Knowledge, Networking and Social Impact!
Interview with Ricardo Naciff
President of PMI France Chapter
The Project Group, Lyon, France
Interviewed by Yasmina Khelifi
International Correspondent, PM World Journal
Paris, France
Introduction to the interviewee
Ricardo has more than 20-year experience designing and implementing Project, Program & Portfolio Management solutions in South America and Europe for a wide range of industries such as Oil & Gas, Chemical, Non-metallic Mining, Automotive and Aeronautics. Today, Ricardo is part of The Project Group team.
In addition, Ricardo teaches Project Management at the IAE International MBA in France and is a staunch evangelizer for PMI on many different levels, serving today as President of PMI France, the largest PMI chapter outside of the US.
Email: ricardonaciff@gmail.com
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/ricardonaciff/
Interview
Q1: First of all, thank you for accepting an interview request from PMWJ. You have been volunteering at Project Management Institute (PMI) for more than 10 years. How did you discover PMI and come up with the idea of volunteering?
Ricardo Naciff (Naciff): The very first time I heard about PMI was in Argentina, in 2004, when I was working as Purchasing Manager for a project-based company working on the Oil & Gas industry. This is an industry with high requirements and having a standard way of framing and tracking project is critical. The company was implementing a global PMO, so PMI entered the discussion as a global reference.
At that point, I began to think about doing an MBA, but the best intermediary step prior an MBA was to hold a PMP certification. I was more likely to run a project than a company.
Q2: What are two things you have learned through volunteering at PMI?
Naciff: I was born in Argentina, where volunteering can sound very strange. Work for free? Why? This is not too smart, isn’t’ it? Well, actually, it depends. Payback is not about money but experience and networking. So, in order to step into the volunteer world, you must first understand the value of experience and networking. Of course, you can gain experience and networking where you work, but PMI proposes an environment beyond the borders of your own company.
One of the things I have learned is “delegation”. I am an engineer (I know, no one is perfect 😊) and as an engineer I like details, I like things done my way. Moving form technical to managerial roles could be tough. When you start managing teams, you need to delegate activities and this fact means that each individual of the team is going to carry out the activities in his own way, with his own level of details, with his own style. It is perfectly normal. So, delegating is accepting that things are going to be done differently from how you would have done them. I had to go through a process to learn that, and I was able to walk that process because PMI proposes a sandbox where volunteers can learn in a secure environment.
Another example is connecting with people. It took me a bit of time to understand the power of networking. Connecting with the right people is maybe the most important thing to do for any professional. Here also PMI proposes a huge critical mass of project manager practitioners around the globe.
PMI is not only the most important project management certification player in the world, but also gives the opportunity to learn by doing thanks its volunteer programs.
Q3: PMI France is among one of the 5 largest chapters in the world. Why did you apply for becoming the President of PMI France Chapter?
More…
To read entire interview, click here
How to cite this work: Khelifi, Y. (2023). Knowledge, Networking and Social Impact! Interview with Ricardo Naciff, PM World Journal, Vol. XII, Issue II, February. Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/pmwj126-Feb2023-Khelifi-Interview-with-Ricardo-Naciff.pdf
About the Interviewer
Yasmina Khelifi
Paris, France
Yasmina Khelifi, PMP, PMI- ACP, PMI-PBA is an experienced project manager in the telecom industry. Along with her 20-year career at Orange S.A. (the large French multinational telecommunications corporation), she sharpened her global leadership skills, delivering projects with major manufacturers and SIM makers. Yasmina strives for building collaborative bridges between people to make international projects successful. She relies on three pillars: project management skills, the languages she speaks, and a passion for sharing knowledge.
She is a PMP certification holder since 2013, a PMI- ACP and PMI-PBA certification holder since 2020. She is an active volunteer member at PMI France and PMI UAE, and a member of PMI Germany Chapter. French-native, she can speak German, English, Spanish, Italian, Japanese and she is learning Arabic. Yasmina loves sharing her knowledge and experiences at work, in her volunteers’ activities at PMI, and in projectmanagement.com as a regular blogger. She is also the host and co-founder of the podcast Global Leaders Talk with Yasmina Khelifi to help people in becoming better international leaders.
Yasmina can be contacted at https://yasminakhelifi.com/ or LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yasminakhelifi-pmp-telecom/
Visit her correspondent profile at https://pmworldlibrary.net/yasmina-khelifi/
