In the 1998 thriller Ronin, Robert De Niro plays Sam, a wary ex-operative who refuses to walk into a meeting that doesn’t smell right. Pressed on it, he offers the rule he lives by: “Whenever there is any doubt, there is no doubt.” Asked who taught him that, he says he can’t remember — which, […]
Tag: risk management
How to Use the 5 Whys Technique at Work (Step-by-Step With Examples)
The 5 Whys is a root-cause analysis technique developed at Toyota: you ask “why” five times in sequence until you reach the underlying cause of a problem, not the symptom. It takes 15–30 minutes, requires no software, and routinely surfaces decisions that save six and seven figures. It’s one of the highest-leverage skills in 2026 […]
Is Project Management an AI-Proof Career Skill in 2026? (Yes — Here’s Why)
Yes. Project management is one of the few roles where AI makes the PM more valuable, not less, because the core work — stakeholder alignment, risk judgment, scope negotiation, and sequencing under ambiguity — is exactly the work AI can’t do. The PMP certification is the highest-ROI credential in the skill, and it’s more filterable […]
What Project Managers Can Learn from the Outbreak of War: Battle-Tested Strategies for Leading High-Stakes Projects
When war erupts — suddenly, without warning, across complex geopolitical terrain — the world watches leaders make decisions that will define history. Billions of dollars in resources mobilize overnight. Coalitions of stakeholders with competing agendas must align. Communication systems are tested to their breaking point. Resources dry up. Risk registers written in peacetime become obsolete […]
Discerning the Signal in the Noise: Why It Matters for Project Managers
In today’s hyper-connected business world, project managers are bombarded with data from every direction—daily emails, instant messages, project status updates, stakeholder feedback, and of course, endless metrics and KPIs. Not all of this information is valuable. A key skill for modern project managers is the ability to separate the “signal” (the crucial insights that inform […]