Chapter 13: Final Thoughts


I will say it again. Industry does not need any more project managers. What it needs is more project leaders . Although the tools, techniques, and disciplines of project management are valuable contributors to the success of any project, they are only one part of the story. The other part is getting a group of people to focus their energies to accomplish a common vision. Project leadership is the means to make that happen.

Leadership, however, does not reside in one person. Instead, like creativity, it is within everyone, whether the person is a project sponsor, project manager, or some other stakeholder. Whatever their role, everyone can contribute as a leader by performing the patterns of action identified in this book.

Reasons

There is a reason why I described each pattern with an active verb. An active verb implies action and results. Action, in turn , implies energy and results imply something purposeful. Leadership is all about action, transformative action as Burns would say, for achieving meaningful results.

I use the word pattern for a reason too. A pattern does not always apply 100 percent of the time, but most of the time. To determine the appropriate pattern requires judgment and experience by the leader; otherwise , he or she is simply performing steps to get something done; one does not have to be a leader to do that; little or no thinking or judgment is required. Leadership, by its very nature, however, requires moving forward into the unknown to achieve certain results. That requires thinking and judgment, distinguishing it from repetitive, unenlightened work. Leaders, you may recall, do the right things; managers do things right.




Leading High Performance Projects
The Photoshop CS2 Speed Clinic: Automating Photoshop to Get Twice the Work Done in Half the Time
ISBN: 193215910X
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 169

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