Episode 184: How to Develop Your Leadership Skills (Project Leadership Series) (Free)

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This episode is sponsored by The PMP Exam Simulator:

In today’s episode we continue our PM Podcast project leadership series. I have invited Andy Kaufman, PMP from The  Institute for Leadership Excellence & Development (www.i-leadonline.com and www.peopleandprojectspodcast.com) to discuss how each and everyone of you could go about to develop your project management leadership skills.

In this episode of our leadership podcasts interview series, Andy and I discuss how project management differs from project leadership, if a project leader needs subject matter expertise, why he recommends that we develop capability in our teams and of course he gives us his tips on developing project leadership skills.

As a special gift to our premium listeners, Andy is making two Leadership Appraisal worksheets available to our premium listeners. You’ll get both the self appraisal and the others appraisal form. One is for you to fill in and one is to give to your peers, team members or boss to fill in.  So... if you are a premium listener: thank you very much for suppoprting the podcast financially and please check your podcast app for these 2 PDF documents. (Note: These worksheets are not available on our website or via the free podcast. They are delivered via your paid, premium podcast subscription feed.)

Episode Transcript

Below are the first few pages of the transcript. The complete transcript is available to Premium subscribers only.

Podcast Introduction

Cornelius Fichtner: This is The Project Management Podcast™. We bring project management to beginners and experts. Find us on the web at www.pm‑podcast.com or send your emails to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Cornelius Fichtner: Hello and welcome to Episode #184. I am Cornelius Fichtner. This is The Project Management Podcast™. It’s nice to have you with us.

In today’s episode, we continue our Project Management Podcast leadership series. I have invited Andy Kaufman, PMP from The Institute for Leadership Excellence & Development. You can find them online at www.i-leadonline.com and we will discuss how each and every one of you could go about to develop your very own project management leadership skills.

This episode of The Project Management Podcast™ is sponsored by The PM Exam Simulator™ because nothing prepares you more for the PMP® Exam than being able to sit down and take a realistically simulated PMP® Exam. Go to www.FreeExamSimulator.com, get your free 3-day access, and see for yourself what the PMP® Exam is like. That’s www.FreeExamSimulator.com.

In the interview, Andy and I discuss how project management differs from project leadership, if a project leader needs any subject matter expertise at all, why he recommends that we develop capability in our teams and of course he gives us his tips on project leadership skill development.

As a special gift to our premium listeners, Andy is making a Leadership Appraisal worksheet available to the premium listeners. You’ll get both the self appraisal and the others appraisal form. One is for you to fill in and the other one is well to give to your peers, to the other people, team members, your boss, et cetera. So if you are a premium listener, first of all, thank you very much for supporting The Project Management Podcast™ financially with your monthly or yearly subscription and please check your podcast app for these 2 PDF documents.

Andy Kaufman brings a rich background of over 25 years of experience in executive management, technology, team leadership, project management, consulting, and coaching. His focus is all about transforming organizations through proven, holistic, real-world approaches. Andy is a certified trainer and author of Navigating the Winds of Change: Staying on Course in Business & Life, Shining the Light on The Secret, and an e-book entitled “How to Organize Your Inbox & Get Rid of E-Mail Clutter,” Oh God I need that! Both published by Zurich Press.

Before founding the Institute, Andy was the Vice President of U.S. Systems for ACNielsen. He was responsible for running the Decision Support segment of ACNielsen's business. His teams were responsible for designing, developing, and implementing sophisticated market research systems for the company's clients around the world.

And now, please go ahead and step into this leadership petri dish here and let’s see what develops. Enjoy the interview.

Podcast Interview

Female voice: The Project Management Podcast’s feature Interview: Today with Andy Kauffman, international speaker, author and executive coach.

Cornelius Fichtner: Hello Andy and welcome to The Project Management Podcast’s Leadership Series.

Andy Kauffman: Thank you, Cornelius. Always a pleasure to talk with you.

Cornelius Fichtner: So, in our interview today, we are going to be focusing on developing our personal leadership skills or rather the personal leadership skills of our listeners. With the first 2 interviews that I did with Thomas Juli and Rick Valerga, it was easy to explain why we brought them on to the project leadership series, because, well they wrote a book about project leadership.

Andy Kauffman: Right!

Cornelius Fichtner: In your case, we have to ask you here because you are not here to promote your book. You are here as a leadership expert. So tell us a little bit about yourself: Why are you involved in project leadership? What makes you an expert?

Andy Kauffman: I appreciate you asking the question, Cornelius. You know I started as a software developer and I was promoted in the management for all the wrong reasons. Have you seen that pattern before?

Cornelius Fichtner: Absolutely! Isn’t the Peter Principle, right? You get promoted until you are promoted too far, yeah!

Andy Kauffman: Yeah, or sometimes the halo effect when someone’s good at something and so they assume it’s going to be something else. I made so many mistakes going in to be a frontline manager but overtime, I started learning a lot of lessons. I was promoted to a director and a vice president over systems group. And one of the things I learned overtime is that I love developing people.

And 10 years ago, I started on organization where I go in to organizations and work with sometimes it’s frontline managers, sometimes is where there are senior leaders, but I’ve done executive coaching with over 200 customers. I’ve regularly give key notes at conferences on leadership and really the sweet spot of where I focus is developing people and delivering projects. It’s that inner section there and it is my passion right about I speak about it. It’s the focus of my podcast as well.

Cornelius Fichtner: Right and you also have a leadership training course, don’t you?

Andy Kauffman: Absolutely, yeah! Regularly, we’ll give it, primarily at conferences, it could be a PMI Conference or at like a better software conference. It’s not necessarily tailored specifically to the software environment but a lot of times, that’s where project management lives within those areas. So I regularly give tutorials and workshops and keynotes-related project management and leadership.

Cornelius Fichtner: Alright! With that out of the way and having explained what makes you an expert in project leadership, I’m starting out with the same question that I have asked everyone else here on the series: What is your definition of leadership?

Above are the first few pages of the transcript. The complete PDF transcript is available to Premium subscribers only.