Episode 309: The Power of Project Leadership (Free)

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This episode is sponsored by The PM PrepCast for The PMP® Exam:

Susanne Madsen (www.susannemadsen.com), who is an expert on project manager coaching and mentoring, is back on the show today to talk about many of the leadership concepts she puts forward in her new book titled The Power of Project Leadership. And we have a lot of great tips for you -- all taken from the book.

Here is a quote about Susanne’s book:

Managing projects is exciting and fun. But there comes a moment in every project manager’s career when you realize that there must be more than just bringing tasks to completion. This is the moment when you realize that you want to go from project manager to project leader, which is when you have to pick up The Power of Project Leadership. Susanne Madsen’s book is an in-depth road map that shows you exactly how to re-invent yourself and go from managing your projects at the task level to leading them through vision and empowerment.

So in our interview you can look forward to hearing Susan recommend what she would like you to do differently in regards to leadership, how you can transform your leadership style, discover three of the seven keys to strategic project leadership from the book, and as always we close this one of our leadership podcasts with a number of tips for you to implement right away.

Leadership is one of the core elements of the PMI Talent Triangle and the professional development you do to learn more and improve your leadership skills will count towards the 60 PDUs for PMP renewal that certified project managers need to earn every three years. This is one of our PMP PDU podcast episodes (meaning you can earn PDUs by listening) and it gives you some practical advice and will also help you understand how to develop professionally as a leader. Leadership is essential for project managers working in all disciplines, whether you have the role of project manager in SAFe agile, or work in a hybrid, iterative or predictive environment.

Project managers today need to have so many skills. There are so many opportunities to learn as well, via social media for project managers so I'm delighted to have this opportunity to bring you today's interview.

Just a note on PDUs as you are listening to this episode: Podcasts are a great way to earn free PMP PDUs so make sure you write down that you listened to this podcast, and what you took away from it. There are some amazing tips that will make great learning points for you to reflect on in the future!

Episode Transcript

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

Podcast Introduction

Cornelius Fichtner: Hello and welcome to Episode #309. This is the Project Management Podcast™ at www.pm-podcast.com and I'm Cornelius Fichtner.

Susanne Madsen is back on the show today to talk about many of the leadership concepts that she puts forward in her new book titled "The Power of Project Leadership." And we have a lot of great tips for you taken all from the book.

If you are a PMP or PgMP® and you are looking for a simple and effective way to earn your PDUs, then our sister Podcast, The PDU Podcast™ is your answer. Get a new webinar and at least 1 new PDU every month on auto pilot. Stop by at www.pducast.com. That's p-d-u-c-a-s-t .com.

Here's a quote about Susanne's book: Managing project is exciting and fun. But there comes a moment in every project manager's career when you realize that there must be more than just bringing tasks to completion. This is the moment when you realize that you want to go from project manager to project leader which is when you have to pick up the power of project leadership.

Susanne Madsen's book is an in-depth roadmap that shows you exactly how to reinvent yourself and go from managing your projects at the task level to leading them through vision and empowerment.

And so in our interview, you can look forward to hearing Susanne recommend that she would like you to do differently in regards to leadership, how you can transform your leadership style, discover 3 of the 7 keys to project leadership from the book, and as always, we close the interview with a number of tips for you to implement right away.

Also, we are giving away 2 copies of the book on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/pmpodcast I will give you all the details in the closing remarks after the interview is over.

And now, let's turn the power on. Enjoy the interview.

Podcast Interview

Female voice: The Project Management Podcast’s feature Interview: Today with Susanne Madsen, Project Leadership Coach, author and speaker.

Cornelius Fichtner:Hello, Susanne! Welcome back to the Podcast.

Susanne Madsen:Hello, Cornelius! Thank you for having me. It's an honor as always.

Cornelius Fichtner: Yeah, it's been awhile, hasn’t it?

Susanne Madsen: I can't remember.

Cornelius Fichtner: Neither can I! So we want to talk about your new book or what's in your new book, The Power of Project Leadership. Before we open it up, what's your personal interest in project leadership because that has been your focus? Your previous book was about leadership as well.

Susanne Madsen: Yes, yes, it is. It is a focus of mine. I suppose it comes from my own journey. Back in the days, I was making all the classic mistakes that I see project managers make today. The project managers are coached. I felt I had to know it all myself. I felt I had to do it all. I felt I was very task-oriented, not really that focused on how I could motivate people. It actually let to burn out. Also this idea that: 'Oh I had no one to delegate to.' So you really feel that you need to be this hero.

For me, I went through a transformation where I went on a leadership course. I had coaching and I had this big 'aha' moment and I realized that actually, there was another way. And since then, I've really gone into it to help others, go through that journey not just so that they avoid making the mistakes that I did but also so that we can deliver better projects.

There is growing evidence out there that the most important skill for project managers is leadership. It's not actually technical skills. We need to take them for skills but that's not the end-all, be-all. So that’s a little bit about why I'm so driven to actually help others make that transition.

Cornelius Fichtner: And why write this book in particular, The Power of Project Leadership?

Susanne Madsen: Well, the short answer is that I was asked to write it by the publisher and I got social asset you know.

Cornelius Fichtner: That's always good!

Susanne Madsen: But just for people listening in, we think that: 'Oh, it's so great to write a book and even be asked to do it.' And I got an advance this time which was nice. But we don’t actually make tons of money on books unless you write one of these famous bestsellers. So it’s a little bit of: I fell for it anyway and I thought: 'Oh yes! I must write it.' It fits in to my purpose. So it's a book that's been very important for me to write. But I didn’t actually initiate this one.

Cornelius Fichtner: Okay and for those of you interested, you can go to www.powerofprojectleadership.com That's www.powerofprojectleadership.com to learn more about the book. What would you like to the reader to do differently as a result of having read the book? Because you say also, the book is about transformation.

Susanne Madsen: Yeah, yeah! I suppose, we write things because we want people to read it and learn. But there is so much more in it. Because if you just get new knowledge, you're not going to change in the back of new knowledge. You actually need action. So my aim is very much to move people to start acting differently and a whole number of levels in which they can do that.

Just to name a few. I mean, I would really love people to start thinking of themselves as role models, as leadership role models because we do need those out there in the market place. So what does that mean? Well if someone starts thinking of themselves as a role model, someone who everybody else is going to follow. I think it means that we are going to sit up more straight and take notice of what we do. We are more inclined then to lead with integrity, to do what is right, to add value to our clients, to I suppose in the way we influence other people. I think we are more likely to take notice and in that whole, adding value becomes connecting with our customers, understanding how we can add strategic value to the company. So there's a whole raft of concepts I would like or things I would like people to do differently. But thinking of ourselves as role models I think is a really good start.

Cornelius Fichtner: And in which way does the book help project managers to actually transform instead of just showing them what good project leadership looks like.

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