Since my last blog, the United States has a new president: Barack Obama. This was an extraordinary event in our history...in world history. Regardless of your country of origin, or your party of choice in the USA, the fact that a person of mixed race, a black man, was elected to the highest office in the USA, is a turning point in race relations. I am so grateful that it has taken place in my lifetime. The USA is a very young country for a developed nation of such magnitude. And to see it happen...well, I can't explain how I feel.

I was two weeks shy of my 17^th birthday when then US President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law, 99 years after the U.S. Civil War, and more than 100 years after the abolition of slavery. The act was monumental, and it led to massive change. 44 years later, we have Barack Obama as president. Amazing!

But we live in time of change, don't we? It seems that change is all around us all the time. I am amazed that just one year ago, the economies of the world were steaming along at full speed...and today the global economy is downshifting and slowing down. Less than a year ago, the cost of a barrel of oil was over $150, and today it is down to around $50 per barrel. Fear and uncertainty pervades the news.

Leaders of the G20 nations (G8 plus other countries like China, Russia, and Brazil) met in the USA over the weekend to discuss the crisis in the global economy. No big decisions yet, but they at least agreed to focus on the problems in the mortgage arena. I am not sure that anyone really knows what is happening and how to fix it. Frankly, it is always about "value" (paid for something, etc.) and "confidence" (public confidence about stock, their jobs, etc.). Obama will have his hands full when he takes office. Hope may be in the offing due to the historic change in leadership, but the immediate future remains uncertain.

I am starting to read about leading indicators that may lead to a slow down in project management hiring and employment. According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), BMP Billiton, the largest mining company in the world, is showing a dramatic slow down in iron ore mining, due to a slow down in the construction economy (manufacturing of steel) in China. If China slows down in construction, then there is not only an impact in mining, but all of the related supplies in construction. In addition, China is the leading importer in Asia (3^rd largest in the world), and a slowdown would hurt other Asian countries.

Also, that same issue of the WSJ pointed out that the telecommunications industry, particularly those companies producing cellular devices (Nokia, Ericsson, Motorola, RIP, etc.) are scaling back, and they are in for a shakeup. Market analysts are projecting a decline in sales next year for the first time in many years, and it could be as little as 1% or as much as 9%. Jobs are at risk.

However, I have reason to be optimistic. I mentioned in an earlier blog that I was in Richmond, Virginia, USA, recently to attend our Global Corporate Council meeting. I facilitated a session on the economy, asking the 25 or so attendees to share what they were witnessing in their own companies, and those of their clients. Universally, they said money and investments were becoming extremely tight, and that some initiatives and projects were either being slowed or delayed. However, almost all said that their companies would not stop investing in innovation. They would have to in order to remain competitive.

All of this makes me think that project managers have a real role to play in navigating through this. In the early 1990s, during the 2000 dot com bust, and again following September 11, 2001 disaster, PMI grew dramatically, and project management jobs continued to grow in number. There is a shortage globally of experienced project professionals, and this crisis might be our opportunity to become stewards of the limited assets of our organizations. We need to step up to the task, directly, and exercise leadership, to bring about change, stay focused on value, while managing in a very resource-limited environment.

Time to "be the change we want to be," as John Legend said.