Project Manager should be like Chesley Sullenberger
Posted by: Jaideep Khanduja
Management Skills, project management, project manager, Software Project, team management
Recently a US passenger Airbus had a serious problem just after it took off from the Airport. The plane suddenly lost power in both engines, and pilot Chesley Sullenberger judged that it would be too difficult either to return to the airport of departure or to land at a nearby airport. Instead, he decided to land on the Hudson River, which in the middle of winter was frozen over. With hardly any time to think, Sullenberger drew on all his professional experience and self-confidence and made a snap decision. His decision saved the lives of all 155 people aboard the plane. Sullenberger was the last to leave the plane, and did so only after making sure that everyone else had been rescued. He did everything he had to do right through to the end.
Some learning points can be drawn out for the project manager who is the pilot of a project. The problems and failures can be part of any project, but the project is not dead till the Project Manager raises his/her hands against those problems and failures. A good project manager will never give up till the end and apply all his inherent skills to overcome those problems and failures to make that project a success. The learning points from this incidence can be summarized as below:
Be Proactive
Don’t lose hope
Use your professional experience to overcome any crisis
Keep your self-confidence up always
Be ‘quick’ in taking ‘right’ decisions
Take responsibility to rescue all on board – your teams, your organization, your management, your customer and your product
Let others cheer individually on their successes/targets achieved but your cheer moment is only after the successful end of a project
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