S10E222: Why Great Project Leaders Go to the Movies with Dawn Mahan
What if the fastest way to align a project team wasn't another 47-slide deck, but a two-minute film clip? In Episode 222, Dale and Val sit down with Dawn Mahan, project leader, educator and author, to unpack why movies are surprisingly powerful tools for project leadership, communication and team alignment. Dawn coined the term "Project Land" to explain why the world of projects behaves so differently from the day job, and it has stuck with thousands of people since. We get into: Dawn's origin story, from Y2K coder to accidental project manager after one out-of-the-blue phone call Why Apollo 13, The Martian and The Matrix explain iteration, problem-solving and belief better than most training courses The real reason projects fail, and why the root cause almost always traces back to the start "Are you good?" vs "How do you feel?" and why that one change transformed how Dawn led teams Why communication is everyone's job, not just the project manager's Assessing people on ownership rather than leadership, and why that is fairer Trust, vulnerability and healthy conflict, drawing on The Five Dysfunctions of a Team Whether you are being parachuted into a live project or just trying to explain what you actually do to your family, this one is full of practical, human ways to lead people better. Dawn's books: Meet the Players in Project Land: Decide the Right Project Roles and Get People on Board Project Land Goes to the Movies: 22 Blockbuster Strategies for Project Success Connect with Dawn: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/dawnmahan Instagram: instagram.com/dawnjmahan Project Guru Academy: linkedin.com/showcase/projectguruacademy PMOtraining on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/pmotraining PMOtraining on YouTube: youtube.com/channel/UCLYJDA7-15rotZyEDEv8gyg PMOtraining on Facebook: facebook.com/PMOtiger This podcast is free and always will be. If you got value from it, pay it forward and share it with someone in your team. Stay safe, be disruptive, and have fun doing it.