Strategy succeeds when leaders go beyond ambition and translate intent into action. Doing so requires great skill in building a bridge from thinking to doing, that’s where project management lives.
In my conversation with Emad Aziz, we explored what happens in strategy execution space and the gap between vision and delivery.
Emad spent his career operating in that space. From leading transformation initiatives and building PMO capability, to launching a global consulting firm and helping grow the project management profession across regions, his work has always focused on one question:
Who makes strategy real when the system itself is under strain?
We talked about the limits of methodologies, the patience required to build execution capability, and the role project managers play as integrators rather than enforcers.
This episode is for anyone who has ever been asked to “just make it happen” without clear answers, or perfect conditions.
Because that’s where the magic makers live.
“I Made That Happen”
Emad’s entry into project management wasn’t accidental. He chose to migrate early in his career into project management because he was drawn to the part that doesn’t fit into job descriptions:
making things happen.
Not the clichés. The reality.
The inner satisfaction of pointing at a building, a system, a product and saying: I was the catalyst. I put the elements together.
The PMO Myth: “Fast Results”
From there, the conversation moved into PMOs and why so many executives become impatient with them. Emad didn’t deny the impatience, he explained it.
Many leaders treat a strategic PMO (or “strategy execution office”) like a switch you flip:
Stand it up, and results will show up in a few months.
But the truth is harsher:
A PMO is a marathon, not a sprint.
It can take years before you see material results because you’re not installing software, you’re building capability.
That’s not a comfortable message, ot’s a necessary one.
Malta, Volunteering, and the “Disneyland” Moment
One of my favorite arcs in the episode was about community. Emad talked about attending his first PMI Global Congress in Malta in 2008 and getting “hooked” on the energy: volunteering, exchange of ideas, global connection.
He described it like watching his 8-year-old at Disneyland. To him it has the same level of excitement, sense of possibility, and future growth.
It didn’t stay as a personal experience, he tried to bring it home.
When he learned PMI had destinations lined up for years, he and his colleagues decided to create a local replica in Egypt: P2P.
* 2008: three exhibitors, 600 attendees, and PMI leadership in the room
* 2009: six ministers under the auspices, 17 speakers flying in, tracks by industry, ~1,200 attendees, ~50 exhibitors
It was not about “event planning,” It was about building professional infrastructure. That’s what it looks like when someone stops consuming a profession and starts investing in it.
Entrepreneurship Wasn’t an Accident
Emad’s entrepreneurship story wasn’t a “follow your passion” cliché either.
He was head of transformation / strategic PMO for a major global bank (at the time, the seventh largest in the world). He learned a lot and then he hit a ceiling, because in many organizations, the PMO is still treated as a support function.
He made a decision mid-year and with no safety net and he launched his firm in 2006. He did so because he believed that the profession isn’t just a job, it’s a vehicle for impact, independence, and leadership.
Agile Didn’t “Fix” Strategy Execution
Emad shared that when it comes to strategy execution, if organizations see Agile as a universal cure, they are not likely position for success. In an organizational context, Agile needs boundaries and clarity. It needs to operate within the context of time, cost, benefit realization, and constraints.
He argued that the world has been moving toward the real answer for a while, a hybrid approach.
He made a prediction that in 10–15 years, “Agile vs Waterfall vs Hybrid” may fade into the background, replaced by a single integrated body of knowledge where we simply choose tools based on context. That’s honestly what good PMs have always done anyway.
Our job isn’t to be stuck on a method, it’s to pick, adapt, and integrate, and ultimately deliver outcomes.
A Lifetime Commitment
The episode closes where it should: not on tactics, but on character.
Emad called project management a “lifetime commitment.” You keep learning, giving back, and contributing.
If you’re looking for an easy, laid back place, Project Management isn’t it. But if you want a career that pushes you beyond your limits and connects you globally even when you work locally… “this is the place to be.”
Final Thought
When execution is messy organizations don’t get saved by frameworks, they get saved by people who can hold tension:
* between delivery and transformation
* between structure and agility
* between ambition and constraint
* between local context and global standards
That where magic and professional judgement come together.
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