The Project Revolution: How to Succeed in a Project Driven World

From our personal to our professional lives, corporations to governments, individuals to nations, projects are a new reality. Welcome to the Project Economy! The emergence of projects as the economic engine of our times is silent but incredibly disruptive and powerful. Projects are timeless and universal. The construction of the pyramids in Egypt, the development of modern cities, the Marshall Plan, the Apollo space programme, the creation of the European Union – all these achievements were the result of ideas being turned into reality through projects. Project-based work is the engine that generates the major accomplishments of our civilization; it has stimulated society to advance and often go beyond long-established scientific and cultural limits. Projects change the world. Projects make impossible dreams possible. The behavioral and social sciences endorse the idea that there are a few ways of working and collaborating that are particularly motivating and inspiring for people working on a project. These are that a project should have ambitious goals, a higher purpose, and a clear deadline. You have probably noticed that what people tend to remember most clearly from their entire careers is the projects they work on – often the successful ones, but also the failed ones. According to recent research, the number of individuals working in project-based roles will increase from 66 million (in 2017) to 88 million (forecast 2027). And the value of economic activity worldwide that is project-oriented will grow from $12 trillion (in 2013) to $20 trillion (forecast 2027). Those are millions of projects requiring millions of project managers per year. My prediction is that by 2025, regardless of the industry or sector, senior leaders and managers will spend at least 60% of their time selecting, prioritizing, and driving the execution of projects. We will all become project leaders – despite never having been trained to be so!