The Zen PM

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The Zen PM
Tom Nelson   (August 2, 2007)





Zen teachings and practices have a meaningful place in leading projects, according to a project management veteran and long-time practitioner of meditation and yoga. In a new book, George Pitagorsky uses personal and professional experiences to illustrate how Zen can cut through complex issues to arrive at practical solutions. May this interview be enlightening...

Since the 1974 publication of the seminal “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance,” bookstore shelves have been filled with more than 200 similar titles, each advocating that seemingly ordinary tasks such as knitting, archery or tuning up your Harley can evolve into a spiritual experience. So perhaps it was only a matter of time before someone connected the basic concepts of project management to a spiritual journey. And now George Pitagorsky, PMP, has done it, with the recently published “The Zen Approach to Project Management: Working from Your Center to Balance Expectations and Performance.”
 
Pitagorsky, a project management veteran of some 40 years and a long-time practitioner of meditation and yoga, uses his personal and professional experiences to illustrate how Zen — a distinct school of Buddhism that de-emphasizes theoretical knowledge — can cut through complex issues to arrive at practical solutions.
 
And while chapter titles such as “Managing Expectations” and “Quality Performance and People” are what one might expect from a standard project management tome, Pitagorsky connects it all back to a larger journey of self-realization with the help of an eclectic mix of some of history’s most respected thinkers along with a sprinkling of management gurus and pop culture icons.



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