2020 Most Influential Projects: Ingenuity Meets Innovation

11/18/20 • 22 min

PMI’s 2020 Most Influential Projects highlights more than 250 bold, breakthrough efforts—spanning sectors and continents. Guests discuss three of those initiatives:

Hugh Lawson, project director at Sydney Metro in Sydney, discusses how the massive project will transform transportation in the city and how COVID-19 created opportunities to challenge long-held assumptions.

César García Marirrodriga, project manager at the European Space Agency in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, shares what scientists hope to learn about the heliosphere from the Solar Orbiter’s seven-year mission.

Rob Wright, of Public Services and Procurement Canada, talks about how the project team created a long-term vision with built-in flexibility for a multiyear restoration of Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Key themes

[00:56] PMI’s 2020 Most Influential Projects

[02:24] Sydney Metro to bring new ways to move around the city

[04:43] Challenging long-held assumptions and finding opportunities in COVID-19

[07:00] Sydney Metro transforming transportation for years to come

[09:31] Solar Orbiter: Unlocking secrets of the sun

[12:25] Creating a long-term vision with built-in flexibility for Parliament Hill Rehabilitation

[15:03] Using Centre Block as an apex project to drive strategy

[17:37] Lesson learned: Bring construction and design together on day one

PMI’s 2020 Most Influential Projects highlights more than 250 bold, breakthrough efforts—spanning sectors and continents. Guests discuss three of those initiatives:

Key themes

[00:56] PMI’s 2020 Most Influential Projects

[02:24] Sydney Metro to bring new ways to move around the city

[04:43] Challenging long-held assumptions and finding opportunities in COVID-19

[07:00] Sydney Metro transforming transportation for years to come

[09:31] Solar Orbiter: Unlocking secrets of the sun

[12:25] Creating a long-term vision with built-in flexibility for Parliament Hill Rehabilitation

[15:03] Using Centre Block as an apex project to drive strategy

[17:37] Lesson learned: Bring construction and design together on day one

Previous Episode

TED@PMI: The Rise of Resilient Leadership

Command and control leadership is losing ground to a new style—one that emphasizes creativity, resilience, authenticity and a willingness to reach out for help. Two TED@PMI speakers discuss the must-have skills of the modern leader.
Billy Samuel Mwape, PMP, assistant information and communications technology manager at Development Bank of Zambia in Lusaka, discusses resilience and letting team members make mistakes. He also talks about a very personal project: unifying a team of therapists in response to his son’s diagnosis of cerebral palsy.
Chiwuike Amaechi, PMP, principal subsea intervention engineer at Shell Nigeria Exploration & Production Co. in Lagos, Nigeria, discusses the power of storytelling and shares how he uses the skill to drive home the points he wants to make to his team.
Key themes

[01:17] Leaders wielding creativity, empathy and resilience

[02:46] Traits of resilience: Know the roadmap and be transparent

[07:01] How uncertainty drives creativity

[12:19] Using storytelling to unite teams

[14:20] The role of listening for storytellers

[16:06] When crafting stories, reflect and be deliberate

Next Episode

Creating Positive Social Impact: From Intent to Action

Projects have the power to not only benefit business but society as a whole. But to achieve positive social impact, the same strategic mindset behind the drive for bottom-line results must be applied to ensure projects create a better world.

TED@PMI speaker and marketing consultant Khulan Batkhuyag discusses how keeping things simple can help teams be agile and how her visits with Mongolian nomads changed her views on sustainability and her approach to projects.

Okka Phyo Maung, co-founder, CFO and CMO at RecyGlo, shares how the Myanmar startup is using tech to reduce pollution in waterways through better waste management and data analytics. He also talks about how his company is helping make the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals a reality.

Key themes

[01:10] Seeking positive social impact isn’t just the right thing—it’s also the smart thing to do

[03:36] Keeping things simple to increase agility

[06:28] Sustainability: Developing something that’s resilient

[09:54] Consider the social impact of your work
[12:43] Pursuing positive social impact through data

[14:44] Why the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals are so important Projects have the power to not only benefit business but society as a whole. But to achieve positive social impact, the same strategic mindset behind the drive for bottom-line results must be applied to ensure projects create a better world.

Key themes

[01:10] Seeking positive social impact isn’t just the right thing—it’s also the smart thing to do

[03:36] Keeping things simple to increase agility

[06:28] Sustainability: Developing something that’s resilient

[09:54] Consider the social impact of your work
[12:43] Pursuing positive social impact through data

[14:44] Why the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals are so important