ANR #37: Thinkers50 Awards – Thank You!

Last Monday I had the pleasure to participate in the Thinkers50 Gala in London, an event that is considered by the Financial Times the “Oscars” of Management and Leadership thinking. I always wondered what it would be like participating at the Oscars and receiving one of the Awards. Well, it happened.

It was an extraordinary gathering, chaired elegantly by the Thinkers50 founders, Stuart Crainer and Des Dearlove, that celebrated the ideas and the minds, nominees, and winners, which will likely shape the space of leadership and management in the immediate future. No other event in the universe gathers, every two years, so many brilliant minds and so much global media attention. For someone that loves being with inspirational people, being part of it was like my first visit to Disneyland in Orlando many years ago 😉

The big winner of the night was Roger Martin, proclaimed the new #1 Management Thinker. Former dean of University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, he is the author of ten books, including award winners “Playing to Win” and “Getting Beyond Better”. Everybody was pleased as he is a phenomenal person that has contributed significantly to bettering the management profession and coached many people along the way.

But there were other stars and friends: Tom Peters, one of the fathers of modern management, who loudly and clearly expressed his anger with the current state of the world. Rita McGrath, on the End of Competitive advantage; Marshall Goldsmith, the world’s number one Coach; Nilofer Merchant, with one of the most astonishing careers I have ever seen; Alexander Osterwalder & Yves Pigneur, creators of the Business Model Generation; Daniel Pink, whose new book is called “When”, title we project managers know very well; Yuri Van Geest, creator of Exponential Organizations, Dan Pontefract, with the Purpose Factor; Peter Fisk, from GeniusWorks ; Subir Chowdhury, the Quality Prophet; Alf Rehn, innovation expert; Ricardo Vargas, managing director of Brightline’ Erin Meyer; Herminia Ibarra; Gianpiero Petriglieri; Pankaj Ghemawat; Anil K Gupta & Haiyan Wang; Whitney Johnson, Tammy Erickson; the Corporate Rebels and many others.

The winners of the Thinkers50 Distinguished Awards are:

Talent: Amy C. Edmondson
Ideas into Practice: Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez
Leadership: Sydney Finkelstein
Breakthrough Idea: Susan A. David, Ph.D.
Strategy: Richard D’Aveni
Digital Thinking: Don and Alex Tapscott
Innovation: Scott Anthony
Leadership: Hal Gregersen
Radar: Amy Webb

It was an extraordinary honor to receive the “Ideas into Practice” Award.

In sixteen years of Thinkers50, the topic of project management had never been selected for any of the awards. When I first came across this world-class ranking, three years ago, I set myself the goal that one day, project management, will be recognized by Thinnkers50 as one of the most strategic competencies and management tools in our age.

On that day, I realized once again, that there are few things more enjoyable in life than when a dream becomes a reality.

Thanks again for your support, and even more important, thank you for the work you do to move forward the project management profession. I do sincerely hope that now that the glass ceiling has been broken other project management experts will follow!