Bringing Order to Chaos

Bringing Order to Chaos

Brian Morin [https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianmorin/] is the kind of transformation leader who can step into complexity, see what needs to be adjusted or refined, and bring order to chaos so the business can keep thriving. In this episode, he shares the leadership superpowers behind that work, from building trust and listening through resistance to helping teams focus on outcomes, deliver value, and move strategic initiatives forward. Brian talks with Trina Schaetz and Mathew Sparkes about how he naturally fell into project management, what he learned from leading large transformation work, and why the people side of change is usually the thing that makes or breaks the process. In this episode 00:00 – Meet Brian Morin, a transformation leader who brings order to chaos 01:00 – How Brian naturally fell into project management through process improvement 04:40 – The shift from telling teams what to do to helping them understand what needs to be achieved 06:00 – Why even a perfect process will not work if people are not brought along 09:15 – Building the kind of trust that lets leaders support teams and still hold them accountable 11:30 – Standing up a compliance PMO during a time of high regulatory scrutiny 14:00 – Creating focus when priorities, findings, technology work, and resources are all competing 16:10 – Why transformation leaders need to see both the high-level picture and the close-up details 18:05 – Helping technology teams connect the work in front of them to the bigger strategic outcome 19:25 – A real example of helping a product team focus on the work that would make the biggest impact 22:00 – How trust makes it possible to challenge priorities without taking ownership away from the team 26:25 – Brian’s superpower: spending time with people, listening, and asking better questions 28:10 – Why owning mistakes and being transparent can build more trust than pretending to have it all figured out 29:30 – Leading Agile transformation in a way that helped teams deliver value faster and more predictably 32:15 – Staying level-headed when everyone is working hard, but the work still feels chaotic 34:45 – The framework Brian uses to look at outcomes, decision rights, priorities, trade-offs, risks, and visibility 36:15 – What resistance can tell you if you stop long enough to listen 38:10 – Bringing momentum to change Project Insight Website [https://projectinsight.com/?c=20250101-podcast] Watch Video Podcast [https://projectinsight.com/wearyourcapetowork] Subscribe to Wear Your Cape to Work Podcast on: YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@ProjectInsightPMSW/podcasts] Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/5WMdTjiTDDDOJzSQqhUwi8] Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wear-your-cape-to-work/id1783821226] RSS [https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2419669.rss]

The Power of Genuine Connection

Karla Mae Eidem [https://www.linkedin.com/in/karla-eidem-pmp/], Global Head of Transformation and Project Delivery at Project Management Institute, joins Trina and Mathew to talk about the experiences that shaped the way she leads projects. Her career has taken her across countries, cultures, industries, and unfamiliar roles, where she learned to read between the lines, understand different perspectives, and find common ground with the people around her. Her superpower, genuine connection, is at the heart of the conversation. Karla shares why project leaders need to understand not only the work, but also the business, the team dynamics, and the people responsible for making decisions. Those relationships take time to build, but they create the trust project leaders need to influence others, work through roadblocks, align teams with strategy, and earn a place at the decision table. Show Notes 00:16 Meet Karla Eidem, Global Head of Transformation and Project Delivery at PMI 01:21 What is the Project Management Institute? 03:19 What is the difference between a PMO, TMO, and EPMO? 06:40 How Karla began her career in project management 08:33 How PMI chapters help project professionals build community 10:00 Growing leadership skills through PMI volunteer roles 13:26 How Karla moved from PMI volunteer to PMI employee 16:34 The people skills that shaped Karla’s project leadership career 18:08 Why genuine connection is a project leadership superpower 20:00 How courage, problem-solving, and curiosity help project leaders grow 22:00 How PMOs can create more value for the business 24:10 Why PMOs must navigate complexity, not just document it 24:27 How PMOs move from support function to decision partner 25:05 Why becoming a trusted decision partner takes courage 27:56 What is the PMI Talent Triangle? 28:20 Why business acumen matters for project managers 30:57 How project leaders translate between teams and business functions 32:00 Leading projects across cultures and languages 34:13 How to connect with stakeholders who have different personalities 34:35 Why stakeholder trust begins with genuine connection 36:43 How project leaders keep learning as their responsibilities grow 36:53 How to adapt to a new leadership role without losing authenticity 38:00 What is PMI’s MORE framework? 39:35 How the role of the project professional is changing Project Insight Website [https://projectinsight.com/?c=20250101-podcast] Watch Video Podcast [https://projectinsight.com/wearyourcapetowork] Subscribe to Wear Your Cape to Work Podcast on: YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@ProjectInsightPMSW/podcasts] Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/5WMdTjiTDDDOJzSQqhUwi8] Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wear-your-cape-to-work/id1783821226] RSS [https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2419669.rss]

Leading with Your Strengths

In this special live episode of Wear Your Cape to Work, recorded at the PMI Orange County Chapter [https://pmi-oc.org/] in Anaheim, California, Trina Schaetz talks with Marjan Khan, [https://www.linkedin.com/in/marjan-khan/] HR Project Manager at Mazda North America Operations, and Tamas Vejsz [https://www.linkedin.com/in/tamasvejsz24391/], Senior Project and Program Leader at CTC Global.  Marjan and Tamas share how they discovered their leadership strengths, how those strengths were shaped by their career paths and life experiences, and why strong leaders do not have to be good at everything. The conversation explores structure, communication, consensus-building, career pivots, asking for help, and building the kind of network that helps cover blind spots.  01:15 Leading from authentic strengths, not an impossible ideal 01:32 Marjan’s nonlinear path into project management 02:22 Tamas’s path from engineering to project leadership 04:01 Recognizing the strengths people consistently come to you for 04:17 Marjan’s strength: bringing structure and clarity 04:42 How Marjan’s communication strength was shaped early in life 05:43 Tamas on leading technical teams through relationships and consensus 06:30 Your strengths may shift depending on the role or season 06:58 Tamas on honing strengths over the course of a career 08:06 Strong leaders know who helps them think better 08:20 The people who see your capability before you do 09:23 Mentors who help you grow through blind spots 10:07 Why trust matters when someone gives you hard feedback 10:25 Asking for help without treating it like weakness 11:24 Start small, learn, and grow from the support you receive 11:44 Marjan on building a project management network inside Mazda 13:00 Networking starts with people already close to you 14:10 Marjan on being brave enough to reach out 15:08 Different strengths, same strong leadership 15:42 Get brave, go out there, and build your network  Project Insight Website [https://projectinsight.com/?c=20250101-podcast] Watch Video Podcast [https://projectinsight.com/wearyourcapetowork] Subscribe to Wear Your Cape to Work Podcast on: YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@ProjectInsightPMSW/podcasts] Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/5WMdTjiTDDDOJzSQqhUwi8] Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wear-your-cape-to-work/id1783821226] RSS [https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2419669.rss]

The Power of Decisive Leadership

In this episode of Wear Your Cape to Work, Trina Schaetz and Mathew Sparkes talk with Misty Boyd, Senior Director of ePMO at LION, about the power of decisive leadership in project management. Misty shares how directness, action, and outcome-focused thinking can help PMO leaders move work forward, support executive decision-making, and keep project teams aligned to business strategy. This conversation explores what it means to be a decisive project leader without becoming overly command-and-control. Misty talks about learning to balance directness with communication, how PMO leaders can translate project realities into business impact, and why the best decisions often come from clear data, trusted relationships, and a shared understanding of priorities. In This Episode • How decisive leadership helps project teams move forward  • Why directness can be both a strength and a blind spot  • How PMO leaders support executive decision-making  • Why project work must connect to business value and strategy  • How to communicate tradeoffs, priorities, and project realities clearly  • What leaders rely on from the PMO when decisions need to be made  • How decisive people keep going when new information changes the plan  00:00 Meet Misty Boyd  02:05 From Trade Shows to Software Projects  03:00 Leading the ePMO at LION  05:20 Supporting the People Who Support First Responders  08:00 Learning to Lead in the Gray  11:10 Misty’s Superpower: Decisive Leadership  14:00 When Directness Becomes a Blind Spot  16:00 Untangling Years of Customization  19:15 Avoiding Analysis Paralysis  21:00 Balancing Speed, Buy-In, and Risk  22:15 Why Decisive Leadership Is Attractive  23:15 Helping Executives See Priorities Clearly  25:00 Connecting Project Work to Business Impact  27:10 Communicating Differently With Different Leaders  28:10 Showing Tradeoffs Before Decisions Are Made  31:15 When the Plan Changes  33:00 Picking the Work Back Up  34:15 Where Misty’s Leadership Strength Started  36:00 Final Thoughts on Decisive Leadership  This episode is especially helpful for project managers, PMO leaders, program directors, and operations leaders who want to lead with clarity, communicate value to executives, and make better decisions across complex project work. About Project Insight Project Insight is project and portfolio management software for growing companies that need better visibility across projects, resources, budgets, priorities, and work happening in multiple tools. Project Insight helps PMOs and project leaders centralize project data, reduce manual reporting, and give executives a clearer picture of organizational work. Project Insight Website [https://projectinsight.com/?c=20250101-podcast] Watch Video Podcast [https://projectinsight.com/wearyourcapetowork] Subscribe to Wear Your Cape to Work Podcast on: YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@ProjectInsightPMSW/podcasts] Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/5WMdTjiTDDDOJzSQqhUwi8] Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wear-your-cape-to-work/id1783821226] RSS [https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2419669.rss]

The Curious Yes

In this episode of Wear Your Cape to Work, Trina Schaetz talks with Ashley Simmons, VP of PMO at Summit Seven [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashlee-simmons-mba-pmp-92726249/], about PMO leadership, stakeholder management, organizational strategy, and leading change with curiosity. Trina first heard Ashley speak on a panel at PMO UnCon in San Diego [https://pmoga.pmi.org/pmouncon] in spring 2026, where Ashley’s talent for stakeholder management, organizational strategy, and change stood out right away. In “The Curious Yes,” Ashley shares how she developed that strength across her career, from project specialist to PMO executive, and how some of the mindset behind it started even earlier, back when she was playing national team soccer. This conversation is especially valuable for project managers, PMO leaders, and business leaders who want to build trust, support executive decision-making, and drive business value. Topics include: * PMO value  * Stakeholder management  * Executive decision-making  * Business acumen  * Curiosity in leadership  * Project manager career growth  * Mentorship  * The power of a “curious yes” Watch the video version here  [https://youtu.be/gJYPm2YcAl8] Project Insight Website [https://projectinsight.com/?c=20250101-podcast] Watch Video Podcast [https://projectinsight.com/wearyourcapetowork] Subscribe to Wear Your Cape to Work Podcast on: YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@ProjectInsightPMSW/podcasts] Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/5WMdTjiTDDDOJzSQqhUwi8] Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wear-your-cape-to-work/id1783821226] RSS [https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2419669.rss]