Brilliant Project Leader

Tonight�s episode gave us a litany of business lessons, a further reminder of the importance of demeanour but, ultimately for me, one really important principle to focus on: decision making. The teams� task was to select two urban artists to represent and to mount a one night show and sell to maximise the commission on […]

I am not big on following rules, but I guess I have observed and written many of my own over the years. �It all came home to me last week when I got a cold call from “a broker”. �I stopped him mid-flow, not wanting to waste any more of his time or mine: “Rule […]

I can now announce the dates for my 2012 Bite Size Seminar Tours. �We may be adding a few extra dates as the year progresses, but here are thrity to get on with. �All of them are on my Event Calendar, and you can download a pdf version here. Date Location Morning Seminar Afternoon Seminar […]

A couple of weeks ago I was interviewed by Samad Aidane for his excellent Guerrilla Project Management blog. �Samad was interviewing me about my latest book, Brilliant Project Leader. Samad was a thoughtful and patient interviewer who had prepared well. I enjoyed my conversation with him immensely and I think his work really shows in […]

The advance copies of Brilliant Project Leader arrived on Tuesday morning and they are looking excellent. It is published today, on 17 November and Amazon UK are promising availability from 23 November. This is my fourth book in the Brilliant Series, two of which are in the Personal Development category, and two in Business. . […]

Last night, Dara O’Briain hosted a humorous look at what candidates need to do to get hired. �But as with all good humour, it was funny, because it was true. Over the course of the series, I have been deriving lessons from the tasks, and Dara O’Briain drew out ten rules. I want to compare […]

It is fashionable to slate the candidates in The Apprentice for their failings and weaknesses. �And they certainly do all have them, but I do recall reading in a book somewhere: “Let those without sin cast the first stone” So rather than bitch about the lack of general knowledge and�naivete�of the candidates, or their lack […]

In�last week�s analysis of The Apprentice (week 8), I highlighted three people and promised a short blog on each. In the second of these, I want to look at Tom Pellereau�s inability to seize the leadership of a task that Lord Sugar had chosen him to lead, and consider the question: What makes a leader? […]

Readers of my regular newsletters will have got a newsletter titled “Beat Bias” last week. If you didn’t, there is a sign-up box below. If you did get it and the short article piqued your interest, I notice a splendid and very timely article on the Harvard Business Review site. �It is co-authored by Nobel […]

In this week’s The Apprentice, we saw two teams do almost equally badly – one had to win, but neither deserved to. Something seems to happen to people when they become Project Manager on this programme and most of them lose their ability to communicate fully. I wonder if it is those that retain that […]

I have just confirmed a couple of extra tour dates for my speaking tours this year, promoted by Bite Size Seminars. This makes a total of 32 seminars I will be speaking on four topics and you can look at the synopses by clicking on the links. Practical Project Management Risk Happens! Control Risk and […]

I started work on Brilliant Project Leader as soon as I returned from holiday, on 28 March, but today, 11 April 2011, marks the start of writing the book. When I write, I have a routine of meticulously planning the whole book, chapter by chapter, section by section. �Only when that is done do I […]

This post is now out of date. �In April, we added eight extra dates. For an updated schedule of tour dates, please click here. I have just confirmed a whole load of tour dates for my speaking tours this year, promoted by Bite Size Seminars. I will be speaking on four topics and you can […]