Kevin Ciccotti - UCSC Extension in Silicon Valley

Can you recall a time when you and another person shared an experience, but at the end you both had completely different stories about what happened? Maybe you saw a movie with a friend and when talking about it afterward you realize they came away with a totally different take on it. If you’re like [...]

The topic of leadership is on the forefront of most, if not all, organizations these days. It’s one of the most talked about and yet least understood topics in the business world. Today I entered the generic term “leadership” in a Google search and it came back with more than 462,000 results. When I changed [...]

One of my core beliefs is that we are most happy when we feel we’re making progress in our lives. It’s painful for us to remain stagnant in life. In fact, growth is not an option; it’s a necessity. Grow or die. That is the biological imperative that all living organisms experience. “Without continual growth [...]

Have you ever noticed when people ask you how you’re doing, you will almost invariably answer based on the emotional state you’re currently in? For example, if you feel as if you’re just barely hanging on or are feeling frustrated, you might answer with something like, “I’m hanging in there,” or “I’m all right, I [...]

When it comes to being an effective Project Manager, one of your greatest assets in leading your project teams is trust. People must trust you if they are going to commit to you as their leader, and subsequently to your project and its goals. When trust is present, we gain an indispensable ally in our [...]

It seems like I’m talking and writing about change quite a lot these days. And there’s good reason for that. It’s an inescapable part of our lives. And we still resist. I remember sitting through a staff meeting back when I was in my corporate job, listening to my boss run through a series of [...]

There are many different schools of thought when it comes to managing and leading people and/or projects. It seems that everyone has ideas, opinions, or strategies on the right way or wrong way of doing it. How do you know which one is best for you and your teams? The answer is not always as [...]

We have a wonderful German Shepherd puppy named Spice. She is black and brown and fuzzy… and did I say cute? Yes, she is very cute! Her rather large ears stick straight up from the top of her head, reaching skyward like two fuzzy antennae, searching for input. When she gallops around the house, her [...]

Every day we come face to face with situations and events that can elicit responses of fear, anxiety, and worry. For the most part, we’re more than capable of handling those events, especially when they remind us of past circumstances that we’ve encountered and either overcome or learned from our mistakes (I’ve got many of [...]

One of your responsibilities as Project Manager is to ensure project milestones are being met, and that everyone is on task and on track. One way of doing that is by holding status meetings with your teams. However, as you may have experienced, sometimes those meetings can go awry – and most of the time [...]

A couple of weeks ago we celebrated Veterans’ Day, and of course all government offices, banks, schools, and many businesses were closed in observance of this special day to honor all who have served, and continue to serve our country. As I drank my morning coffee and watched the local morning news, my wife and [...]

As Project Managers, you have many tools at your disposal to help you succeed. You’ve got extensive training, some measure of resources – both capital and human, strategies and experiences from past projects, just to name a few. But what about your ability to influence? Have you ever given it any thought? I mean, certainly [...]

One of my core beliefs is that the quality of life is largely determined by the quality of our relationships – whether they are intimate relationships, or those with friends, coworkers, or within organizations. One of the key determinants in our ability to create and sustain those relationships is our own level of what I [...]

In my first article, I talked about Human Needs Psychology, and the Six Basic Human Needs. Now we’ll dig a little deeper into this powerful behavioral model in order to understand how our needs drive our behaviors, the impact it has on decision-making, the patterns we develop as a result, and how you – as [...]

In my work as an Executive & Life Coach, my area of expertise is relationship coaching, and specifically helping people create empowered, sustainable relationships. Now, the first thing that may come to mind is, “Why should I care about relationships, and what is a relationship coach doing writing an article for Project Mangers?” The truth [...]