How people-centric Leadership
and Communication Drive Project
Success and Corporate Value
FEATURED PAPER
By Marianna Spezie and Damiano Bragantini
Verona, Italy
ABSTRACT
Nowadays, it’s not so much “what” that matters, but specifically “how”.
Looking to the near future, in fact, in an era in which the world of work changes more rapidly than company strategies, according to the PMBOK [1], the Project Manager is formally responsible for leading the team toward project objectives; however, this definition increasingly understates the broader role that PMs are required to play in contemporary organizations.
In a company, project managers perform a variety of functions such as spurring the project team’s work to achieve the intended outcomes and managing the processes to bring about those outcomes in order to maintain efficiency on project execution and creating corporate value: he can no longer limit himself to being a simple “controller of times and costs” as hard variables, but the idea is to move increasingly towards a new management paradigm, in which the centrality of the person becomes the key to more sustainable, effective and human projects, combining soft aspects such as method and empathy, organization and listening, leadership and strategy [2],[3].
The role of the Project Manager is truly changing: in fact, in the world of dominant companies (and therefore also in project management), we are experiencing and will increasingly have to face a radical evolution in the future, a new transition driven by innovation in many fields such as digitalization, sustainability, the transformation of the market increasingly demanding high-level knowledge and skills, but above all, the increasingly marked centrality of the figure of the worker in terms of a true “people-centric orientation”. This emotional component appears to be, from the perspective described above, increasingly rooted and considered important, functional and necessary at a general level and not just specific to certain types of projects and sectors: in fact, the importance of people and their management has grown steadily in recent years, transforming the role of the worker from a human resource to a human capital, making it a critical factor in achieving success; this shift has pushed Project Managers to focus less on the technical aspects of projects, as in the past, and more on the new so-called soft success factors. By operating in this approach, Project Managers will be able to best manage a project, having understood that people, with their skills and abilities, are the primary source of valuable contributions to the project itself [4].
If in past literature the Project Manager, in his field of action, was bound to the so-called “hard factors” (i.e. the triple constraint), by making use of so-called “soft skills” (which together constitute the “soft triple constraint“), in a new framework identified by guidelines such as environment, personal and motivational aspects, and that involves people and their proper management, PMs can find their best expression in representing evolution, innovation and shared values such as people-centeredness and “a gentle leadership” as the same communicative efforts that accompany their daily role and mission, and that are significant also for the transition to a new corporate value, where the “future transition” is born precisely from people.
Keywords: Project Management, Project Manager, Project Leader, Leadership, Innovation, Communication, people-centric approach, soft skills, Stakeholder Engagement.
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How to cite this work: Spezie, M. and Bragantini, D. (2026). Beyond and before Project Management: How people-centric Leadership and Communication Drive Project Success and Corporate Value, PM World Journal, Vol. XV, Issue II, February. Available online at https://pmworldjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/pmwj161-Feb2026-Spezie-Bragantini-Beyond-and-before-Project-Management.pdf
About the Authors
Marianna Spezie
Verona, Italy
Marianna Spezie is a licensed Engineer with a Master’s degree in Engineering Management from University of Padua (2020) with the thesis: “Project Management and the importance of Stakeholder analysis in Risk Management: the case of the Meter Commissioning Plan of electric smart meters 2G (PMS2) in Megareti ” (Available online in the university’s “Padua Thesis and Dissertation Archive” section at https://thesis.unipd.it/handle/20.500.12608/21224), or https://thesis.unipd.it/retrieve/3f637ced-c43f-40c8-abdd-3cdacfbc463c/Spezie_Marianna_1205729.pdf).
After working as a teacher of ICT (Information and Communication Technology) in high school in the city of Verona, Marianna actually works as Data Analyst in Magis S.p.A, an important Italian utility in generation, distribution and supply of electricity and gas, where she held the role of Project Manager in several projects concerning her company, such as “Optimizing Tariff Revenues in the Electricity Sector in Light of the Introduction of the Basic ROSS Method” and “Optimizing Revenue Constraints in the Natural Gas Sector: Identifying and Managing the Levers Introduced by the Future Basic ROSS Method”. She is currently pursuing a 2nd level Master’s degree in Executive Business Administration.
She is very interested in the Project Management field, branch in which she has contributed with several publications for magazines such as “PM World Journal – PMWJ” (https://pmworldjournal.com/ ) and “Franco Angeli Editore” in terms of Risk Management, Stakeholder Engagement and the application of Project Management principles in interdisciplinary contexts, such as the health and IT sector and the corporate environment (managing and improving tasks, setting work priorities, leadership and innovation).
Marianna Spezie can be contacted at mariannaspezie95@gmail.com.
Damiano Bragantini
Verona, Italy
Damiano Bragantini is a Civil Engineer with more than 20 years of experience in Civil Infrastructure and Information Technology. Currently he works as Warehouse Manager of both Verona and Vicenza offices in Magis S.p.A. Mr. Bragantini was also a recognized teacher at the University of Liverpool (UK) where he taught in project management MSc. Mr. Bragantini is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) from the Project Management Institute (PMI). He has been also actively involved with Project Management Institute (PMI) as a final Exposure Draft Reviewer for Project Cost Estimating Standard and Practice Standard for Earned Value and as internal reviewer of PMBOK Fifth Edition. Mr. Bragantini has also been actively involved and is still involved with the local PMI Northern Italy Chapter.
Damiano Bragantini can be contacted at damiano.bragantini@agsmaim.it
