312: Your Next Leader Is Already in the Room with Dawn Mahan

June 15, 2025·45 min·4 clips

What if your PMO wasn't just a hub for projects, but a launchpad for tomorrow's leaders?

This episode explores how PMOs can develop leadership talent from within their existing teams. Host Laura Bernard, a PMO leader with 30 years of experience, revisits the "PMO Grows Leaders" philosophy. She frames the PMO as a strategic launchpad for future leaders rather than just a project hub. The discussion centers on transforming the PMO's role into a deliberate talent incubator. Bernard advocates for empowering individuals at every level of the organization. She shares lessons from her own decades of experience in delivering organizational change and proving a PMO's value. The conversation provides actionable strategies for identifying and nurturing potential leaders already present in the room. Bernard references her book, *The Impact Engine*, as a foundation for these concepts. She promotes the associated Impact Insiders Book Club for applying these ideas. This community offers monthly live sessions, Q&A, and private forums for turning insights into results. A key insight is that leadership development is a core function that can amplify a PMO's strategic impact. The philosophy suggests that growing leaders internally is a direct path to earning a seat at the leadership table. The approach is presented as a solution to common challenges like facing resistance and proving the PMO's broader value. Empowering team members is framed as a method to fuel long-term organizational success beyond project delivery. The episode positions the PMO leader as a coach who unlocks potential in others. Bernard implies that the next generation of leaders is an underutilized asset already within many PMO structures. The tone is motivational, educational, and directly supportive of the audience's career aspirations. The style is conversational and based on the host's personal experience and coaching methodology. Project management office leaders and transformation leads seeking to elevate their team's strategic role would find this episode valuable. Listeners looking for purely technical project management frameworks or critical debate on PMO models might prefer other content.

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