Straight Talk with PMI

In Straight Talk with PMI, we explore topics that are timely and relevant to our organization and our various stakeholders—in a simple 1:1 or 1:2 format.

Episode 16

This episode is all about transformation—learn how radical innovation, leadership and the impact of all things digital are transforming society and business.

PART 1 - Introducing Peter Hinssen

Meet Peter Hinssen, serial entrepreneur, advisor, keynote speaker and author. PMI Chief Strategy and Growth Officer Dave Garrett asks Peter to introduce us to his work and the concept of the Phoenix organization—a company that can reinvent itself in the face of tremendous turmoil and emerge stronger.

PART 2 - The “Never Normal”

Peter unpacks his concept of "The Never Normal"—how we've moved past the concepts of New Normal and the digital revolution of the prior several years. In fact, Peter believes we'll never go back to "normal" and now face a continual cycle of change that organizations will have to embrace—or risk falling behind.

PART 3 - Comparative Advantages in Navigating Change

Dave and Peter discuss the concepts of comparative advantage and how organizations can thrive in a time of perpetual change.

PART 4 - Making Innovation a Reality

Peter walks us through “The Phoenix and the Unicorn” and dissects practical examples and prescriptive steps and characteristics changemakers must embrace as they embark on transformations.

Part 5 - Individual Changemakers in a Sea of Uncertainty

The discussion turns to the individual and what changemakers can do to navigate the current climate. Upskilling is critically important, and our approach to education must radically change to accommodate the never normal. Peter closes with some information about how to learn more and engage with his research.

Episode 15

Hear how we're broadening our community and focusing on empowering youth in this episode of Straight Talk with Sunil.

PART 1 - Introducing Anja Blancha

Meet Anja Blacha, the leader of PMI's Youth Strategy. Sunil and Anja discuss her background in telecom and her impressive career as a climber and explorer, as well as what brought her to PMI. Anja shares her aim to bring project management as a life skill concept to young people around the globe to enable and empower them to make their passions a reality. (4:07)

PART 2 - Introducing Kenneth Harris II

Meet Kenneth Harris II, Senior Engineer with The Aerospace Corporation as he talks about how he came to NASA, the types of projects he works on, and his PM philosophy. Kenneth shares his tenure with NASA, beginning as a 16 year old intern, and the 'secret sauce' he and his team employ working on some of the most complex missions at the agency. (4:06)

PART 3 - PMI's Youth Strategy

Anja walks through PMI's strategy to achieve hundreds of thousands of enablements over the course of 2021. She and Sunil explore how PMI's Youth Strategy aims to secure PMI's place as the organization that takes down barriers and provides tools for Youth to make reality now. Anja further shares the three strategic pillars of PMI's Youth Strategy: Educational Foundation, Academics and Credentialling, Closing the Skill Gap. (4:29)

PART 4 - The Importance of Mentoring

Anja and Kenneth explore the importance of mentorship and the importance it has played in their careers. Anja shares the key role mentorship plays both in communities which PMI serves as well as internal stakeholders. She also offers a look in the future in which mentorship is facilitated by a platform PMI is developing. Kenneth and Sunil discuss the mentorship programs available in the government, with a special focus on organically developed mentor/mentee relationships. (4:33)

Part 5 - Overcoming challenges and conventional thinking

Kenneth and Anja share their strategies for overcoming challenges. Kenneth is working on some of the most advanced projects and missions in the world, and has tactics he explains which have helped him thrive in the spotlight. Anja explains how to break out of outdated ways of thinking. (6:58)

Episode 14

In this episode Sunil takes a deep dive into the world of agile—and specifically how we can make the government more agile.

Part 1 - Introducing Business Agility to Governments

We kick off this episode with an introduction to Scott Ambler, who answers the question "What is Business Agility?" and examines how remote work impacted the evolution of Disciplined Agile's goal to make enterprise agility a reality. (3:02)

Part 2 - Building an Agile Federal Government: A Call to Action

Presentation of the research paper that PMI partnered with NAPA and the Samuel Freeman Charitable Trust to explore agility in the public sector. Scott shares the paper's background as well as its principle findings. (5:09)

Part 3 - Deep Dive on Agile Recommendations

Sunil and Scott unpack a few of the report's recommendations and double click on their application. The public sector faces some unique challenges in agile adoption, and Scott explains how the paper's conclusions and recommendations can serve as a guide for governments. (4:20)

Part 4 - Moving Forward: Next Steps the Government can take Today

The discussion turns to how can the study be a cornerstone for policy in the US and around the world? What are the next steps to build an Agile Federal Government? Where can agency and ministry leaders find our more to guide their agile journey? (3:02)

Episode 13

President and CEO Sunil Prashara sat down with the four newest members of the Board, who were recently added to serve 3 year terms.

Part 1 - Welcome Matt and Pablo!

Sunil welcomes Matt Tomlinson and Pablo Lledo to the Board of Directors. Matt and Pablo share their backgrounds, history with PMI, and goals for the coming term. (4:45)

Part 2 - PMI 4.0 and "Changemakers"

Sunil and our newest Board Directors explore PMI's aspirations for the new 4.0 strategy in a discussion of the evolving nature of projects and what it means to "make change". (3:41)

Part 3 - The Regional Focus and Managing Directors

In Part 3 of this discussion, Sunil and Pablo connect on PMI's evolution to a truly global organization organized around a regional approach to serving the PMI community of stakeholders. The Directors discuss how Managing Directors and a local focus enables a profound expansion of PMI's reach and social impact. (3:31)

Part 4 - Leading Transformation, at PMI and Beyond

When it comes to transformation, PMI leads by example. Sunil and Matt discuss the jump from 2.0 to 4.0, and how PMI is leveraging our own transformation to take leadership in the space. The conversation shifts to Brightline's transformation leadership and Pablo shares his experience from his success. (5:10)

Part 5 - What Excites our New Directors?

Sunil encourages Pablo and Matt to share what excites them the most about all that is going on at PMI. (4:02)

Part 6 –Welcome Aga and Ike!

Sunil welcomes Agnieszka Maria Gasperini and Ike Nwankwo to PMI's Board of Directors. "Aga" and Ike introduce themselves, their professional background, and how they found their way to PMI. (5:30)

Part 7–Realizing 4.0 - How do we get there?

Sunil asks Ike and Aga to discuss their aspirations for 4.0. Ike explores maintaining alignment, collaboration, and working with chapters, while Aga takes a laser focus on PMI's Talent Triangle and the critical importance of Power Skills. (5:46)

Part 8–COVID: Challenges, opportunities, and emerging from the crisis

Sunil and Ike directors discuss how the pandemic forced profound and rapid transformation across all parts of The Project Economy, touching on papid digitization, democratization of talent, and PMI’s role at the center of enabling change. (4:55)

Part 9–Getting closer and delighting our Stakeholders

Aga offers a front line take on the evolution of PMI in to a truly global organization with strong regional leadership. Finding new perspectives and mechanisms to truly unlock PMI’s global reach give our community an outsized impact, and this is best accomplished by staying as close to possible to local leaders and stakeholders. (4:22)

Part 10–PMI's focus on Social Good

Social responsibility is central to PMI's focus moving forward on driving global impact. Our newest Board Directors share how the broader PMI community of practitioners and volunteers give back to their communities and tackle social challenges. (5:12)

Episode 12

PMI President and CEO Sunil Prashara recently sat down with VP of Global Experience and Solutions Mike DePrisco to discuss PMI’s overall product strategy and roadmap, how we’ve responded and thrived amidst the crises of 2020, and what’s next for our global community.

Part 1 – Strategy Overview and Moving Forward

Sunil shares his reflections on how PMI has responded to the pandemic and Mike outlines how product strategy supports PMI’s broader priorities. (5:37)

Part 2 – Overcoming the Challenges of 2020

Mike discusses PMI’s fast reaction in response to the economic disruption created by COVID 19 – and how it has empowered change makers to respond to new challenges. (5:23)

Part 3 – The Process: Leading in the Marketplace

Sunil and Mike deep dive into the process of how PMI senses and responds to market signals to meet needs for the change maker community. (5:27)

Part 4 – Emerging Products: The Roadmap

Mike gives a high-level overview of the exciting new solutions on the horizon for the PMI family. Highlights include Organizational Transformation micro-certs and upcoming Wicked Problem Solving courses. (6:06)

Part 5 – Resilience in 2021 and Beyond

2020 was a year for resilience. As we look ahead to 2021, Sunil engages with Mike to explore the roadmap for the immediate future and beyond, ranging from our existing advanced certification portfolio to new verticals like construction. (4:47)

Episode 11

Episode 11 of Straight Talk is a bit different — Sunil passed the baton to VP of Global Experience & Solutions Mike DePrisco, Chief Strategy & Growth Officer Dave Garrett, and Chief Operating Officer Joe Cahill!

As we start to wrap up the year, I encourage you to take some time to watch these brief conversations as they reflect on several of our important initiatives from 2020.

Straight Talk with Sunil – Episode 11, Part 1: Online Proctored Testing with Pearson Vue

VP of Global Experience & Solutions Mike DePrisco met with our friends from our exam testing partner to discuss online proctored testing. They covered tips to ensure the best test experience, steps we’re taking to keep the exam secure, and what lies ahead for PMI and the high-stakes testing industry.

Straight Talk with Sunil – Episode 11, Part 2: PMI and Social Responsibility

Chief Strategy & Growth Officer Dave Garrett led a discussion with Board Members on PMI’s commitment to societal impact. We often describe project professionals as “changemakers” who are uniquely equipped to tackle the world’s biggest challenges. The group shared their views on how they see PMI further enabling changemakers to make an impact and what a measure of PMI succeeding in this space would look like.

Straight Talk with Sunil – Episode 11, Part 3: COVID-19 Response

Chief Operating Officer Joe Cahill spoke with Board Members about their thoughts and feelings during the critical moments when PMI made the decision to go virtual in response to the global pandemic. They shared how the decision would affect delivering on the 2020 roadmap, the biggest challenges we faced, and lessons we will take forward.

Episode 10

In Episode 10, Sunil speaks with several members of the PMI Board of Directors for brief, wide-ranging conversations on their contributions and perspectives on the PMI community.

Straight Talk with Sunil – Episode 10, Part 1: Departing PMI Board Directors

I sat down with the members rolling off of the Board at the end of the year - but not, I would add, leaving our community! enjoyed hearing their reflections about the course of their service and their perspective on the future: Cathy LaTona, Jennifer Tharp, and Davidson Frame.

Straight Talk with Sunil – Episode 10, Part 2: Previous Board Chairs

Serving as the Chair of the PMI Board is a big commitment, but enormously rewarding – that’s what I learned from chatting with three members who have been there: Beth Partleton (Board Chair 2011), Randy Black (Board Chair 2018), and Tony Appleby (Board Chair 2019).

Straight Talk with Sunil – Episode 10, Part 3: Committee Chair Leads

I caught up with the respective chairs of our Board committees: Cathy LaTona (Compensation Committee Chair), Tejas Sura (Strategy Oversight Committee Chair), and Galen Townson (Audit Committee Chair).

Episode 9

In this episode, Sunil speaks with Mary Pat Kessler to discuss the role of the Government Relations team, ad sales and the Knowledge Initiative. They also share their thoughts on ‘growth’ at PMI.

Straight Talk with Sunil – Episode 9, Part 1: The role of Government Relations team

The importance of synchronicity between project management and the federal and state governments.

Straight Talk with Sunil– Episode 9, Part 2: What are ad sales?

Dialing for dollars, ad sales is the revenue engine supporting our events.

Straight Talk with Sunil – Episode 9, Part 3: What is the Knowledge Initiative?

Delivering value to stakeholders in areas related to the new work ecosystem.

Straight Talk with Sunil – Episode 9, Part 4: Your experience and background

More about Mary Pat Kessler and her role with PMI.

Episode 8

In the latest episode of “Straight Talk With Sunil” (recorded before the coronavirus outbreak), Sunil chats with Christine Toto, Director of Marketing and Customer Development for PMI. They discuss how the Marketing function at PMI engages with our customers, and how they are delivering value for PMI stakeholders around the world.

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Straight Talk with Sunil - Episode 8

Episode 7

In this episode of “Straight Talk With Sunil” (recorded before the coronavirus outbreak), Sunil sat down with Mark Emery, Director of Customer Care for PMI. They talk about how PMI handles customer inquiries and requests, how the organization benchmarks its success, and new ways for communicating with PMI stakeholders across the globe.

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Straight Talk with Sunil - Episode 7

Episode 6

In this episode of “Straight Talk With Sunil” (recorded before the coronavirus outbreak), Sunil interviews Devyn Colson, Director of IT Operations for PMI. They discuss how IT Operations is delivering results and support for PMI employees, as well as the stakeholders they serve around the world.

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Straight Talk with Sunil - Episode 6

Episode 5

In the latest episode of “Straight Talk with Sunil,” Sunil sat down with Sierra Hampton-Simmons, Portfolio Leader/Head of Certification, to talk about upcoming changes to the PMP exam that become effective 1 July 2020. Sierra outlines why and how the exam is changing, and what aspiring test takers can expect.

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Straight Talk with Sunil: Episode 5 – Certification (Part 1)

Straight Talk with Sunil: Episode 5 – Certification (Part 2)

Episode 3

Sunil sat down with Brantlee Underhill, Director of Chapters and Volunteers, for the next instalment of "Straight Talk with Sunil." Brantlee provides a good overview of the support we provide to chapters around the world, and I ask some tough questions about membership fees, chapter organization and requirements, the relationship of chapters to R.E.P.s, and lots more!

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Part 1

Straight Talk with Sunil: Episode 3 - Chapter Development - Part 1

Part 2

Straight Talk with Sunil: Episode 3 - Chapter Development - Part 2

Episode 2

Sunil sat down with Joe Cahill, PMI's Chief Operating Officer, for the next instalment of "Straight Talk with Sunil." This is a high-level introduction of the transformation, and we will double-click on program details in future communications. 

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Part 1

Straight Talk with Sunil: Episode 2 - In Conversation with Joe - Part 1

Part 2

Straight Talk with Sunil: Episode 2 - In Conversation with Joe - Part 2

Episode 1

In this first instalment, Sunil sat down with Murat Bicak, EVP of Strategy, and Mike DePrisco, VP of Global Solutions.

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Part 1

Straight Talk with Sunil: Episode 1 - Focus on PMI's Strategy - Part 1

Part 2

Straight Talk with Sunil: Episode 1 - PMI's Product Portfolio - Part 2

Part 3

Straight Talk with Sunil: Episode 1 - In Conversation with Murat and Mike - Part 3