Project Management Saving The World

GTIM Nation knows of my disdain for the old saw that the point of “all” management is to “maximize shareholder wealth.” Even though this assertion is easily overturned, it’s still commonly taught in business schools around the world. I firmly believe that this tenet of commonly-embraced management science is not only wrong, but its acceptance has led to a whole host of bad business decisions, and that its continued assumed preeminence represents a menace to the advancement of management science and, by extension, the success of all mankind.
Okay, that’s a bit much to digest all at once, so let’s break it down into management-sized pieces, kind of like a Work Breakdown Structure. One of the biggest economic issues in the United States right now has to do with the development of data centers. These data centers have generated a great deal of controversy, mostly centering around their need for electricity and water, as well as their projected impact to the economies of the areas where they are located. Those in favor of these centers often point to the anticipated benefits of employment and generated tax revenue for whatever government is in place for that locale. From my perusal of the news/opinion pieces on their development, those opposed appear to have the much louder voices, and those voices are proving to be persuasive indeed. But consider: what’s the point of these data centers? It’s mostly to enhance current internet capabilities, but also to help advance the field of Artificial Intelligence, or AI.
Okay, so what happens if AI becomes more advanced? Naturally, doomsday scenarios abound, much as they did when computers first became commonplace in the nominal execution of management duties. Last I checked, the world has not come under the control of a supercomputer threatening to attack multiple metropolitan areas with nuclear weapons, as in The Forbin Project. My best guess as to the impact of AI on management in general and Project Management in particular is that its use will reduce the number of dumb decisions made in business settings. As Milton Freeman famously said, “So that the record of history is absolutely crystal clear that there is no alternative way, so far discovered, of improving the lot of the ordinary people that can hold a candle to the productive activities that are unleashed by a free-enterprise system.”[i] Consider the folly of all of the businesses, large and small, that pursued unproductive to straight-up silly goals, and the economic resources that they ultimately wasted. Now consider what would happen if such business decisions were to be culled from the arena of workable ideas before they even sought funding, even by as much as 5%. If the businesses in the United States alone did this, the increase in GDP would be $1.514 Trillion (USD). Just for the record, besides the US, there are only 10 countries world-wide with a GDP above that increase. Of course, advances in AI are absolutely not confined to the US, and an improvement in better decision-making of only 5% might prove conservative.
In short, advances in AI can have a profound positive effect on people’s lives across the globe. What’s standing in its way? The aforementioned opposition to data centers, for one. I do not have access to the board rooms and inner dealings of the executives who are seeking to construct these data centers, but it’s easy for me to speculate that at least some of them are being advised by their anti-PM Asset Managers, since the reflex management decision to those opposing the construction of their data centers is often to resort to government mandates, or actually suing their opponents in courts of law. I have to believe that PM-minded execs would not council this course of action, if for no other reason that PMs are centered on delivering scope on-time, on-budget to customers. And who are the customers for these advances? They are the very people who are showing up to oppose those construction plans for the data centers.
Note that I am absolutely not talking about stakeholders here. PMI defines stakeholders as “an individual, group, or organization that may affect, be affected by, or perceive itself to be affected by a decision, activity, or outcome of a project, program, or portfolio.” I’m talking about customers, both current and potential. Customers are different. Those pursuing data centers need to interact with them in such a way that they not only cease opposing these Projects, but will actually help make it happen. How to do that? Show them the product or service being provided, how it will make their (business) lives better, and by how much. This PM-orientation has the chance to utterly re-do the conversation with respect to the data centers, and, by extension, an improvement of the management sciences at a scale previously held to be unattainable.
But that’s not going to happen under the “maximize shareholder wealth” paradigm. No, if the business world is to be saved, it simply has to be by Project Management.


[i] Retrieved from https://www.azquotes.com/author/5181-Milton_Friedman/tag/capitalism on 26 August 26, 2026, 20:16 MDT.