PART ONE Leadership, Soft Skills, and You

Chapter 1: Mind Your Own Business

Behaving with an own-your-own-business mindset can have a powerful impact on the success of your actions.

Chapter 2: Are You a Benevolent Dictator? You Should Be!

Consensus management, democratic rule, and micro-managing all can be highly ineffective leadership styles. The “benevolent dictator” style of leadership can be the best style to adopt for running a project as a business and driving accountability downward.

Chapter 3: Ask for Help—or Become Part of the Problem

Asking for and obtaining help is a sign of professional maturity, not weakness. In today’s highly competitive, fast-changing climate, this important trait of professionally mature organizations and individuals is more essential than ever.

Chapter 4: What Good Is a PM Mentor?

A mentor’s advice can impact your career and help your projects avoid “crash and burn.” A mentor can follow these guidelines to help the mentee develop his or her potential.

Chapter 5: Is Your Professional Behavior Respected?

Adopting one of these behavioral-related tips—many learned too slowly and too painfully—can benefit your project; adopting many can benefit your career.

Chapter 6: Recognizing and Dealing with Professional Immaturity

Professional immaturity is a common and serious problem in today’s workforce. A project manager should avoid certain beliefs and actions that are indicative of professional immaturity.

Chapter 7: Behaviors to Master When Dealing with Your Leaders

Your leaders want you to know—need you to know—the behavior they expect from you. Behaviors that can enhance your image, effectiveness, and career will also make your leaders’ jobs easier.

Chapter 8: Are You Too Soft?

Most project managers are not willing to make the tough and unpopular project-related decisions, even though their instincts warn them that they are not taking the most effective action. Beware of actions that, if exercised routinely, indicate too-soft behavior.

Chapter 9: Foster Interpersonal Communications

The core principle underlying effective interpersonal communications is the Golden Rule: “Treat others as you would like to be treated.” Start adopting actions that foster and improve effective communication among project members.

Chapter 10: Turn Criticism into an Asset

There is little we can do to prevent criticism from coming our way, but there are ways of dealing with criticism that can turn it into a positive experience. Learn how criticism can negatively affect us, why we allow it to control us, and what we can do about it.

Chapter 11: Dealing with Difficult People

We all encounter difficult people in the workplace. What repetitive behaviors do difficult-to-work-with people exhibit, what’s behind the behaviors, and what can you do to deal with difficult people effectively?

Chapter 12: Don’t Fearz Failure

The fear of failure prevents many of us from realizing our dreams. Explore why we may fear failure and see how failure is a steppingstone to progress and achievement.

Chapter 13: A Silver Bullet?

We are always on the lookout for that silver bullet in project management—that one thing that will magically ensure success in our efforts. The closest thing I’ve found is the power to apply passion, boldness, and focus to your duties. It’s not about the ability of those around you to lead—it’s about your ability to lead despite what is happening around you.