by Carl Pritchard, PMP, PMI-RMP, EVP
Let's get the negatives out of the way now. Joblessness. The spill in the Gulf. Foreclosures. That annoying pest in the next cube.
There. We all have negatives. But if ever there was a time to be "project positive," this is it! There is so much to be positive about. If you—
- have a project that still has a sponsor,
- have a contract that extends more than the next few weeks,
- have a project team capable of doing the work,
- have people at work who know what you do for a living, and/or
- can, at least sometimes, say that you like what you do for a living,
—it is definitely time to celebrate.
My lovely wife, Nancy, and I had the special opportunity a few weeks ago to attend a lecture by His Holiness the Dalai Lama at Radio City Music Hall (sans Rockettes) in New York City. You want positive in the face of adversity? Think about it. Here's a guy who was dubbed the next incarnation of the Buddha when he was an infant, lost his homeland before he could drive, and has been vilified by the Chinese government as an insurrectionist. And when he stepped out on that stage, he was one of the happiest, most positive folks that I had ever seen. He slipped off his shoes, adjusted his robe, settled into a big comfy chair, pulled on an Indiana University visor (the lights were apparently bothering his eyes), and settled in to talk about how wonderful the opportunities we all have are.
In his shoes, I'd still be grousing about having to go live in a monastery before my first date!
What I also found compelling was his ability to tell stories that worked for everyone in the hall on wildly different levels. He spoke of how butterfly larvae stick together after they hatch, and how it's the only way any will survive the impending bird attacks to eventually become butterflies. To some, it was a story of national unity. To me? I could only think of project teams being picked apart by the invisible hand of management.
But to a fault, the Dalai Lama's single most appealing trait was his unbridled optimism. He spoke of the amazing capacity of the individual, but stressed the need to couple that with compassion for those around us. This single, phenomenally peace-loving human being answered an audience question about anger by saying that the only time he finds himself angry is when he sees injustice against individuals. He spoke of the wonder of the United States and its freedoms, which he contends continue to make us the envy of the world.
And when several audience members asked questions which seemed designed to drag him down into the disheartening, the depressing and the malevolent, he made a concerted effort to focus on the positive, the advantages and the promise of tomorrow.
How does all this tie back to our project worlds? As project managers we have amazing opportunities to create something new, to experience the capabilities of others and to construct legacies both personal and organizational. We create artifacts. We engage others. And it's very easy to drop into a mode where we focus on the challenges, the adversity, and the hills yet to climb, without looking back on the landscape that we have already altered. The amount of opportunity and power that affords us in our profession is staggering. And the ways in which we exert influence can be staggering, as well.
The Dalai Lama was asked why the Chinese government fears him. He shared a story of calling for the discontinuation of the collection of animal pelts, particularly those of endangered species. When he asked a friend in India why he traded in tiger pelts, his friend replied that they were too lucrative to pass up. Shortly thereafter, His Holiness called for such practices to stop. He said he received word through "backdoor" channels that a family he knew back in Tibet had heard what he had said, and burned a pile of pelts that had been handed down for generations. The Chinese government had long ago outlawed the ownership of the pelts. But people kept them. But a single word from the Dalai Lama, and they burned them without question. That, he said, is why the government fears him—because people listen to and act on what he says.
I firmly believe the reason people respond that way to him is something we can leverage as managers and project managers. He searches for, and finds, the good in the world around him. We can do that. He sees the long-term view. We can do that. He doesn't waste time bemoaning what he doesn't have. He doesn't waste time bemoaning the injustices of those who would work against him. Instead, like the butterfly larvae, he sticks close to those who share a vision. He looks to the promising aspects of the environment around him. And when he speaks, others want to listen (the hall was completely sold out) because they believe his message is for and about them. Would that we can do likewise.
Carl Pritchard welcomes your insights at carl@carlpritchard.com He is the U.S. Correspondent to the British project management magazine, "Project Manager Today" and has written six texts in project management, including a compendium of his articles from Projectconnections.com titled "Project Management: Lessons from the Field."