Transformation

In this week's episode, Ricardo talks about the Global Project Management Forum 2022 in Saudi Arabia.

In this week's episode, Ricardo talks about the Gallup - State of the Global Workspace 2022 report. This report is the result of an interview with people around the world and shows the level of stress, motivation, and engagement of people working in companies. According to the report, 60% of people interviewed consider themselves disconnected from work. And to make matters worse, 19% are actively disengaged.

Ricardo Vargas, in partnership with Dr. Harold Kerzner and Dr. Al Zeitoun his new publication: Project Management Next Generation: The Pillars for Organizational Excellence. In the book, a team of world-renowned project management leaders delivers an expert discussion on project management implementation in organizations of all kinds.

The book explores 10 pillars of project management that will be critical for companies in the coming decade. It offers contributions from industry changemakers and thought leaders that provide the perfect balance between practical experience across a variety of programs, projects, and transformation initiatives.

In this week's episode, Ricardo talks about how you show your experience in projects and in product development for a job interview or when you are preparing your CV or applying for a postgraduate course, for example. He gives three tips on which aspects to consider: The first: What type of project have you worked on, engineering, technology, digital transformation, etc. The second: What was the magnitude of the challenge?

Presenting the fourth edition of the FREE compendium of Ricardo Vargas’s work, which brings twenty-six articles from 1999 to 2021 that will help you understand better transformation, project economy, blockchain and other topics.

Transformation is personal. Always. Think about it. Organizational change is brought about one individual at a time. A change of behavior or a change of outlook by one individual in an organization is the cellular basis of achieving transformation. Individual transformation of employees is (at least) as important as any organizational transformation. Without it, the chances of any transformation succeeding are low. Without it, the chances of an organization continuing to evolve and respond to new changes are almost non-existent.

Blockchain technology is among the most disruptive forces of the past decade. Its power to record, enable, and secure huge numbers and varieties of transactions raises an intriguing question: Can the same distributed ledger technology that powers bitcoin also enable better execution of strategic projects in a conservative sector like construction, involving large teams of contractors and subcontractors and an abundance of building codes, safety regulations, and standards?

When business leaders are quizzed about what it takes to succeed today, they tend to suggest the usual suspects. Innovation is one constant refrain. But, look around. While radical innovation is a common aspiration, incremental innovation is the more frequent reality. Very few products or services are truly innovative.

In 1878 Leo Tolstoy released what would become one of his most acclaimed works, the novel ‘Anna Karenina‘. The book started with a quote that over the centuries has transcended disciplines: ‘Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way’. When taken literally, the quote is a good reflection on family life and family conduct.

Firms need to develop an appetite for innovation, leverage knowledge about customers, and adopt agile ways of working.
Even though the literature on business transformation is an enormous, managerial and organisational appetite for change tends to be limited. Leaders of organisations that are remotely successful are not inclined to change things. Transforming the business is not the same as implementing incremental change or improvements in processes, operations and products. We argue that transformation refers to an organisation achieving a sustainable quantum-leap improvement in performance while transforming the mindsets of employees and thus the culture of the organisation.

Most organizations are not well prepared to deal with a serious crisis. The end result of a crisis can either help transform the organization or leave it in a very dangerous position. Crises can emulate fight-or-flight conditions, which are physiological reactions in response to perceived danger, attack, or threat to survival. In animals, as well as humans, this is a natural response mechanism that helps keep us alive.

In 1878 Leo Tolstoy released what would become one of his most acclaimed works, the novel ‘Anna Karenina‘. The book started with a quote that over the centuries has transcended disciplines: ‘Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way’.

When taken literally, the quote is a good reflection on family life and family conduct. But as a metaphor, the quote has found application in different fields, from anthropology to ecology, and from philosophy now to business.

"Life will never be the same after COVID-19.”
You hear that a lot these days. For many organizations, life will indeed be different after the outbreak as it had a severe and long-lasting impact on its ecosystem. For some organizations, there were even more immediate pressing concerns. A question about survival. 

The Covid-19 pandemic reminded us how fragile our societies, businesses, and our lives are. It turned things upside down in a matter of weeks. It required governments to provide dramatic emergency support. It forced people to enter self-isolation to protect themselves and others. It pushed organizations to reimagine how they do business and how they would survive.