Ok, I agreed to blog about the profession. Yeah, yeah, I know. But, it is hard for me because I can't get the words "making history" out of my mind. You see, yesterday was a remarkable day in the history of the USA. Barack Obama, an African-American, was inaugurated as the 44^th president of the USA. Truthfully, he is a man of mixed race, with a black father from Africa, and a white mother from the USA.  It happened here, in the USA, where it was only 45 years ago this July that the US Civil Rights Act was made law. That law was the catalyst to provide rights and opportunities to all citizens of the USA, regardless of their place of origin, ethnic backgrounds, race.

What is so weird is that this event made me think about my parents. For the record, I am a first generation American. In 1918, both of my parents stepped off of boats onto Ellis Island in New York City harbor, in the USA. They were young children, fresh from a long journey from Northwest Italy, with their parents. Their parents, both sets of which were poor Italian immigrants, believed in a dream of opportunity. Both of my parents ended up citizens of the USA, with meager but very respectable occupations: my mother a dress maker, and my dad a professional musician.

But that isn't the most important thing about them.  Shortly before my mother died, I asked her about her life and what she thought was the most incredible thing she saw in her lifetime. It was an incredible lifetime. She survived the global depression of the 1930s, three wars encompassing combatants from around the world; she saw the development of TV, commercial air travel and nuclear power; she witnessed space travel and the landing of men on the moon; she saw the assassination of leaders in the US and other parts of the world and the creation of the United Nation to address poverty, hunger, genocide, and the protection of children. She had owned her own home, and had her sons attend college. The record of her lifetime was a remarkable database of events to choose from.

However, she told me the thing she cherished most was opportunity for her, her family, and strangely enough, for me that she got from her immigration to the USA. She was awash in it. She and my dad worked their entire lives in environments with people of many nationalities, ethnic backgrounds, and races, and she saw so many have new opportunities. She felt that opportunity was the greatest gift we could have. With me, she knew that my generation in our family was the first to finish high school, attend and graduate university, and she was convinced that if she had stayed in Italy, we would never have had that opportunity.

Yep, opportunity was what she told me was the greatest thing she witnessed in her lifetime. If she was alive today and had watched the inauguration, she would do what she always did when she made her point...slap me in the back of the head and say, "See, I told you so!"  Well, Mom, you were right.

More later.

Today I'm talking with Ricardo Vargas, Chair of the PMI Board of Directors and the manager of an $18 billion portfolio for Sonangol, an oil and gas company in Angola. Ricardo has worked around the world and sees huge opportunity for project managers who are willing to focus on risk management, be flexible and offer creative solutions that promote innovations for their companies. He is convinced that a disciplined approach to project management will emerge as a key driver for change and that executives will begin to identify project management as indispensable for business results.

Click the play button to listen to my discussion with Ricardo.

Today I'm talking with Gene Bounds, Vice Chair of the PMI Board of Directors and a principal with Booz Allen Hamilton. Gene looks through a government lens to recommend that professional project managers can be most successful in today's economic environment by broadening their perspectives and skills in order to prepare for a variety of challenges.

Click the play button to listen to my discussion with Gene.

Today I'm talking with Kathleen Romero, Secretary-Treasurer of the PMI Board of Directors and manager in Capital One's enterprise portfolio office. We'll be discussing opportunities for professional project managers who take the time to sharpen their tools, and be accurate and precise during this economic downturn.

Click the play button to listen to my discussion with Kathleen.