You Lead People, You Manage Things, But You Can't Manage Time

The Canadian West Coast Chapter of the PMI (CWCC-PMI) organizes monthly events which have seen a steady increase in participation throughout the last few years. Last January we invited Greg Campeau to give a talk on Time Management for Project Managers. Greg specializes in teaching leadership principles that govern both personal and organizational effectiveness. He spent 15 years working for Cadbury and became a prominent senior manager. In 1991 he quit a comfortable corporate career to launch Campeau Learning. Greg has since been studying, reading and educating people around him with a rare passion.

It was a real honor for our chapter to receive Greg for the second time in two years. Our members were looking forward to his talk, a fact revealed by the impressive turnout, the highest since our inception in 1979, with 203 people in total. The luxury of the venue, the Four Seasons in downtown Vancouver, and of the meal set the stage for a great evening and contributed to our high expectations. Greg did not disappoint as he entertained, educated and encouraged all of us to reflect more.

Greg used provocative statements such has “there is no such a thing as time management” and “you are going up the ladder, but your ladder is against the wrong wall.” I’m sure these statements resonate with you as much as they did with us as we live this hectic, demanding, fast paced environment that is professional Project Management.

Greg included a mix of ancient Greek philosophy, statistics, psychology and modern thinkers’ research in his talk in order to inspire and educate. He struck an excellent balance between the theory behind the general principles and practical advice that audience members could use in their careers. Greg was a great help in encouraging us to focus on important tasks and in giving creative and clever advice on how to increase our efficiency and effectiveness.

At the end of the evening, positive comments and feedback flowed from our members as they expressed their appreciation for Greg’s talk. We are always happy to put informative events together for our members to enjoy. We try to have at least one event a month and we invite you to join us. We would also love to hear feedback from you about our past events as well as any ideas for future events.

In the meantime, if you’re thinking about sharpening your axe, networking with other professional Project Managers in Vancouver, and acquiring PDUs at the same time, come and join us on May 18th for our next event on Instilling an Effective Vision Throughout Your Firm.

**Update: Greg will be our Keynote speaker at our Annual Conference in June **

Recommended readings by Greg:

• First Things First by Stephen Covey
• Getting Things Done by David Allen
• Good to Great by Jim Collins
• Any books by Peter Drucker

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