Below is a short list of common leadership styles:

• Servant leader: is someone whose role is to lead as a steward or keeper of business resources whether they are human, financial or otherwise. The whole focus of a servant leader is to serve others while continuing to stay focused on accomplishing the goals of the business with integrity.
• Collaborative leader: a person who leads with the thought that critical business relationships cannot be managed through the use of formal systems but requires the presence of connecting and collaborative interpersonal communication. This type of leader has the need to safeguard their business processes, while facilitating interactions with others and patiently dealing with all business decisions.
• Transformational leader: is a leadership style that challenges themselves and others to achieve higher levels of motivation and morality. A transformational leader concentrate on “transforming” or “encouraging” others to assist each other, to take care of each other through encouragement, synergy, and looking out for the business as a whole.

Personally, my leadership style is a combination of Servant and Collaborative leadership as I manage my business. What is your leadership style? Do you have other leadership styles you would like to share? Please feel free to leave a comment.

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Post from: EveryJoe

What’s your business leadership style?

As you begin delving into a project management career, you may be faced with many questions. One of those questions is “should you complete the certification process”. It all depends on the project management environment that you work in.

To help you make your decision, I want to share the top 10 reasons why the Project Management Institute (PMI) feel that you should.

1. Show your commitment to the project management profession.
2. Recognize your knowledge, skills and abilities.
3. Reflect achievement.
4. Can lead to greater earnings.
5. Can lead to career opportunities and advancement.
6. Prepare you for greater job responsibilities.
7. Improve skills and knowledge.
8. Build self confidence.
9. Allow for greater recognition from peers.
10. Enhance the profession.

For more details regarding the top ten, please download PMI’s PDF the Top 10 Reason for PMI Certification.

Another thing to think about is becoming involved in project management industry organization such as the following. I have included a synopsis along with each organization (please keep in mind the this is a very short list).

• Project Management Institute: you will find out how you can get involved with memberships, community involvement, leadership, volunteering opportunities and with the PMI online community.
• American Management Association: a world leader in professional development, advancing the skills of individuals to drive business success.
• Association for Project Management: To develop and promote the professional disciplines of project and programme management for the public benefit

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Post from: EveryJoe

Project Management Certification: Is It Right For You?

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Post from: EveryJoe

PM411 Top Ten Posts: No. 2- Here’s What PMO Governance Boards Want

Freedom is what this country was founded on. Economic freedom is in danger of being taken from us by those who simply hate business. Most businessmen are hard working and honest. The regulation and tax burden that our federal and state governments put on business is suffocating and, with recent SOX and soon to be Carbox legislation, destroying that freedom one step at a time. Get educated, speak up and let your elected representatives know that you want your economic freedom back.

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Post from: EveryJoe

PM411 Top Ten Posts: No. 8- Economic Freedom is Worth Fighting For

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PM411 Top Ten Posts: No. 9- Business Epiphany- How to React to “I Wouldn’t Have Hired You”

More evidence of governmental bungling and great example of poor governance and poor project management

….raise taxes, meddle with the free market and impose more onerous regulations on businesses. Assembly Bill 2716 essentially does all of the above. The bill, which passed the Senate Labor and Industrial Relations Committee yesterday on a 3-2 party line vote, would demand that all employers provide paid sick leave to every employee – in spite of the employer’s ability to pay and regardless of whether the employee works full or part time….

Like a mandated tax, AB 2716 would cost employers $4.6 billion in the first five years if it were to pass, according to a study by the National Federation of Independent Business Research Foundation.

The study also shows 370,000 California jobs would be lost within five years of AB 2716’s enactment….But this bill goes beyond being a job killer; it’s a cold-blooded economy killer. It would cost California companies an estimated $59.3 billion in sales in the first five years of enactment according to the same study….

As this bill moves through the Legislature, my colleagues need to understand the level of damage these types of mandates inflict on the engine of California’s economy.

They need to understand that when small businesses get hit with cost increases, they cannot automatically increase prices to make up the difference.

Note that this ridiculous bill has no rationale except to get more money for the government- it is clearly a tax without reason. Then you have to ask: how will the money be spent. There is absolutely no link to a specific project or strategy. Basically a lot of money chasing projects yet undeclared with no strategy with no idea how the money will be spent. The professionally done report revealing the negative repercussions of this bill doesn’t seem to phase anybody. Voters! read and weep- then act.

Does your state government operate like this? What do you think is the root cause of such behavior? This type of action violates every tenet of good project management and governance? Do you agree or disagree?

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Post from: EveryJoe

California’s Zero Rationale Tax Schemes: Sick Pay Tax

“Expect the fees for consultants and lawyers to follow the same path.”

It’s a sad state of affairs when government intrusion is based on public whim and consultants and lawyers interests. In almost every case, the level of intrusion is proven to be overbearing AND a taxation scheme- whether it be in the form of direct taxes, fees, or penalties- is used to collect money for an alternative purpose.

What do YOU think? How do we control an overbearing government driven by a whipped up public opinion? Where have the leaders gone?

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Post from: EveryJoe

Look Out! Carbox is Here

California is in trouble again. Running itself like a charity it spends based on public whim that drives vote buying legislators

Our plan establishes a strict spending limit and creates a rainy day fund that will protect California’s taxpayers. We must put an end to government’s wasteful spending practices and not treat taxpayers as the Legislature’s own personal ATM machine.

Under this plan, the Legislature will be forced to prioritize to stay within the spending limit….Democrats have stated that we do not have a spending problem, but rather we have a revenue problem. That is simply not true.

I hate to say it but this isn’t the answer. Spending caps miss the point of deciding what the role of the government is and what strategies and projects they should spend money on. It’s the “easy” way out and simply doesn’t deal with the problem.

The argument shouldn’t be about whether it’s a revenue or spending problem but rather why we aren’t considering value and profit and project acceleration. I’m not advocating that the State operate like a business–it can’t. I am advocating that the State, like many counties have, establish a project management office (PMO) with a governance board responsible for selecting, eliminating, and prioritizing projects AND aligning them with State strategies. We are certainly in sad shape when the solution is simply to cap spending to force prioritization.

What do you think? Is it possible for a State governmental body to be an innovative user of a PMO? Why or why not?

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Post from: EveryJoe

Spending Caps Don’t Solve Project Management Problems

Plastic Bag Tax – AB 2058 (Levine – D) would force grocery stores to impose a new tax of 25 cents for every paper and plastic bag used by shoppers.

Global Warming Tax — AB 2558 (Feuer – D) would authorize the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Agency to impose one of the two different taxes – an increased gas tax as high as 3 percent of the retail sales price or an increased car registration tax as high as $90 per vehicle.

California, famous for “alternative use” of taxes and fees, is catching up to tax policy in the Netherlands. We can argue about the causes of global warming, but these taxes are an excuse to spend money on unrelated programs. Note the tax on PAPER AND PLASTIC bags. It turns out after an initial attempt to impose plastic bag bans, well researched articles clearly showed that paper bags do MORE environmental damage and landfill “abuse”. The ridiculous solution is NOT to ban both, but to tax both! It’s not behavior change that big government legislators want- it’s our hard earned money.

How do you feel about taxation of individuals to change behavior? How about corporations? How are you staying abreast of this type of tax abuse and voicing your opinion about it?

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Post from: EveryJoe

California Catching Up with Netherlands Global Warming Taxation

I had to laugh at the headline

Focus on Innovation: HP expects restructured labs to produce fewer, more successful projects

MBT went on to say, in an almost sad way, that HP consolidated its research to focus on 20 to 30 large research projects from about 150, with, lo and behold, a strategy focused on five areas.

Those of you who read projectmanagement411 know that the first thing you do when you attempt to control projects is a project inventory. The next is to see if the projects align with strategies of the company. Because, guess what, you aren’t going to execute any of those strategies if you don’t focus on projects that serve them. The result is less projects, better management of resources, and a strategy execution environment.

The article ended with saying that HP returned to it’s roots. I think HP returned to being a well managed company again.

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Post from: EveryJoe

“Fewer, More Successful Projects”: The New HP