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A Tribute to Louis Tice: What He Contributed to my Thoughts about Project Management

July 15, 2022 by Mel Bost Leave a Comment

‘’Our present thoughts determine our future. So, if you want a better future, begin today. Use the power of your mind. First, see the change, then live it. There is great power in purpose.’’ Louis Tice

Louis Tice is a legend among management gurus Once As the President of The Pacific Institute in Seattle, Louis Tice taught thousands of leaders in all types of industries to visualize their futures and let their minds work to create the future they desired.

He taught three principles in his work:

1. People act in accordance with the truth as they perceive it to be. As individuals, everyone has a different perspective on what they see and experience. They interpret it as ‘’truth’’ and act accordingly.
2. People move toward and become like that which they think about. This principle actually influences personal growth either positively or negatively.
3. It is not necessary to possess all the resources at hand in order to make bold plans and initiate projects. A person’s creative subconscious will act as a fine architect and assemble the resources and plans to create what is visualized.

Throughout the years I have relied on Louis Tice’s principles to lead my project activities. And I have trained many project managers to do the same.

I have seen evidence that his principles work in everyday life. Many times while pondering a solution to a problem, my creative subconscious has given me insights into the solutions.

The principles espoused by Louis Tice have truly impacted my planning and execution of projects.

Finding your purpose in life is fulfilling. It sets the stage for you to become a person who knows where you are headed. In my case, my purpose in life is to use my experiences and insights to share with others. That is one reason I write this blog. The creativity I feel when composing these essays is very fulfilling.

Louis Tice’s teachings have inspired me for over forty years. I hope that many of my readers will be just as inspired to carry forward his teaching into any field of endeavor.

Project managers have every opportunity to create a project outcome that satisfies stakeholders and sponsors. They just have to imagine what the new reality will look like. Their creative subconscious will do the rest.

An illustrative story Lou often told goes as follows. Lou was a high school teacher at one point and he noticed that his children seemed somewhat listless and lethargic as summer vacation approached. When he asked what was the reason, they replied that they would not be seeing their friends over the summer. So in order to cheer them up, he suggested that the family acquire a swimming pool for the backyard and the kids could have pool parties over the summer. That seemed to cheer everyone up.

Later when he had time to reflect on the conversation, it dawned on him that he had agreed to obtain a pool and had no resources to buy it. He thought for several days about his problem and then on Tuesday morning he walked into the school cafeteria still pondering his situation. He saw a school maintenance worker seated alone at a table.

He sat down and said ‘’Say, Joe, do you know where I can get a backyard pool. And I don’t give any resources. Do you have any ideas?’’

Joe thought for a minute and then said ‘’Come with me.”

So on a Tuesday morning at 8:30 AM, Joe and Lou drive to the end of the main runway at the SeaTav Airport. They got out of the car and Lou said ‘’Why are we here?’’ Joe said ‘’Look out there. The SeaTac Airport is lengthening this runway. They had to buy out all those homes. Some of them have backyard pools. I’ll bet you could get one of those for nothing.’’

Filed Under: PMO, PMO Leadership

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About Mel Bost

Mel Bost is a project management consultant specializing in project closeout and lessons learned, as well as process improvement, best practices, and benchmarking. For the past several years, he has been teaching “Project Management for Research” to postgraduate students at Arizona State University, as well as developing new approaches to the research process. Read More

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The NERS department congratulates C. Melvin Bost, Jr., on the publication of his new book.

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