Conflict, Misunderstanding and 

Other Project Realities

By Susan de la Vergne

Once upon a time, people thought of reason and emotion as opposites. One is rational, the other irrational. One is ordered, the other chaotic. One is controlled, the other runs wild.

But now we know better. Now we know emotions help us organize our thinking. They help us adjust and adapt, they inspire us, and they make us sign up for the long haul. They help us recognize significance, which helps us sort out priorities. Emotions do that, not reason. We don't reason our way to inspiration or commitment. We feel it.

Emotions complement reason. So says Dr. Peter Salovey, a leading psychologist and researcher at Yale in the field of emotional intelligence. He's not alone in his opinion. In the last 30 years, an army of psychologists have demonstrated repeatedly that emotional intelligence and cognitive intellect go hand in hand.

The alliance of emotional and reason is not just a subject of academic interest; it's topical and relevant in business leadership every day.

Dr. Salovey conducted a year-long study of emotions in the workplace. In it, he found ... Read more about emotions at work.

Why the PMP Credential Isn't Enough

By Steve Wetterling

Proponents (including me) of project management methods and practices extol this invention as the best way to do all work that falls in the category of "new stuff." When project teams skillfully develop a charter, scope and limits statements, work breakdown structures, schedules, budgets, risk analyses, etc.-and hold to them-they're far more likely to succeed than projects teams that do not.

The growing awareness that project management rigor leads to successful projects is behind the proliferation of project management training and certification programs. The number of persons walking around with the "Project Management Professional" or "PMP" credential after their names (484,761 as of 7/31/2012, according to PMI, the Project Management Institute) exceeds the number of PMI members (387,199). PMI awards PMP certification after a training program followed by a computer-based test designed to pass about 2/3 of the test takers, a fact I heard repeatedly at the 2012 PMI conference in Portland, Oregon.

The PMP credential and its global equivalents are a good thing. However, read the rest