Shrinkie For Best Project Management Blog Post 2008: Kimberly Wiefling

This year I will be awarding the best Project Management related post with a “Shrinkie”. In all fairness, the best posting this year is written by … … Kimberly Wiefling with “Manage Cows but Lead People” and “Leadership for a tiny planet” on the UCSC Extension in Silicon Valley blog!

It is actually a whole series published in August at the Santa Cruz blog that stroke my chords, touched my soul, and stuff.

So, with the Shrinkie in my hand, I rushed over to Kimberly to ask her some questions…

If people only take one concept or idea from your work, what should that be?

“I think the single most important concept that I share with people in my work is “The Lesson of the Rubber Chicken”. (My rubber chicken travels with me everywhere I go. You might say he’s a “frequent flyer”.) I just hold him at shoulder height and release him, then ask “What caused the chicken to fall?” “Gravity.” Is the most common answer, but that’s a victim’s perspective. The chicken falls because I released him. Yes, gravity contributed, but blaming gravity focuses on what we can’t control, and diminishes our power to make a difference in what is happening in our world. There are always circumstances outside of our control, but there is far more power in asking “How am I contributing to this situation and what can I do to make a positive difference?” Stop blaming gravity. Hold on to the chicken!”

If your life in 2008 was a book, how would it be titled?

“No Dream Too Big – Join the Consciousness Conspiracy!”

“This past year I’ve worked in Japan a dozen times, worked in Mexico for the first time ever, seen my book become one of the top-selling project management books in the US, and received an offer from the most prestigious publishing house in Japan for the translation, and had 7 hours of my breakthrough leadership workshop featured on Japanese business TV and distributed through Kenichi Ohmae’s Business Breakthrough organization. It’s really been an unbelievable year, and now I’m entering my middle 50 years more determined than ever to make a positive difference in the world. In fact, I just launched a “Consciousness Conspiracy” intended to tap the collective power of individuals and inspire people to realize that they can make a positive difference every day. Wanna join? Check it out.”

To whom do you dedicate this Shrinkie?

“I’d like to dedicate this coveted award to my colleague and dear friend, Yuko Shibata, founder of the Global Management Program, the organization that I work closely with in Japan, and the first woman to be promoted to the executive level at ALC Education, Inc., based in Tokyo. When Yuko faced a grave challenge earlier this year she said that naturally she was worried, but in the next breath she wondered aloud what this challenge made possible for the growth of her people and her team. In fact she has turned this into an opportunity for people on her team to step up to a new level of responsibility and leadership. What an inspiration!”

Who should have deserved this award instead of you?

“DeAnna Burghart, an extraordinarily gifted and witty writer, and the editor for www.ProjectConnections.com, a web site for project managers that I write for regularly, and my book, Scrappy Project Management. Working with DeAnna has taught me boatloads about how to be a better writer, and she even makes getting criticism fun!”