INSPIRE — Rising Leaders Shaping the World: A Secret Formula for Project Managers

 

By: Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez
Author; Founder, Projects & Co

“This is the World being left to Us by Adults, we are the ones who will have to clean up the mess you Adults have made.” These recent words from Greta Thunberg to the New York Times touched me deeply.

I’d like to share an “aha-moment” that happened a few years ago. Besides having an impactful and fulling job managing projects, most of us want to have an influence to make a better world. Almost everyone tries to influence senior leaders who hold power today; yet, with regret, it is difficult to make any improvements, and, on the contrary, the world continues to fall apart.

During a call with some colleagues, one of them mentioned the work they were doing with teenagers, which was not to teach them how to do things but to empower them to let them make their dreams a reality. That made me reflect on one of the most significant movements in the past decade made by a 16-year-old from Sweden, Greta Thunberg.
How is it possible that a project launched by a teenager alone can create more awareness and action to address the climate change cataclysm than most politicians, high-level functionaries, and institutions? 

Our world will become a better place thanks to the dreams and projects carried out by younger generations, not the current leaders; let’s learn from them, let’s work with them.

I spent months researching and found amazing projects carried out by young people to solve their local issues and others to address major global challenges. In my session at PMXPO, I will share several examples. Here is just one example:

• Mikaila Ulme was named one of the most influential teenagers in America. Her idea started when she suffered a few bee stings as a four-year-old. Her parents told her that she could be afraid, but first, she needed to learn about the bees. When she discovered that they sting because they were as afraid of her as she was of them, she decided she wanted to help the bees. She founded Me & the Bees Lemonade at 15. Now, she’s the CEO of a $13 million-plus business.

INSPIRE: A Framework from These Rising Leaders’ Projects

Stories like these show the impact that the younger generation can have through projects to transform their world and how we can all learn from them. All these impactful projects have the following elements in common, which we should consider when undertaking our projects: 

In my session, I will be examining each of these elements more closely and explain how they impact a project.

Some Organizations Are Already Doing Great Work

Over the past years, I have collaborated with several organizations working on new methods to empower the younger generation. Here is a brief list:

• PMI Educational Foundation
• Design for Change
• Planet Pilots 

Feel free to reach out to them to find out more or even collaborate.

Moving Forward

This INSPIRE approach might take a bit longer to address some of the major challenges we face, but from my research and the arguments exposed, it seems to be one of the best approaches to have an impact and create a better world through well-implemented projects.
 
Ask yourself the following:

• Do you have similar or different views about how to generate relevant impact?
• Have you come across other amazing projects carried out by our younger generation?
• What lessons have you learned?

If you are inspired by how the younger generation is trying to have an impact and making our world better and would like to hear useful tips that can impact your own projects, please join me at my session INSPIRE — Rising Leaders Shaping the World: A Secret Formula for Project Managers at PMI’s Virtual Experience Series: PMXPO on 24 March.