Monthly Archives: September 2015

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Why You Need to “Walk in Stupid” Every Day

“Don’t be a problem solver, be a solution finder.” Tony Buzan

As leaders of our organizations, we are often under the illusion that it is our responsibility to solve all the problems that our businesses encounter. However, nothing can be further from the truth!

As William C. Taylor and Polly LaBarre point out in “Mavericks At Work“, our job as business leaders is to be solution finders and not problem solvers. This means we do not have to have all the answers ourselves. A solution finder is a leader that goes looking for a solution to a tough issue rather than trying to solve it themselves. Their approach may involve other leaders, mentors, friends, staff, experts outside the organization, or even other organizations to help solve the issue at hand. They are coordinating and catalyzing the solution but they are not solving the issue directly.

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65% Of All Mega-Projects Fail!

Sixty-Five Percent Of All Mega-Projects Fail . . . For those of us in the project delivery business, this is a staggering statistic! 65% of all mega projects end up failing.

In this context, a mega project is loosely defined as a project over $1 billion USD and project failure is defined as one or more of the following:

  1. 25% over budget
  2. 25% behind schedule
  3. Not able to meet business objectives within one year of the facility start date

These mega project failures result in billions of additional dollars being spent every year to get the projects back on track and completed. Billions more are lost due to the late start and the inability to create product or provide services during this delay.

From 2013 to 2015, it was my privilege to participate in a research project with the Construction Industry Institute (CII). Our research was focused on the successful delivery of mega projects. In fact, our research project was called RT-315 – Successful Delivery of Mega-Projects. The research has now been completed and our results and recommendations were presented in Boston at CII’s annual conference in August 2015. They will be available for purchase from CII’s website in the near future.

So, what are the results and what can we do to avoid mega project failure? Our research team studied over 100 projects and identified over 130 factors that contribute to project failures. We prioritized and characterized these factors and narrowed them down to 34 Impact Factors within five major categories. These 34 Impact Factors were further refined through project surveys, interviews and case studies. The research identified the frequency of occurrence of these Impact Factors on mega projects as well as the cost, schedule and production impact if that Impact Factor did occur on the mega project.

I have listed the Impact Factors below for your reference.

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The Science of Success

I recently read Charles G. Koch’s book “The Science of Success” and I love the way he reminds his readers what a real business is and how it can succeed. I can summarize this with two brief quotes from the book;

“In a true market economy, we can only prosper by providing others with what they value.” Charles G. Koch

“People benefit themselves by benefiting others.” Alexis de Tocqueville

A business or organization or individual will prosper by giving others what they value. The business or organization or individual will not prosper by trying to sell others a product or software that is not needed, not valued or not fit for purpose. People exchange their hard earned money for something that they value at least as much or more than the money they are parting with. It is a very simple but often overlooked concept!

So, as business leaders, how do we know what others value?