The Missing Muscle in Most Transformations
Reimagining Project Management for a New Era
SERIES ARTICLE
By Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez
Madrid, Spain
There is a persistent illusion in modern organizations: that good projects fail because of complexity.
They don’t.
Most strategic initiatives fail for a far more mundane—and uncomfortable—reason. The person who is supposed to own the outcome never truly does.
We call that role the sponsor.
And in most organizations, it is the weakest link in the entire transformation chain.
The Role That Looks Powerful—but Isn’t
On paper, project sponsors hold enormous authority. They are senior. Influential. Accountable for outcomes. Their names sit at the top of governance charts and steering committees.
In reality, their involvement is often intermittent and symbolic.
They attend key meetings. They endorse direction. They ask thoughtful questions. But they rarely make the hard decisions that move the project forward. They hesitate to intervene across silos. They avoid forcing trade-offs that create friction with peers.
So the project continues—but without real backing.
This is not a capability issue. It is a role design failure.
We have defined sponsorship as a position of oversight, not as a discipline of leadership.
The Systemic Consequence: Projects Without Power
In a Project-Driven Organization (PDO), projects are not side activities—they are the primary vehicle through which strategy is executed and value is created. As I argue in my recent Harvard Business Review book, Powered by Projects: Leading Your Organization in the Transformation Age, organizations must be designed around their most important initiatives, not around legacy functions.
But this model only works if projects have real power.
And power, in organizations, comes from sponsorship.
More…
To read entire article, click here
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). Project Sponsorship: The Missing Muscle in Most Transformations; Reimagining Project Management for a New Era, series article , PM World Journal, Vol. XV, Issue IV, April. Available online at https://pmworldjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/pmwj163-Apr2026-Nieto-Rodriguez-project-sponsorship-the-missing-muscle.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
