Guessing is not a strategy: How to build decision velocity with AI and real-time data
June 10, 2026 | Live Webinar
The Global PM Challenge
Michael R. Wood is a Business Process Improvement & IT Strategist Independent Consultant. He is creator of the business process-improvement methodology called HELIX and founder of The Natural Intelligence Group, a strategy, process improvement and technology consulting company. He is also a CPA, has served as an Adjunct Professor in Pepperdine's Management MBA program, an Associate Professor at California Lutheran University, and on the boards of numerous professional organizations. Mr. Wood is a sought after presenter of HELIX workshops and seminars in both the U.S. and Europe.
Once you have experienced leading a global project, you quickly develop a respect for the challenges they present. You can never over-estimate the role culture, language and business environment play in global projects. Leading a project in five countries is exponentially more complex than leading a domestic one. Leading multiple projects with multiple global teams is even more daunting and fraught with opportunities for failure.
Consider Boeing’s headaches with the manufacturing of 787 Dreamliner as highlighted in Business Week’s article “The 787 Encounters Turbulence”:
“Technical glitches, missed deadlines and stretched nerves are par for the course with new planes. But far more than a new plane is at stake. Boeing has undertaken a grand business experiment with the Dreamliner. In a bid to tap the best talent and hold down costs, the aerospace icon has engaged in extreme outsourcing, leaving it highly dependent on a far-flung supply chain that includes 43 ‘top-tier’ suppliers on three continents. It is the first time Boeing has ever outsourced the most critical areas of the plane, the wing and the fuselage. About 80% of the Dreamliner is being fabricated by outside suppliers, vs. 51% for existing Boeing planes.
The Dreamliner’s mounting challenges call into question whether such a radical business model can …
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