Program and Project Manager Power: What Are the Most Important Traits for Achieving Success?

  Governance   Leadership   Knowledge Shelf  

An Analogy

Years ago, when we were kids, we didn’t know (or worry about) what project management was, and our A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)—Fourth Edition were comic books (although many adults still read comic books). We couldn’t wait for the next monthly or weekly issue of Superman, X-Men, the Fantastic Four, or Spiderman to come out, to name just a few. Not all comic books involved superheroes, of course, but many of them did. In our imaginary worlds, each superhero had at least one or more special skill or power that made him or her a champion for justice and “the greater good.” Let’s not forget arch nemeses and villains like Lex Luthor, Magneto, or Dr. Doom who had similar powers but used them for the wrong intent.

We probably consider some of our colleagues to be “superheroes” for the efforts they contribute or the results they achieve individually and/or with their teams. Do you consider them to be your champions or Olympians in program and project management? Do you admire them for their strengths in the same way you might respect a person who can accomplish admirable feats of physical endurance or run at incredible speeds?

If so, then let’s assume you are somewhere along the continuum of being weak or a very fit, strong person, with “program and/or project …

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