Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
By Jeff Schwisow, Woodslane, $29.95.
‘How to use projects to engage your people in strategy that evolves your business’ is not only a simple statement, but an effective one.
An important point for survival isn’t just a matter of keeping up, but learning how to drive change instead of responding to it. One of the biggest challenges facing business leaders today is keeping up with a world that re-shapes itself faster than the best strategic plans.
Schwisow says that projects are the missing link between strategy and execution, creating a bridge between the business and people. The key is to leverage the capability of the entire organisation so that strategy is a continuous process – one where you constantly evolve your business to meet the changing environment, and where culture – not payroll – attracts and retains the best talent.
It’s easy to ‘see’ that Jeff is “passionate about people and projects”. In the past three decades, he has “lived and breathed projects – leading them, studying them, fixing them and making them sing”.
“It’s when the two come together that a truly exceptional workplace is formed – one that engages the very best of its people, one that consistently delights its clients and one that constantly evolves to generate exceptional business results by being exceptional.”
Schwisow draws on over 30 years’ experience working with major corporations to provide a practical guide to projectifying your strategy to engage your team, increase your leadership impact and get things done. High profile businesses he has assisted include IBM, Kodak, Shell, Chevron, PetroChina and CPB China.
His ideas – helping teams “tap into their true potential to see projects not as a risk to be managed, but as an investment in the future that they aspire to create” – are certainly worth sharing.
