language shifts can turn hope killers into hope builders. If you're leading teams and projects under constant pressure and looking for practical ways to sustain both performance and wellbeing, this episode is for you! Sound Bites "How would I describe myself? I'm a hope dealer." "Hope is not flimsy. It's not whimsical." "Real hope actually requires action." "What drives hopelessness is feeling like there's nothing you can do." "Hope is the belief that tomorrow can be better than today." "67% of managers said that they've never been trained in how to manage other people. We put humans in charge of other humans, but we give them very little skill and training in how to lead." "You can perform when you're languishing, but the question is really why should we or why would we want to." "For the first time in my professional life, I actually felt seen and heard and valued." "Toxic positivity only makes people feel worse." "Possibility journaling is really thinking about what might be possible here." "Vulnerability is proof that you're human." "When people are feeling uncertain, they want to connect to somebody that feels human." Chapters 00:00 Introduction 01:45 Start of Interview 02:00 What Hope Is Not: Clearing Up the Misconceptions 03:45 What Real Hope Actually Requires 05:42 Agency and the Feeling of Hopelessness 06:24 Burnout vs. Hopelessness: Is There a Difference? 07:55 Wellbeing Intelligence: The Leadership Skill We're Missing 11:44 Languishing: That Gray Space Between Fine and Flourishing 14:15 The Hidden Cost of Time Pressure on Creativity 17:00 Breaking Through the High-Functioning Facade 20:15 Setting Boundaries as a Recovering People Pleaser 24:03 Practical Tools: Possibility Journal, Energy Ledger, and Hope Spotting 29:15 Vulnerability as a Leadership Superpower 33:46 Hope Killers and Hope Builders: The Language of Hope 38:00 The Hope Audit and the Hope Strategist Toolkit 39:33 Applying Hope at Home and as a Caregiver 41:30 Where to Learn More About Jen 41:26 End of Interview 41:54 Andy Comments After the Interview 45:18 Outtakes Learn More You can learn more about Jen and her work at Jen-Fisher.com. For more learning on this topic, check out: Episode 462 with Margie Warrell. Part of Jen's message in the book is the importance of agency—of believing that you're not a victim and that you have options. Margie is a fierce advocate for how to take action when you're feeling hopeless. I highly recommend her work. Episode 448 with Marie-Hélène Pelletier. It's an engaging discussion about burnout and resilience, and a fantastic follow-up to this discussion with Jen. Episode 396 with Thomas Curran. It's an episode on perfectionism, and I think you'll find it an excellent follow-up to this discussion as well. Chat with PMeLa You can chat directly with PMeLa, the podcast's AI persona, to get episode recommendations and answers to your project management and leadership questions. Visit PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com/PMeLa to chat with her. Pass the PMP Exam If you or someone you know is thinking about getting PMP certified, we've put together a helpful guide called The 5 Best Resources to Help You Pass the PMP Exam on Your First Try. We've helped thousands of people earn their certification, and we'd love to help you too. It's totally free, and it's a great way to get a head start. Just go to 5BestResources.PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com to grab your copy. I'd love to help you get your PMP this year! Join Us for LEAD52 I know you want to be a more confident leader–that's why you listen to this podcast. LEAD52 is a global community of people like you who are committed to transforming their ability to lead and deliver. It's 52 weeks of leadership learning, delivered right to your inbox, taking less than 5 minutes a week. And it's all for free. Learn more and sign up at GetLEAD52.com. Thanks! Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Talent Triangle: Power Skills Topics: Leadership, Wellbeing, Burnout, Hope, Resilience, Vulnerability, Boundaries, Team Culture, Employee Engagement, Languishing, Psychological Safety, Workplace Performance The following music was used for this episode: Music: Imagefilm 034 by Sascha Ende License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license Music: Tuesday by Sascha Ende License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
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  PPP 500 | When AI Becomes a Digital Colleague: What Leaders Need to Know, with former Google DeepMind Futurist Steve Brown 06.03.2026 41min

  Summary Welcome to our 500th episode! To celebrate this milestone, Andy talks with Steve Brown, AI futurist, keynote speaker, and author of The AI Ultimatum: Preparing for a World of Intelligent Machines and Radical Transformation. Steve brings a rare perspective shaped by years at Intel and Google DeepMind, and today helps organizations navigate two vital questions: what future do you want to build with AI, and what future do you want to avoid? They explore why waiting isn't actually the safe option it feels like, how to think about the different "flavors" of AI beyond just generative tools, and what it really means to orchestrate humans, AI agents, and robots together in the workplace. Steve introduces three types of AI agents—offload, elevate, and extend—and explains the crucial difference between automating tasks and truly transforming how work gets done. You'll also hear his candid take on the fear of being replaced and why doubling down on your humanity is the smartest career move you can make right now. If you're looking for a practical, empowering guide to leading through the AI revolution—without the hype—this episode is for you! Sound Bites "The difference between an AI-enabled or AI-first company and an AI laggard is going to be so great that if you don't get on the train, you may get to the point where you can never catch up." "Your competitors who have embraced AI faster than you are going to be just kicking your butt all over town." "There's a serious cost to inaction in that you can become made irrelevant." "The danger with that is you may automate yourself. It may automate away all of the differentiation you have in your brand and your company." "AI is this sort of amplification technology, and the challenge is to balance cost-cutting and value creation." "Each flavor of AI is useful for solving a different type of business problem." "It feels like a digital employee, right? A digital worker that works for you." "It's taking the suck out of your job." "The real opportunity here, is to transform the way you do work rather than just try and automate away tasks or people." "The workplace of the future is going to be three groups. Humans will still be in the workforce. Great! Go us!" "You won't be replaced by an AI or a robot. You'll be replaced by someone who knows how to use AI better than you do." "Double down on your humanity." "Focus on building the skills that cannot be replaced, or at least won't be replaced by machines anytime soon." "At the end of all of this is going to be lives of abundance, where we have the things that we need." Chapters 00:00 Introduction 01:45 Start of Interview 01:54 Steve's Career Journey from Intel to DeepMind 05:00 Understanding the AI Ultimatum 08:23 Our First AI Moments 09:32 The Flavors of AI 13:54 Three Pathways to Creating Value with AI 15:11 Automation vs. Transformation 17:10 Orchestrating Humans, AI, and Robots 19:01 Real-World Examples of AI Agents 21:33 Physically Intelligent Robots in the Workplace 24:13 Addressing Fear and Resistance to AI 26:44 Preparing the Next Generation for the AI Age 29:56 Where to Learn More About Steve 31:01 End of Interview 31:38 Andy Comments After the Interview 36:23 Outtakes Learn More You can learn more about Steve and his work at SteveBrown.ai. For more learning on this topic, check out: Episode 479 with Matt Mong. It's a discussion about the AI skills you need to stay relevant. Episode 454 with Christie Smith. She talks about how AI is changing leadership, and what we can do about that now. Episode 437 with Nada Sanders. It's a discussion about future-prepping your career in an age of AI. You can also chat directly with PMeLa—the podcast's AI persona—to get episode recommendations and answers to your project management and leadership questions. Visit PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com/PMeLa to chat with her. Level Up Your AI Skills Join other listeners from around the world who are taking our AI Made Simple course to prepare for an AI-infused future. Just go to ai.PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com. Thanks! Pass the PMP Exam This Year If you or someone you know is thinking about getting PMP certified, we've put together a helpful guide called The 5 Best Resources to Help You Pass the PMP Exam on Your First Try. We've helped thousands of people earn their certification, and we'd love to help you too. It's totally free, and it's a great way to get a head start. Just go to 5BestResources.PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com to grab your copy. I'd love to help you get your PMP this year! Join Us for LEAD52 I know you want to be a more confident leader–that's why you listen to this podcast. LEAD52 is a global community of people like you who are committed to transforming their ability to lead and deliver. It's 52 weeks of leadership learning, delivered right to your inbox, taking less than 5 minutes a week. And it's all for free. Learn more and sign up at GetLEAD52.com. Thanks! Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Talent Triangle: Business Acumen Topics: Artificial Intelligence, Leadership, Future of Work, AI Strategy, Digital Transformation, Agentic AI, Automation, Organizational Change, AI Ethics, Competitive Advantage, Human-AI Collaboration, Technology Adoption The following music was used for this episode: Music: Lullaby of Light featuring Cory Friesenhan by Sascha Ende License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license Music: Fashion Corporate by Frank Schroeter License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
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  PPP 499 | How Much of Success Is Luck or Something Else, with Wharton's Judd Kessler 21.02.2026 45min

  Summary In this episode, Andy talks with Wharton economist Judd Kessler, author of Lucky by Design: The Hidden Economics You Need to Get More of What You Want. If you have ever looked at someone else's career success and thought, "They just got lucky," this conversation will give you a new lens. Judd introduces the idea of "hidden markets," the informal rules and systems that shape who gets opportunities, access, and scarce resources, even when money is not changing hands. They explore how leaders can evaluate allocation rules using Judd's three Es (equitable, efficient, and easy), why first come, first served "races" often reward availability more than merit, and how waiting lists can quietly shift costs onto the people least able to pay them. You will also hear Judd's "settle for silver" strategy, a practical way to make smarter choices in competitive markets, plus a thoughtful parenting angle on teaching kids to notice rules and incentives early. If you're looking for a fresh, research-backed perspective on how hidden rules shape who gets opportunities at work and in life, this episode is for you! Sound Bites "The goal of the book is to get people to start to recognizing these markets all around us." "In most of these markets, they play by a simple rule that we all understand, which is if you're willing to pay for the thing, then you get it." "Is the way that we're deciding who gets what... is it equitable? Is it efficient? And is it easy for market participants?" "I open my calendar and I see all these recurring meetings on my calendar, recurring meetings that were set up years or months ago. That's first in time, first in right." "If you understand the rules and develop strategies to get what you want from the market, then you actually can be one of the handful that actually gets the thing, that desirable outcome, and then it will look like you got lucky." "It's always going to be the folks who are in the market winning who are always going to think that it's fair." "Once you start thinking like, how am I actually allocating these things? That's when you've put on that market designer hat." "They'll come to you kind of with half-baked ideas because they know if they wait later on until they can fully bake the idea that the resources or the fun parts of the project might already be gone." "Part of what the Settle for Silver / Go for Gold Strategy is forcing you to do, is to think seriously about what you want and why you want it." "You, as a parent, you are designing the markets that your kids play in all the time." "We're not breaking the rules, but we are figuring out what they are so that we can put ourselves in a good position, and that's going to serve you well." "Maybe by being in the office, you are signaling your dedication to the firm that you're available for all of these opportunities." "If it's something that anybody can do, like send a quick email, right? That's, it's not actually costly. Anybody could send that email even if they're not truly dedicated and eager for the opportunity." "You cannot get all three E's for sure in any allocation mechanism. There's always going to be tradeoffs." Chapters 00:00 Introduction 01:41 Start of Interview 01:49 Growing Up and Thinking About Luck 03:00 Introducing Hidden Markets 07:10 The Three E's: Equitable, Efficient, and Easy 08:08 Live Event Tickets as a Case Study 12:50 High Frequency Trading and Hidden Races 15:21 Common Misunderstandings of the Three E's 17:04 Races Inside Organizations and Project Teams 20:25 Proximity, Signaling, and Opportunity at Work 23:03 Are We Selecting for the Right Behavior? 25:41 Stepping Back to Evaluate Your Own Systems 25:52 Colorado River Water Rights and Recurring Meetings 29:09 The Settle for Silver Strategy 30:57 The French Laundry Reservation Story 32:51 Settle for Silver in College Admissions 37:22 Helping Kids Recognize Rules and Incentives 41:03 End of Interview 41:32 Andy Comments After the Interview 44:34 Outtakes Learn More You can learn more about Judd and his work at JuddBKessler.com/book. For more learning on this topic, check out: Episode 265, a short video episode Andy put together about the topic of luck. Check it out! Episode 339 with Katy Milkman. Katy is the person who gave Andy the heads-up about Judd's book. In episode 339, they talk about her book How to Change: The Science of Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be. It's a great discussion with another researcher who knows how to make the learning practical for all of us. Episode 372 with Annie Duke. Annie is a former world champion poker player who is a big fan of Judd's book. How does a poker player think about luck? Check out episode 372 to find out! Pass the PMP Exam This Year If you or someone you know is thinking about getting PMP certified, we've put together a helpful guide called The 5 Best Resources to Help You Pass the PMP Exam on Your First Try. We've helped thousands of people earn their certification, and we'd love to help you too. It's totally free, and it's a great way to get a head start. Just go to 5BestResources.PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com to grab your copy. I'd love to help you get your PMP this year! Join Us for LEAD52 I know you want to be a more confident leader–that's why you listen to this podcast. LEAD52 is a global community of people like you who are committed to transforming their ability to lead and deliver. It's 52 weeks of leadership learning, delivered right to your inbox, taking less than 5 minutes a week. And it's all for free. Learn more and sign up at GetLEAD52.com. Thanks! Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Talent Triangle: Power Skills Topics: Luck, Hidden Markets, Behavioral Economics, Leadership, Decision Making, Resource Allocation, Organizational Design, Career Strategy, Signaling, Systems Thinking, Equity, Project Management The following music was used for this episode: Music: Echo by Alexander Nakarada License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license Music: Fashion Corporate by Frank Schroeter License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
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  PPP 498 | Have Better Conversations: Small Moves That Save Projects and Relationships, with Joe Ferraro 16.02.2026 1val 4min

  Summary In this episode, Andy talks with Joe Ferraro, host of the One Percent Better podcast and a coach who helps leaders have stronger conversations when the stakes are high. If you lead projects, you know how quickly a meeting, a status update, or a feedback moment can either build trust or quietly drain it. Joe shares small, practical moves that make conversations more memorable and more useful. You will hear why being "good at talking" is not the same as being good at conversation, and how preparation can be a generous act toward the other person. They also discuss how to avoid default, predictable questions, how to turn a one-way presentation into something more interactive, and how to keep your composure when you feel defensive. Joe even offers a simple technique for pressure testing ideas without starting a fight, plus a listening cue you can use the next time you feel tempted to jump in. If you're looking for insights on having better conversations that save projects and strengthen relationships, this episode is for you! Sound Bites "And you know what's a great barometer there is for people listening to ask themselves on a daily basis? How many questions do they ask?" "But the reality is a generous conversation is one where you're prepared." "And the easiest path, the simplest path is to ask more questions and then listen, like your life depends on it." "The human ear driving, or on the treadmill or in a board meeting doesn't want to hear the same length answer every time from Andy or Joe or Sheila." "If you feel like you're bursting at the seams and you need to share something, that's when you know to hold it in and to focus on them." "I teach people the technique of inserting devil's advocate, where you, you don't wanna necessarily become the villain, but you say, you know, Andy, you know, it's a great point." "But when I go back to, to Mitch Albom one time, he paused seven seconds before I asked him, before he answered the question." "If you have a recorded conversation, simply ask it to pull out every question that was asked." "My favorite question to ask is the one that I think will elicit the best response for what I'm interested in learning in this moment." Chapters 00:00 Introduction 01:44 Start of Interview 02:04 When Conversation Became More Than Talking 04:32 Curiosity as a Practical Advantage 05:47 Sending Questions Ahead of Time 06:49 Why Most Real Conversations Feel Like Improv 07:40 A Recent Conversation Joe Still Thinks About 09:44 What Makes a Conversation Actually Memorable 11:14 How Joe's Background Shaped His Approach 12:47 Breaking the Habit of Predictable Answers 13:54 The Risk of Chasing "Standard" Questions 15:16 Using Recording as a Growth Tool 16:29 How to Build Better Listening Discipline 18:38 Turning a One-Way Presentation Into Conversation 20:12 What to Do When You Need Real Buy-In 21:44 The Listening Cue to Use When You Want to Jump In 23:34 Helping Others Feel Heard Without Hijacking the Moment 24:30 Staying Composed When You Feel Defensive 27:27 Using "Devil's Advocate" Without Becoming the Villain 30:15 When the Best Move Is to Pause 32:25 How to Ask Questions That Create Better Stories 33:43 The Question That Fits the Moment 36:19 What Joe Thinks People Get Wrong About "Small Talk" 39:12 Interviewers Joe Thinks More People Should Study 45:13 Using AI to Improve Your Conversations 49:20 What Joe Sees Changing in Communication Skills 50:00 Helping Kids Build Conversational Stamina 53:26 Where to Learn More About Joe 54:42 End of Interview 55:08 Andy Comments After the Interview 57:56 Outtakes Learn More You can learn more about Joe and his work here: OnePercentBetterProject.com Joe on X Joe on LinkedIn For more learning on this topic, check out: Episode 380 with Monica Guzman. It's about navigating stressful conversations with people you don't agree with. Episode 284 with Peter Boghossian. It's another episode on conversations that seem impossible. Think of difficult bosses and other stakeholders. Episode 195 with Celeste Headlee. She's an NPR anchor who first introduced me to the idea of conversational narcissism. Pass the PMP Exam This Year If you or someone you know is thinking about getting PMP certified, we've put together a helpful guide called The 5 Best Resources to Help You Pass the PMP Exam on Your First Try. We've helped thousands of people earn their certification, and we'd love to help you too. It's totally free, and it's a great way to get a head start. Just go to 5BestResources.PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com to grab your copy. I'd love to help you get your PMP this year! Join Us for LEAD52 I know you want to be a more confident leader, that's why you listen to this podcast. LEAD52 is a global community of people like you who are committed to transforming their ability to lead and deliver. It's 52 weeks of leadership learning, delivered right to your inbox, taking less than 5 minutes a week. And it's all for free. Learn more and sign up at GetLEAD52.com. Thanks! Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Talent Triangle: Power Skills Topics: Communication, Difficult Conversations, Active Listening, Stakeholder Management, Leadership Presence, Psychological Safety, Meeting Facilitation, Coaching, Feedback, Influence, Conflict Management, Relationship Building The following music was used for this episode: Music: Summer Morning Full Version by MusicLFiles License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license Music: Energetic Drive Indie Rock by WinnieTheMoog License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license