From Waitress to VP: The Unconventional Ascent of a Project Management Pioneer. Meet Beth – a seasoned project management and organizational transformation expert with over 25 years of experience. Forget the traditional career trajectory; Beth’s story is a testament to embracing change, seizing unexpected opportunities, and the profound impact of human connection in the often-technical world of project management. Prepare for a deep dive into the real-world experiences and invaluable lessons learned by a woman who redefined her path and left an indelible mark on the industry.
Thank you, Beth, for accepting our invitation to discuss your career and share your insights with our readers. With over 25 years of experience in project management and organizational transformation (if I’m counting correctly!), could you start by sharing a bit about your journey and what inspired you to pursue this path?
The short answer is that I needed a career change so that I could pay my rent.
When I attended college, I had limited choices: secretary, nurse, or teacher. I chose a teacher. My degree was a combined liberal arts degree (English, literature, speech, drama). Straight out of college in got a teaching job. It was great; I loved it. But the salary was not great. I waited tables to pay the bills. Waiting tables earned more than three times what I earned with my teaching salary.
Working at the restaurant, I was talking to the owner, Stan Gibson, one evening and said, “I have a college degree; I make 3x more waiting tables than teaching; I can’t wait tables my whole life.” Stan was an engineer. The restaurant was more of a passion hobby. He was also on the Board of the local technical college. He told me about a new program at Greenville Technical College in a new field called Computer Engineering. He encouraged me to apply, which I did. I took the entrance exam, was accepted, 2 years later graduated, was interviewed, and hired by Metropolitan Life Insurance as a Junior Programmer. That started my IT journey which led me to Project Management. MetLife was great at balancing our career growth in three areas: technical, people management, and project management. At MetLife, I took on many roles and responsibilities, each one progressively more responsibility and more demanding. MetLife set up a superb foundation and framework for my career journey.
What were some pivotal moments in your career that shaped your approach to leadership and in project management?
My first pivot because of the after-hour chat with Stan Gibson as mentioned previously.
I remember being at MetLife in NYC for cross-organizational meetings. VPs from our business area offered me opportunities to work w them and move to NYC. The technical director with whom I met offered a position. As well, Paul Ratner, former Head of MetLife’s Greenville, SC computer center, asked me to stop by his NYC office. He had recently moved back to NYC. We chatted; he was starting a new research and development team to research and then set the direction of the organization’s technology. Paul said, “Sounds like fun?” In response, I agreed. The next thing you know, I was moving to NYC to join this brand-new team. My first project in NYC was to do a “programmer workstation study” and determine where our technical development teams spent their time AND determine if this new thing called the “personal computer” would aid in productivity and efficiency. The good news is we recommended the PC. I was the project manager charged with this assessment, value proposition, and ultimate roll out.
While in NYC, working full time, I attended the New York Stern School of Business and earned an MBA in Finance. Several years after, I was asked to join Prudential Financial (along with Paul Ratner). A few years after managing a technical, data, and educational team of 140, I moved to report to the CIO and set up the first ever IT PMO for the company. A few years later it was the MBA in Finance that got the attention of the Prudential Financial COO, Bob Golden, who requested me to start up and run a corporate-wide Program Office to address a Securities Exchange Commission regulation. Each role and each position represent pivotal moments for my career journey.
Source: Author´s materials
In your keynote speeches, you often discuss navigating organizational transformation. How do you define emotional intelligence, and why do you believe it is crucial in today’s workplace?
EI is the conscious capability of awareness, understanding, perceiving, using, and managing emotions. I stick with the Daniel Golman model and research for Emotional Intelligence. This model builds on the premise that one needs to be first aware of their own emotions and second to manage those emotions effectively. Then, after personal awareness and management is harnessed, the focus turns outward. The awareness of others and how they show up, and ability to manage relationships. These are the 4-key components of Emotional Intelligence from Daniel Goleman. I add to this the roof on top of the 4 quadrants the roof of leadership. Leadership of teams requires 3 domains: Inspirational leadership, strong communications, and conflict management. Inspirational Leadership includes the skills of emotional discipline, a healthy self-confidence, and strength of influence, while driving for success with the team. Strong Communications includes the skills of emotional discipline, social and organizational awareness, and adaptability. Conflict Management includes the skills of emotional discipline, empathy, and an aptitude for collaboration. Notable is that emotional discipline is a key competence for each team leadership domain.
Source: Author´s materials
What resources or tools do you recommend for leaders wanting to improve their emotional intelligence?
Anything written by Daniel Golman would be a great start. There are lots of articles and other sources as well. Some of my favorites include:
I also appreciate some of the online assessments. They are not the “end all” or “be all” for your personal emotional intelligence, but they are a good barometer to further consider areas of focus for personal growth.
Your work emphasizes the importance of bridging RF project management with organization change. How do you define effective leadership in today’s project-driven world?
Leadership is such a vast topic with many flavors and interpretation. For the purpose of your question let’s focus on leaderships within the project management world. The question cites “effective” leadership. The key to being effective is to understand how this will be measured. Some may say that effective leadership yields results. Effective leaders have followers who drive toward the objective or goal. Effective leaders have a vision, purpose, and a path forward. Thus, some of the best or even worst leaders in history would be considered “effective.” Each one of us needs to determine and clarify what effective looks like for our given situation.
I was recently on a team with a leader who was abrasive, loud, disruptive, inconsiderate, disrespectful, and wholly unpleasant person with which to work. Yet the team was achieving its designated goals and objectives. Is this an effective leader? If the definition of effective is leading the team to achieve its goals, one would have to say yes. This is not an environment in which I would choose to work. I would propose that some flavor of positive, professional qualifiers be added to the “effective” leadership definition.
Project-Management-podcast.com cites project leadership as: “The knowledge, skills, and behaviors needed to guide, motivate, and direct a team to help an organization achieve its business goals.” The leader’s focus is on the people aspect of the project. This must include setting and communicating vision, intentional placement of people in roles, motivation, team unity, morale, and more. To do this well the leader must highly-leverage soft-skills, for which emotional intelligence sets the foundation. Thus in my world, a real leader is one who understands the vision, knows how to rally the team to create the most appropriate approach to achieve the vision, helps the team organize, and enables forward movement with positive leadership techniques.
We have all had good and bad leaders. Remember the team you would love to work with again? Think about why. Was the vision clear? Was the team empowered to carry the work forward? Did the leader show visible support throughout the journey? Did the leader encourage when things got tough? Did the leader acknowledge and reward progress and accomplishments? Did the leader motivate the team to continue to improve? Did the team have strong morale, so that even in tough times they came together to figure out a way forward? Thinking back on that wonderful team will shine a light on a great leader. These qualities are the ones that you can guarantee will make a great leader.
Source: Author´s materials
Could you share a project or transformation that was particularly challenging or rewarding? What lessons did it teach you?
With every program or project there are both challenges and rewards. Sometimes the most challenging – in the end – become the most rewarding. I remember being asked to start and run the first ever Program Management Office for the Corporate Information Technology Department for a large, global financial company. I reported directly to the CIO of the company. He was introducing me to the business line CIOs in a meeting and establishing governance and process controls for the full IT organization. This was met with mixed agreement. Some seemed excited and wanted to get going and on board with me soonest. Others were visibly not interested. On the way out of the meeting, the most senior, longest-term CIO, Bill Anderson, said, “You’re a nice kid, but this will never work.” My response was that I would like to meet with him to understand his perspective.
We set up a meeting in his NYC office. We agreed on the fact that we must get the monthly report to the CIO as determined. Then we discussed HOW we could approach it. I realized he already had a report that covered more than 80% of what we needed. So, I suggested we use this report and build out the other areas that were required by the CIO. He said, “Well, that is logical. You are the first person from corporate with a brain.” The continued open, direct communications paved the way to build the relationship. He invited me to do a “walk around” with him. He had well over two hundred people in his team. In a weekly basis he walked the floor and spoke with each person. He knew all by name; he knew what they were working on; he knew their family situation. Months later, Mr. Anderson, the business line CIO, was a keynote speaker for one of my company-wide events. He spoke on leadership to a large group of PMs. This CIO, Mr. Anderson, exuded the kind of leadership that made a positive difference. It is no wonder he had the best employee retention rate in the company! As we left that large company-wide event, Mr. Anderson said to me, “Well kid, ya did it!”. Though this situation was challenging, the quick, post-event conversation was hugely rewarding! (Follow-up: I would love to hear about your experience with the World Trade Center rebuilding, as it’s such a powerful story!)
As a reference to the reader, you are referring to the video on www.OuelletteGroup.com. I was asked about the most inspiring project. For many years I was in and out of the World Trade Center – doing work for The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. I had the pleasure before 911 to work with a team of PMs who were aspiring to achieve their PMP. Throughout the years, I worked with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey with other workshops, consulting, and some mentoring. These folks manage bridges, tunnels, airports and ports of NY and NJ. I was honored to see the careers grow and blossom. Through the years, many of my original PMs have become Program Managers in charge of Path Station, subway lines, WTC building construction, and more. These are the people who inspire me. They continue to grow, learn, take on challenges, deliver on value, and excel as true leaders in program and project management. I was blessed to be a small part of this huge story. If you are in NYC – you must visit this site. A special thanks to Kelly, Shawn, and Cesar. There are project results everywhere, from the Freedom Tower to the Oculus, to the fountains and even the “Survivor Tree.”
You have been very active in PMI for years, having held roles such as President of PMI New York City and Disciplined Agile Chapter Champion. What are the most critical skills for project managers today, and how have these evolved over the past decade?
Core PM competencies are always vital. These are often thought of as project constraints. You know these by heart – scope, time, cost, risk, resources, quality, stakeholders, and successful management of each. These must always be a focus. In the “old days” the Red-Amber-Green (RAG) Report typically focused on cost and time. When I setup and ran the PMO Mentioned above, we had other dimensions of risk, resources, and quality added. This RAG Report did not qualify the program or project’s value proposition. Though from the onset, there was a business case with documented ROI, payback period, NPV, or other financial measures of value that created and authorized the project. Somehow during the running of the programs and projects, this financial value proposition was often lost. Even when the programs or projects were completed, it was rare that the business case was revisited, and validation of the financial value measured. Some of this still occurs today. Though I am seeing a shift in the past few years.
I have always proposed that a value proposition is vital to success. What is the value that will be delivered because of the program or project undertaken? Who receives the value; how is the value perceived? What will be different, better, or of more value after the project is delivered? How can the value be qualified or measured? Going into a program or project undertaking, these questions must be answered, the “value proposition” must be defined. Consider when you are managing a project or program – what is the value proposition? How will you as that program or project leader continue to validate this throughout the life of the program or project and the journey of the team? Does “value” include the value to the team too? I hope so. It is here we must include those critical leadership soft skills, notably emotional intelligence. How we lead the team determines how we will add value (or not) to the team experience. When team experience and morale are strong, the results of the program or project will be in kind.
How do you see project management evolving over the next 5-10 years, and what new skills do you think will become essential for leaders in this field?
This is started to be answered above in number 4. We must consider the value proposition in project management. How will this be qualified and quantified for the outcome of the program or project work? PMs cannot do what they have always done and expect to see improvement. We must be in tune and aware of the direction the world is shifting, understand new tools and techniques that will enable better, more valuable results, continue to evolve our way of working as the situation demands, and always learn, grow, improve along the way.
The ability to see the overall landscape and how work fits in and adds value will connect program or project work to the strategic intention of your organization.
- Leveraging and applying new tools and techniques will create consistency and efficiencies to ensure accurate understanding of program and project progress with consistent data and information.
- Creating a culture of learning and growing together will imbue an environment of comradery and team spirit. Always have the “sniffers” on your team checking out “new stuff.” Share it back with the team, determine how to grow and leverage the “new stuff.”
- Encouraging experimentation and evolution will set the tone for the team to find new, more effective, more efficient ways of working. Some may say be curious, try it out, and see what is possible.
- Embrace change. Be comfortable with the uncomfortable. The fast pace of change will continue to excel. Learning to be okay with change, okay to shift, okay to iterate, okay to refactor, okay to recreate, okay to reimagine your program and project world will be a vital characteristic for program and project success going forward.
Let’s keep learning, growing, evolving, and reimagining our program and project worlds. This change is what keeps things exciting, fresh, and new. A true leader will use Change to encourage, inspire, and motivate the teams. Afterall, if it were the “same ole stuff,” wouldn’t that be a bit boring? Stay curious, enjoy being challenged, be creative, and remember we are on a journey. Let’s have fun along the way!
References
Goleman, Daniel (1995). Emotional Intelligence, Why it can matter more than IQ, Bantam Bell
Goleman, Daniel on EI vs IQ https://youtu.be/wJhfKYzKc0s
Goleman, Daniel Suggests Ways to Boost Emotional Intelligence | Big Think https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOSgpq9EGSw&t=11s
Strategies to Become More Emotional Intelligent https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pt74vK9pgIA
The Minds Journal, Four Quadrants of Emotional Intelligence, https://themindsjournal.com/four-quadrants-emotional-intelligence/
The Keys to Effective Project Leadership.” www.Project-Management-podcast.com
PMI Fellow and CEO of The Ouellette Group, works globally with teams to implement best practices in Portfolio, Program, and Project Management. She blends business, technology, and Disciplined Agile to align organizational strategies and manage change. With experience across industries like banking, telecom, and government, Beth delivers custom training on topics such as Emotional Intelligence, PMO establishment, and Data Management.
A frequent speaker at PMI and industry events worldwide, Beth has also published works in Brazil, Canada, India, and the U.S. She holds an MBA from NYU, has numerous professional certifications, and is an adjunct professor at CUNY, where she created the Project Management Certificate Program.
Redaktor Naczelna Kwartalnika Strefa PMI, IT Project Manager w SoftServe. Posiada ponad 10-letnie doświadczenie projektowe m.in. w implementacji i wdrożeniach systemów klasy ERP, platform B2B, B2C oraz Big Data (GCP, AWS). Absolwentka Zarządzania i Informatyki na Politechnice Wrocławskiej oraz Wrocławskiej Wyższej Szkole Informatyki Stosowanej. Project Management to ścieżka kariery i pasja, która zrodziła się juz na etapie studiów. Z Project Management Institute związana od 2013 roku. Obecnie mocno rozwija się w tematach dobrostanu psychicznego i zwiększania komfortu życiu. W wolnym czasie podróżuje, szczególnie po wyspach (w szczególności greckich), dronuje, lata szeroko pojętymi środkami, boksuje i spełnia marzenia.
Editor-in-Chief of Strefa PMI and an IT Project Manager at SoftServe. With over a decade of experience in project management, she has led the implementation and deployment of ERP systems, B2B/B2C platforms, and Big Data solutions. She holds degrees in Management and Computer Science from Wrocław University of Science and Technology and the Wrocław School of Applied Information Technology.
Project Management has been both her professional path and personal passion since her university days. Kamila has been actively involved with the Project Management Institute since 2013. Currently, she is deeply engaged in initiatives focused on mental well-being and enhancing quality of life. In her free time, she enjoys gardening, traveling—especially to islands, with a particular love for Greece—flying drones, exploring aerial sports, kickboxing, and pursuing her dreams.