Why Project Leadership Books Suck!

Seeking inspiration for this blog, I’ve been re-reading all the books in my library on Project Leadership, Project Management and Leadership.  I’ve come to a few startling conclusions:

• There are surprisingly few books specifically on the subject of Project Leadership.  I find this odd because Project Leadership is a practical application of leadership.  Perhaps it’s easier to write about leadership in an abstract way than deal with the practicalities?
• There’s even less content than you might expect in those books on Project Leadership that do exist – a lot of duplication, and a lot that is impractical. Specifically:
• There’s an awful lot of writing about character types. Although it’s interesting, in the real world it’s an irrelevant distraction. You never get the choice of your own behavioural inclinations, and you rarely get enough choice of team members to select on this basis. (Caveat for clarity: You always get the choice of your own behaviour and any suggestion that you don’t is sheer manipulation!)
• None of the books talk about leadership from the perspective of enhancing team behaviours and performance.
• Their treatment of how to deal with organisational politics is feather-weight!
• None of the authors on Project Leadership have been prepared to level criticism at traditional Project Management.  The strongest criticism I’ve found is that it is necessary, but not sufficient.

My main conclusion is that you can’t learn Project Leadership from any of these books!  It’s like trying to learn to swim by reading about dolphin behaviour and hydrodynamics.  Maybe we need to start writing!

Perhaps, dear reader, you can tell me: What do you think needs to be included in an effective Project Leadership Development tool?  What form should it take?

— Philip Greenwood

Tags:  Project, Project+leadership, project+management, book+review, Leadership, Management, team, teamwork, teaming, team+behaviour, team+behavior

• There’s an awful lot of writing about character types. Although it’s interesting, in the real world it’s an irrelevant distraction. You never get the choice of your own behavioural inclinations, and you rarely get enough choice of team members to select on this basis. (Caveat for clarity: You always get the choice of your own behaviour and any suggestion that you don’t is sheer manipulation!)
• None of the books talk about leadership from the perspective of enhancing team behaviours and performance.

None of the authors on Project Leadership have been prepared to level criticism at traditional Project Management.  The strongest criticism I’ve found is that it is necessary, but not sufficient.

My main conclusion is that you can’t learn Project Leadership from any of these books!  It’s like trying to learn to swim by reading about dolphin behaviour and hydrodynamics.  Maybe we need to start writing!

Perhaps, dear reader, you can tell me: What do you think needs to be included in an effective Project Leadership Development tool?  What form should it take?

— Philip Greenwood

Tags: Project, Project+leadership, project+management, book+review, Leadership, Management, team, teamwork, teaming, team+behaviour, team+behavior