Taking a walk and thinking

I start every day with a long walk and try to think of one productive improvement in my workplace, or life or in those of my colleagues. I open my mind to the unexpected. I don't labor on any one area or person. My walk is a failure if I haven't had at least one good idea.

Today my walk was more reflective. Why did I have a successful career for 25 years in Project Management.? The skills are simple and we expect to work hard for the good wages that project management pays.

Before I left industry, I was a Vice President (one of 12) for a billion dollar AEC company, working for the most part in the U.S. with some global work. My global work took place before that gig and then again during my tenure as a college professor.

What set me apart from the perennial team players and technocrats? I always assumed that desire to lead plays some part in reaching a leadership position but its not solely the reason.

Other than my technical skills, these are the issues that set me apart from my peers:

I never hold a grudge:

No matter what happened on a project, I never felt the need to blame anyone or feel that anyone ever set out to hurt me. If I was damaged by the actions or inaction's of others (intended or not) I never let them "rent space" in my head. "Renting space in my head" was a term I learned from a clerk at the auto parts store. (Words of wisdom) If someone acts and you are hurt, physically, emotionally or professionally and you keep thinking about the person who harmed you, that person has free rent in your head and they continue to damage you as long as you dwell on them or their actions towards you.

The best way to deal with folks who hurt you is to never hold a "grudge" and forgive and move on. That doesn't mean I never took an opportunity to return a poor favor. "Revenge is dish best served cold."

I never worried what others thought of me, neither my bosses ,team mates, peers nor subordinates:

You probably think this is a conceit, and maybe it is. In my professional work, I cannot remember a time when I did anything to make anyone like me, other than getting the work done. I am not unaware, and in fact I am pretty skilled at office politics, but my focus was on "organizational behaviour" rather than back biting and bickering.

If I seemed always to be around the positive things that happened in the organization and rarely around the negative, I am sure this did not hurt my career.

PS: I spent a few years working for high level government agencies and I did spend a year working at a US Embassy in South America, and ten years in successful university administration, so I can say that I am somewhat politically savvy. I just never waste any energy trying to be liked.

I was willing to innovate and suffer failure:

My wife thinks this is crazy. But I always believed in Dr. Rogers Rule 6 If it hasn't been done before, its worth trying.

That doesn't mean it is always worth pursuing innovation to the end, its just worth giving it a shot after asking this risk management question. What happens if it doesn't work, can we live with or recover from that outcome?

In 1984 Canon introduced the "digital fax" and our world has never been the same. prior to digital fax, we used analogue fax which came through about 50% readable. overnight we were able to transmit 100% legible documents. At that time my bosses were skeptical (due to analog fax). So i bought two fax machines from a project budget and had one put in the home office. Within weeks all the remote sites had fax machines.

In 1983 (when it was introduced) we experimented with computers and in fact I can remember hauling that Compaq (portable) that weighed 28 pounds and ran Lotus 123 spread sheets on a green screen. Lugging it onto airplanes and stuffing it in the overheads. Maybe that's why 1/2 of all peopled over 50 in the United States have chronic shoulder injuries.

http://oldcomputers.net/compaqi.html

I was always willing to listen to any idea, proposed form anywhere in our organization.

My partner and I performed a project miracle in the late 80's in the microelectronics industry by listening to the youngest and least experienced members of the team. Both my partner and I were in our mid thirties and we kept one guy over 50 on the team to remind us why we should listen to youth. The "youngsters" came up with unbelievably good ideas because they failed to have any "tried that before" noodles in their brains.

We didn't always use their suggestions, but we always listened, asked questions, and gave reasons why we would or would not use the idea. At the end of that project we were able to distribute some $750K (1989 dollars) in project bonuses, all the way down to the receptionists and document control clerks. (Well maybe I did do some things to make folks like me.)

I never cared who got the glory as long as the project was successful:

I have never cared who gets the glory when we won, and never cared if I got the blame when we lost. Team was everything. I attribute that to my high school sports training and to the times and place I grew up in.

In the 1950's in industrial New England, parents didn't spend too much time watching their kids play pick-up sports, teams were led by the older kids and you played hard for the team you were on even though later in the day you might be on the other team. There wasn't a lot of "team" building exercises, you teamed up or you were out.

Maybe that's why it was a lot of fun and not very hard to find solid project teams in the 1980's. By the end of the 1990's there was more "team building" stuff going on, because the team members came from a different generation where teams were organized by adults. That's not how I grew up. Your teams changed and eventually you were the older kid who led the team or you got shut out.

Gen X and Millennials who are team members look to others to organize them and they can sniff out a phony leader in a heart beat. I have a lot of admiration for Gen X and Millennials, I take them where they come from, not from where I come from. They make great team members because they want to be "on the team" but it takes a little work to get them there.

The other thing:

The other thing that helped my career is a God given knack for remembering details from documents and drawings. I also have a very, very good memory for things that have happened or need to take place. I am awful with names and faces.. A mayor of a major city told me that it took him twelve interactions to connect a name and a face. For me its probably twice that.

What makes you successful?

What is your knack, and do you use it to your advantage?