Passion, Persistence, and Patience

Key Skills for Achieving Project Success

Alfonso Bucero

• Publisher: Business Expert Press
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781948198684
• eBook ISBN: 9781948198691
• Topic: Negocios y empresa
• Subtopic: Liderazgo

The aim of this book is to inspire and encourage project practitioners, executives, and beginners in the project management field to develop passion, persistence, and patience.

The author tells his personal stories and experiences managing projects in organizations by practicing his three Ps–passion, persistence, and patience.

Several examples and some tools are included at every chapter. The reader will discover how to assess his/her passion, persistence, and patience and will discover suggestions and methods to prepare an improvement plan.

This book is the fruit of several years of different author experiences lived as a project manager and as a professional worldwide. Cultivating his passion, persistence, and patience over the years, he has achieved many of his professional goals. Read this book carefully and reflect upon your personal behaviors, then you will achieve your excellence as a professional.

CHAPTER 1

Passion, Persistence, and Patience

Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.

—Winston Churchill

Long time ago I adopted passion, persistence and patience as my motto. Perhaps because everything I did in my life needed to use, develop, and sustain those qualities. I was born in a Spanish family, not a rich one, but with the support I needed. I was constantly observed and the center of attention of my relatives as I was growing up, had a happy childhood, attended a good school and learned French as my second language. I always was passionate about reading, learning, and researching on new subjects. My scores at the primary school were very good, so my parents always supported me when I asked for a book, training course or something related to learn. In fact, my father was always very supportive on that subject, he believed that I needed to be well prepared for my future and he encouraged me to be focused on being trained and educated to get a University degree.

Everything was great during Primary and Secondary School but when I started to study at the University, I started to fail some times and I learned from failure to failure. I did not pass the first time in some subjects, so as I had the enthusiasm to move forward and, needed to use my persistence and my patience to progress in order to obtain my degree. That was not a path of roses, it was challenging and difficult but I was determined to do it. My degree consisted of five calendar years plus the final degree project. It took me seven years because I got a job at the third year of my studies, so I had less time to study and needed to develop my discipline and persistence to keep going on. It was the first time I was conscious of when you have passion about something, persistence and patience need to be cultivated to achieve your goal.

After a couple of years working for a multinational organization in Spain I discovered that project management was my passion. I believe passion is a priceless quality that makes everything different in our lives (Bucero 2010). Professional life is always difficult and challenging but when you have passion for your profession, that enthusiasm raises your excitement and interest to move forward. It has happened to me during my whole life. And that is the main reason why I am writing this book. I strongly believe that you need to convert your dreams into reality. You can do it without any doubt only if you believe you can. That is the principle I have been following as a professional during the last 37 years and it worked for me, so why not for you. I hope my real stories about my 3 Ps will help you to reflect and learn to build up a better future.

Passion

I truly believe passion makes the difference between success and failure in our lives. In 1997, Steve Jobs returned to Apple after a 12-year absence. The company he had cofounded was running out of cash and close to bankruptcy. Jobs held a staff meeting and explained the role passion would play in revitalizing the brand:

Apple is not about making boxes for people to get their jobs done, although we do that well. Apple is about something more. Its core value is that we believe that people with passion can change the world for the better.

The simple phrase—“people with passion can change the world” (Entrepreneur Network July 2015)—holds the secret to entrepreneurial success. Many times your body language shows your emotions (Figure 1.1). Several years later, in 2005, Jobs returned to the theme in his famous commencement speech at Stanford University. “You’ve got to find what you love,” Jobs said. “The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you have not found it yet, keep looking. Do not settle. As with all matters of the heart, you will know when you find it.”

What Passion Can Do for You?

Passion is very important. Following your passion is the secret to overcoming the setbacks all entrepreneurs face and it builds strengths and resistance against the inevitable naysayers who will question your vision. I still remember when I left Hewlett-Packard in 2002 many of my colleagues told me sentences like: “where are you going Alfonso, you have a safe job here” or: “It is raining cat and dogs outside, business is very difficult to be able to survive,” or “you are bad on sales, you will fail.” My answer was “I love you too.” I started a new company focused on my passion (project management). So, I did not care of the “naysayers” and I survived, I achieved my vision and created a Project Management Consulting company where I am still working for sixteen years ago. It is also an essential ingredient in successful communication. If you are not passionate about your ideas, nobody else will be. I believe that every professional needs to have a purpose (Englund and Bucero 2012), my purpose is: “to help organizations to change their attitude to achieve better project and organizational success”

Figure 1.1 Passion for project management

When I created my own company on 2002 I reflected about the “why.” I mean, why did I need to start up a company working on project management? My answer was: because I needed to help companies to understand better the project management discipline in order to manage better and better projects for organizational success. I had passion to do that, I worked on designing and implementing a portfolio of products and services every year. On 2010 the financial crisis affected my company results and I lost some money. My passion for project management was there, I understood that I needed to make a difference on the market. Then I defined my company purpose as: To help organizations to develop and sustain a positive attitude managing projects for organizational success.

As an entrepreneur I am passionate—but not about the products I sell and deliver to my customers, but about purpose and mission. I am passionate about changing the world or disrupting an established category. For example, Steve Jobs was not passionate about computer hardware. He was passionate about building tools that would help people unleash their personal creativity. “Someone who is passionate will immerse themselves in a field. They want to know everything they can about it,” says Francisco García, the founder of-A-Hair Stylist Workshop. In a recent conversation, Francisco told me how much he admired Steve Jobs as someone who followed his passions, wherever they would lead.

Francisco said that passion is a fundamental trait he looks for when deciding who to hire for his business. He listens carefully to the words people use. There’s no rush to create a business you’re not passionate about just to be rich, he said. It will not work in the long run. You need to have your heart in it. The heart is what’s going to drive you to make the most money. Follow your passion and make a difference.

I do this passion activity all the time in my workshops, projects, and events (a picture of me talking and smiling is shown in Figure 1.2). I get on stage and I speak and facilitate with excitement, energy, and passion. One of the exercises I do, in order to demonstrate that passion is important, is just to change my communication style for a while. I become dull, bored and show a true lack of passion and energy. It is amazing to see everyone’s reaction in the room. They hate it! I do this to demonstrate why passion matters. We have something called Mirror Neurons. We automatically pick up the emotions of others.¹ Have you experienced sitting in your office and someone who has had a crap morning has just walked it and literally lumped it all over the office. They have been cranky, down or upset; and the whole energy in the room has changed. I am sure you felt it.

Figure 1.2 Alfonso Bucero showing his passion in a public talk

Passion is about believing in what you do, inspiring others to believe in it, and loving why you do what you do. Simon Sinek who wrote one of my favorite books “Start with Why”² said—“People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.” And I verified that on the delivery of my services as a PM consultant. I always take care of the people around me to get across the message of enthusiasm on everything I do. I do not need to make any special effort because it is natural, is coming from my mindset.

What Inspires Your Employees or Project Stakeholders?

Everything is about people—us, the individuals. Everyone needs to get personally inspired. Having a clear, common dream and purpose that every employee can identify with is the best way to motivate. Passion requires courage, even young-like energy, to keep your eyes on your goal and do all you can to achieve it.

This is exactly how you need to see your staff: as individuals and, first of all, human beings. As a leader, your task is to inspire and encourage positive attitude rather than to be a mere supervisor, as cited in Figure 1.3. Ask your people to smile more. I remind them that every day in the morning when they are brushing their teeth the need to smile and repeat “I am excellent.” Please smile more and more every day and you will enjoy much more moments in your life. Furthermore, you will show your happiness to anybody else and be contagious.

Figure 1.3 Smell the inspiration

Why Should You Measure Passion?

What you cannot measure, you cannot lead! (Zak 2009). This well-known fact also applies to passion. If you want to see enthusiasm as one of your goals, you also need to decide how you will measure it.

One main reason to measure your passion is that it inspires the whole staff to rethink their level of passion. When the staff’s focus is on passion and on how to increase it, the level will increase for sure. Soon the whole staff will start to think new ways to strengthen their enthusiasm or passion together. Passion is contagious. Please ask yourself:

• What is the level of passion do I have in the tasks, or in the project am I managing?

• Is that level enough or can you improve it?

The answer to those questions will give you some clues, about what is the amount of passion you are putting at work. Measure your passion temperature and you will always discover some ways to improve.

How Can You Measure Your Passion?

The aim of a passion survey needs to focused on the following subjects:

• Measuring the present state of passion

• Understanding the factors effecting passion and prioritizing them

• Increasing passion at the workplace

Measuring passion needs to be attached to already existing processes. In practice, this means that measuring is continuous, results are followed in some common meeting and the points for improvement are actually put into practice.

Every company can decide the most suitable cycle for their measuring. It is important, however, that measuring is continuous. In general, the survey is worthwhile to complete at least once a month to actually keep track of how things are going. As the whole staff answers the survey once a month, the survey should not be too long. And the questions need to be considered precisely.

What to Ask?

The target of a survey is always an individual—that is, the survey measures every individual’s passion separately. Good themes to cover are individual’s passion for their work tasks, and their sense of freedom, responsibility and inspiration.

Some suggested questions are:

1. Does your staff feel energetic and passionate at work?

2. Do they work on tasks which bring them joy, accomplishments and challenges?

3. Do they have the ch...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 Passion, Persistence, and Patience
• Chapter 2 Developing Passion, Persistence, and Patience
• Chapter 3 Sustaining My 3Ps
• Chapter 4 Be Contagious
• Chapter 5 Learning Something Every Day
• Chapter 6 Growing Up Your Relationships
• Chapter 7 Taking Care of Your Career
• Chapter 8 Using Your Courage
• Chapter 9 Go for It!
• Chapter 10 Conclusions
• About the Author
• Index
• Backcover