How AI and Human-Centric Practices
Accelerate the Transition
FEATURED PAPER
By Richard Maltzman and Luigi Morsa
USA and Italy
ABSTRACT
This article examines the evolving transition from Project Manager to Project Leader in an environment increasingly shaped by VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity) conditions and by the growing role of modern software solutions empowered by artificial intelligence, which can support this transition and help leaders maintain both their status and their ability to act as true leaders. It argues that effective leadership is essential for delivering complex projects, where every team member must be enabled to perform at their highest potential. The paper emphasizes that “successful project managers are those who combine strong management capabilities with effective leadership skills” and that AI “does not replace leadership; it amplifies it.” Three complementary domains are analyzed — Performance Management Software, Neuroscience/Neuroleadership, and Servant Leadership — showing how each contributes to improved decision‑making, psychological safety, motivation, and therefore team performance. The article further explores how AI‑enabled platforms enhance feedback cycles, support leadership development, and strengthen behavioral insight. The authors conclude that organizations investing in leaders who understand human behavior and leverage AI wisely achieve measurable gains in engagement, innovation, and project success, marking a decisive shift from task coordination to people‑centered leadership.
Keywords: Project Leadership, AI‑enhanced Leadership, Performance Management Software, Neuroleadership, Servant Leadership, Human‑centric Project Management, Team Motivation, Engagement
- Introduction: acknowledging the Power Skills and becoming a Project Leader
In today’s work environment, projects are becoming increasingly challenging due to VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity) conditions. To succeed in VUCA, we may no longer rely solely on traditional project management process groups, such as controlling, monitoring, and scheduling, rather we must create the conditions in which every team member is willing to give their best individual effort and work collaboratively for the benefit of the project – aimed at delivering sustainable value. This is precisely where Project Leadership becomes essential. It is widely recognized that successful project managers are those who combine strong management capabilities with effective leadership skills [1]. Such a project manager is more accurately described as a Project Leader.
Compared with an “ordinary” project manager, the Project Leader places greater emphasis on guiding, motivating, mentoring, and inspiring team members. Project Leaders must therefore possess robust leadership skills and be able to cultivate a positive and productive work environment in which every individual feels part of the team [2], supported by a climate of psychological safety and trust – and that they know the “why” of the project, not just the “what”. It becomes evident that, relative to the traditional project manager, the role of the Project Leader is broader and inevitably more complex, largely due to the dynamics of human behavior — both individual and collective — within diverse national, regional, and functional cultures. Perhaps counterintuitively, the advent of AI makes it even more imperative that we take on the Project Leadership role, with the Project Leader needing to elevate their critical thinking and systems thinking capabilities.
In this paper, a set of tools that can support project managers aspiring to evolve into Project Leaders will be analyzed. More specifically, the discussion will focus on Performance Management Software; furthermore, it will highlight how knowledge of Neuroscience — and consequently Neuroleadership — can enhance team management effectiveness. Finally, we will focus on Servant Leadership, a management style that has recently gained significant prominence and can prove highly effective. For each of these areas, we will show how artificial intelligence (AI), if used properly, can enhance and strengthen the tools available to elevate project managers to Project Leaders.
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How to cite this paper: Maltzman R. and Morsa L., (2026). From Project Manager to Project Leader: How AI and Human-Centric Practices Accelerate the Transition; PM World Journal, Vol. XV, Issue VI, June. Available online at https://pmworldjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/pmwj165-Jun2026-Maltzman-Morsa-From-Project-Manager-to-Project-Leader.pdf
About the Authors
Richard Maltzman
Boston, MA, USA
Richard Maltzman considers himself a ‘pracademic’ – currently (and for the past 10 years or so) Master Lecturer at Boston University, an author, and a consultant, providing clients with deep learning experiences and improved results. Richard “retired” from a 40-year career in telecom, mainly in engineering and project management. At the University level, and in consulting, his focus is always on converting weaknesses into strengths while teaching clients/students how to apply learned skills to everyday situations. In 2010, he co-founded EarthPM, LLC, a company devoted to integrating sustainability thinking into project management. His integration of a holistic, global view of project management has resulted in international consulting and worldwide speaking engagements (Costa Rica, South Africa, Malaysia, China, Mexico, Canada, India, Italy, The Netherlands) in which the focus is the long-term success of projects, with an eye towards ecological and social systems. His blog at PMI’s projectmanagement.com (People, Planet, Profits, and Projects) site has become very popular, and he has also started a podcast, “B’yond PM” on Spotify.
Rich is a co-author of seven books on project leadership, including the recent Great Meetings Build Great Teams, and the upcoming Green PMO, He is a former VP of Professional Development for PMI Mass Bay (the Boston area PMI Chapter), and was on the Review Committee for the 7th Edition PMBOK® Guide, helping to assure that sustainability thinking finally made it into the Standard and the Body of Knowledge. Rich has presented on Sustainability, Project Meetings, Change Management, and PM Competency in Italy, Malaysia, Canada, South Africa, Costa Rica, China, recently keynoting at the PMI Summit Bulgaria in Sofia. Published Works (co-authored): Green Project Management (2011 – Winner of PMI’s Cleland Award for Literature). Project Workflow Management: A Business Process Approach (2014), Driving Project, Program, and Portfolio Success: The Sustainability Wheel (2015), Bridging the PM Competency Gap (2017), How to Facilitate Productive Project Planning Meetings, with Jim Stewart (2018), Great Meetings Build Great Teams, with Jim Stewart (2023).
In 2025, Rich published two co-authored works, AI Powered Leadership, with Vijay Kanabar, Dave Silberman, and Loredana Abramo, and a Kindle workbook called Planning Your Project: A Hands-On Guide to AI Integration, with Vijay Kanabar and Keyur Hindocha. Richard can be contacted at exclaim@bu.edu, https://about.me/richmaltzman and LinkedIn_RM.
Luigi Morsa
Munich Area, Germany
Luigi Morsa is a Team Leader, Project Manager, and Aerospace Engineer who has been working in the aircraft industry in Germany since 2012. He holds a Ph.D. in Space Fluid Dynamics from the University of Naples and was a Visiting Ph.D. student at the University of Michigan (2011). Over the course of his career, he has gained substantial experience in leading teams within highly challenging and demanding environments. His passion for project management has led him to contribute chapters and case studies to several books by Dr. Harold Kerzner, the globally recognized pioneer in the field. These include Project Management Case Studies (Wiley, 2017, 2022), Innovation Project Management (Wiley, 2019, 2023), and Global Project Management (Wiley, 2026).
Together with Richard Maltzman, PMP and Master Lecturer at Boston University Metropolitan College, Luigi co-authored the chapter 10 Lessons Learnt from Irresponsibility in Project Management for the De Gruyter Handbook of Responsible Project Management (De Gruyter, 2023). In April and June 2023, Luigi delivered online lectures on the “Boeing 737-Max Case Study” for the courses Portfolio and Program Management and Project Value Strategies at Boston University. In 2018, Luigi was a speaker at the Project Management Institute EMEA Congress in Berlin, where he discussed the complexity of the aircraft industry market, with particular emphasis on aligning product development with customer needs. He also presented at the 18th Annual Project Management in Practice Conference in Boston (2024), showcasing the latest advancements in artificial intelligence software for project and innovation management.
In November 2024, he spoke alongside Richard Maltzman at the International Project Management Day hosted by International Institute for Learning (IIL), delivering a talk titled Human-AI Synergy in Practice: From Traditional to Innovation Project Management.
Since 2019, Luigi has been a regular contributor to the IIL Blog, publishing articles on topics such as employee engagement, innovation, team management, risk management, conflict resolution, Agile methodologies, and artificial intelligence.
Luigi can be contacted at luigi.morsa@outlook.de and LinkedIn_LM.
