Reimagining Project Management for a New Era
SERIES ARTICLE
By Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez
Madrid, Spain
For more than a century, leadership was optimized for stability.
Executives were trained to run machines. To reduce variance. To protect margins. To scale what already worked. The dominant mental model was operational excellence: efficiency, predictability, control.
And it worked.
Factories scaled. Supply chains globalized. Quarterly performance became a science. The best leaders were those who could keep the engine humming.
But here’s the uncomfortable truth: that engine is no longer the main source of value.
In today’s environment, value is created less by running operations and more by changing them. Digital transformation. AI integration. Sustainability transitions. M&A. New business models. All of it happens through projects.
Yet most executives are still wired—and rewarded—to lead operations, not portfolios of change.
That mismatch is becoming dangerous.
The Stability Trap
Operations-led leadership is built on three pillars: optimization, hierarchy, and risk minimization.
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- Optimize what exists.
- Decide at the top.
- Avoid surprises.
But projects don’t behave like operations.
Projects are temporary. Cross-functional. Uncertain. Political. They challenge the status quo. They compete for scarce resources. They demand trade-offs.
When leaders apply operational logic to project environments, predictable things happen:
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- Too many initiatives are launched.
- Priorities remain unclear.
- Decision rights are ambiguous.
- Resources are spread thin.
- Execution slows down.
I see this everywhere. The CEO announces five strategic priorities. The executive committee adds ten more. Functions protect their budgets. Nobody wants to stop anything.
The result? A bloated portfolio and exhausted teams.
Operations-led leaders optimize the present.
Project-led leaders design the future.
You cannot do both with the same mindset.
More…
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Editor’s note: This series of articles is by Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez, the author of Powered by Projects: Leading Your Organization in the Transformation Age (HBR Press, Jan 2026) and The HBR Project Management Handbook (HBR 2021). One of the world’s most popular authors and speakers on the topic of the Project Economy and the Future of Project Management, he is Founder of Projects & Co. , a PMI Fellow & Former Chairman and Thinkers50 Award Winner. Learn more in his author profile at the end of this article.
How to cite this work: Nieto-Rodriguez, A. (2026). From Operations-Led to Project-Led Leadership; Reimagining Project Management for a New Era, series article 3, PM World Journal, Vol. XV, Issue III, March. Available online at https://pmworldjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/pmwj162-Mar2026-Nieto-Rodriguez-From-Operations-Led-to-Project-Led-series-3.pdf
About the Author
Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez
Madrid, Spain
Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez, PMI Fellow, is one of the world’s leading experts in Project Management and Strategy Implementation. He is the author of the “Harvard Business Review Project Management Handbook ” (HBR 2021) and is the most published author on project management matters in Harvard Business Review. His upcoming book, Powered by Projects: Leading Your Organization in the Transformation Age, will be published by Harvard Business Review Press in early 2026.
Antonio has brought Project Management to the center of executive leadership, positioning it as a critical capability for transformation in the next decade. He is the creator of influential concepts such as the Project Economy®, the Hierarchy of Purpose®, and the Project‑Driven Organization™, which argue that projects have become the operating system of modern organizations—and the language of future careers.
His global impact on management and leadership has been recognized by Thinkers50, where he is the only project management thinker included twice in a row in the ranking of the world’s most influential management thinkers. He is also the recipient of the prestigious Thinkers50 Ideas Into Practice Award and a member of the Marshall Goldsmith 100 Coaches community.
He was the global Chairman of the Project Management Institute in 2016 and has been recognized as a Fellow of PMI for his contribution to the project management profession. He led the creation of the Brightline Initiative, founded Projects & Co, and co-founded the Strategy Implementation Institute.
His work focuses on advising senior leaders on how to prioritize and implement strategic initiatives and lead transformational change.
Antonio is also the author of “Lead Successful Projects” (Penguin, 2019), “The Project Revolution” (LID, 2019). and “The Focused Organization” (Taylor & Francis, 2014), and has contributed to seven other books. A pioneer and leading authority in teaching and coaching senior executives the art and science of strategy execution and project management. Currently visiting professor at Duke CE, Instituto de Empresa, Solvay, Vlerick, Ecole des Ponts, and Skolkovo.
He is a much-in-demand speaker at events worldwide. Antonio has presented at more than 800 conferences around the world, regularly evaluated as the best speaker. European Business Summit, Strategy Leaders Forum, Gartner Summit, TEDx, and EU Cohesion Policy Conference; are some of the events he has delivered inspirational keynotes.
He is former Sustainability Program Director and Head of Global Program Management Office at GlaxoSmithKline Vaccines. Previously he also served as Head of Project Portfolio Management at BNP Paribas Fortis and Head of Post-Merger Integration at Fortis Bank, leading the acquisition of ABN AMBRO, the largest in financial service history. He also worked for ten years at PricewaterhouseCoopers, becoming the global lead practitioner for project and change management.
Born in Madrid, Spain, and educated in Germany, Mexico, Italy, and the United States, Antonio is fluent in five languages. He is an Economist, has an MBA from London Business School and Insead’s IDP. You can follow Antonio through his LinkedIn Newsletter – Lead Projects Successfully. For more information, visit his website at www.antonionietorodriguez.com. He can be reached via email: antonio.nieto.rodriguez@gmail.com
