May Book Club

 

We are excited to announce the ProjectManagement.com May book club!  The book club provides an opportunity to participate in webinars and discussions around selected books relevant to the overall practice of project management.  The book club occurs in three parts:

1. Opening pre-recorded webinar which will be used to introduce the book. During this 30 minute pre-recorded webinar, the author will provide a high level overview of the concepts in his/her book, familiarizing participants with the information.
2. Discussion thread on ProjectManagement.com with input from the book club host and author.  During the last week of the discussion, questions will be collected to present to the author in the closing webinar.
3. **Premium and PMI-member exclusive** Closing Q&A live webinar with the author responding to questions submitted both through the online book club discussion thread and during the webinar.  The webinar will be a panel style discussion with open dialogue between the moderator and the author.

The first 25 PMI Members registered for the closing book club webinar will receive a complimentary copy of the book and will be notified via email.  Additional participants will have the opportunity to purchase a copy of the book at their own expense.  All community members will be able to view the book club opening webinar and participate in the discussion forum.  PMI members and ProjectManagement.com premium members will be able to participate in the book club closing webinar.  We will evaluate the content of each opening and closing book club webinar to determine the eligibility and breakdown for PDUs.   

Our book club book for May is Driven by Difference: How Great Companies Fuel Innovation Through Diversity by David Livermore.  David Livermore is a thought leader in cultural intelligence (CQ) and global leadership and the author of ten books on cultural intelligence and global leadership. He’s president and partner at the Cultural Intelligence Center in East Lansing, Michigan and a visiting research fellow at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.  Prior to leading the Cultural Intelligence Center, Dave spent 20 years in leadership positions with a variety of non-profit organizations around the world and taught in universities. He’s a frequent speaker and adviser to leaders in Fortune 500’s, non-profits, and governments and has worked in more than 100 countries across the Americas, Africa, Asia, Australia, and Europe.  Dave has authored several other books, including the award-winning titles, Serving With Eyes Wide Open and Cultural Intelligence: Improving your CQ to Engage our Multicultural World (Baker Publ.).  Dave loves to take research and make it accessible to practitioners.  Dave and his wife Linda have two daughters, Emily, a film student at University of Southern California and Grace, a high school swimmer. Some of their favorite activities are traveling (fortunately!), hiking, and discovering new foods together.

About the book

Diversity alone won’t magically spur innovation—it’s just the first step. Today’s workforce is more diverse than ever before. But despite new perspectives and talents, the promise of increased innovation rarely materializes. Why are so few businesses seeing results?

Studies show that diverse teams are more creative than homogenous ones—but only when they are managed effectively. The secret is to minimize conflict while maximizing the informational diversity found in varied values and experiences. To do this, both leaders and team members need a high level of cultural intelligence, or CQ. Drawing on success stories from Google, Alibaba, Novartis, and other groundbreaking companies, Driven by Difference identifies the management practices necessary to guide multicultural teams to innovation. Cultural differences can lead to gridlock, or they can catalyze innovation and growth. This research-based plan turns diversity’s potential into economic reality.

Our May book club host is Tolitha Lewis, PMP.  Tolitha has been a PMI Volunteer Leader since 2008.  She was elected as a Director to the PMI Information Systems Specific Interest Group (PMI-ISSIG) in 2008 and served until the completion of the transition to a Community of Practice (CoP) in 2011. In 2012, Tolitha was appointed to the Leadership Team of the Consulting CoP, now referred to as the Consulting practice area, and has been a leader in the webinar program ever since.   Based in Indianapolis, Indiana, Tolitha is a Sr. Project Manager.

To register for the closing live book club webinar, please visit the webinar page on ProjectManagement.com, find the book club closing webinar and click on the “Register for this webinar” link.

Please visit the book club information and discussion on the Project Management.com books page. 

For additional questions, please visit the ProjectManagement.com Book Club FAQ page.