#136—Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez: Preparing for the Project Economy Future

 Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez is author of Powered by Projects, Leading Organizations in the Transformation Age, the Harvard Business Review Project Management Handbook, the featured HBR article The Project Economy Has Arrived, as well as five other books. Antonio coined the concept "the Project Economy," on which his book is based. His research and global impact have been recognized and included in the top 50 most influential management thought leaders by Thinkers50. He is the fellow and Former Chairman of the Project Management Institute, currently VP of the APM Association, he is the creator of the Brightline Initiative, founder of Projects&Co, and co-founder of the Strategy Implementation Institute. Antonio is a prominent advocate of the idea that our business model paradigms are quickly changing—the future of work is the Project Economy, the idea that instead of companies based on hierarchy and operations, they will be dominated by project-driven teams and environments. This premise has a profound impact on every area of a business—and strategy, management and every department of each enterprise will need to adapt accordingly.In this episode we discuss: How digitalization and the acceleration of AI has compounded this quick change from a focus on operations and repetitive work to quick execution, project-driven teams How by 2030, 70% of work will be project-based work, fundamentally changing how businesses are structured and managed. How the era of hierarchal org structure hinders growth in this new era, as successful project execution depends on co-creation and stakeholder buy-in How the role of the PMO will change from being operations-driven to more strategic, and how you can best support these roles in the transition _______________________________________________________________________________Episode Timeline:00:00—Highlight from today's episode01:31—Introducing Antonio + the topic of today’s episode04:14—If you really know me, you know that...05:03—What is your definition of strategy?06:12—The difference between strategy and execution 07:40—Understanding the project economy 10:43—The shift from operations to projects in organizations 12:18—The cross-functional nature of projects 14:44—The future of the PMO office 17:20—Creating intensity in organizations 20:36—Common mistakes leaders make in executing strategy24:06—Motivation for writing "Powered by projects"  26:36—Key insights from Antonio’s leadership sessions  28:30—How can people follow you and continue learning from you? ______________________________________________________________________________________Additional Resources:Personal website: antonionietorodriguez.comLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/antonionietorodriguezLink to book: Powered by ProjectsThank you to our executive producer Zach Ness, our producer Nazanin Homayoun Jam and our editor James Pearce. If you enjoyed this episode, please follow, download, and subscribe. I’m your host, Kaihan Krippendorff—thank you for listening.Follow us at outthinker.com/podcast