The future of work is changing. Forces of change are affecting the three major dimensions of work: the work itself, who does the work, and where work is done. Delivering projects, requires project managers working globally, across time zones, cultures and with technology. This is causing considerable anxiety—and with good reason. The future of project management, therefore, stands at an important juncture and requires the knowledge of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Emotional Intelligence (EQ) and Cultural Intelligence (CQ). Emotional intelligence skills such as influencing, persuading, social understanding and empathy will become differentiators as artificial intelligence and machine learning take over work. Emotional intelligence (EQ) , with its ability to understand how skilfully one manages personal emotions and harnesses the emotional drivers in others, will continue to be fundamentally important. But in the connected world where all global markets are accessible with the click of a mouse, another dimension will be critical - Cultural Intelligence (CQ). A balance of these three field and/or skills is a must have for all project managers and organisations that deliver value through project management. We need to learn how to work in this new environment and how we can excel. The aim of this presentation is to explain how, AI, EQ and CQ is set to transform project management, and show how project managers can develop these capabilities and be ready for the future.

1. 1
The Trinity Fuelling the Future of Project
Management; Artificial Intelligence, Emotional
Intelligence & Cultural Intelligence
By
Ulohomuno, Eze Afieroho. MBA, PMP.
Infrastructure & Capital Projects | Project Management | Business Advisory

2. At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to understand;
• The future of work
• How Artificial Intelligence, Emotional Intelligence and Cultural
Intelligence are shaping the future of Project management
• And be prepared for the future
2
Learning Objective

3. The Future of Work
• Shaped by automation & globalization
– open talent economy
• with implications for
– individuals
– Businesses
– society.
3
“What’s going on is that work is being disconnected from jobs, and jobs and work are being disconnected
from companies, ……..” Thomas Friedman

4. The Future of Project Management
• Delivering projects now requires project managers
working globally, across time zones, cultures and with
technology.
• This is causing considerable anxiety—and with good
reason
• Subtle yet profound factors such as conflict
management, team spirit, time zone variations and
inter-cultural sensitivity pose a constant challenge.
4
Project management therefore, stands at an important juncture and requires the knowledge of
AI – Artificial Intelligence | EQ- Emotional Intelligence | CQ – Cultural Intelligence
• Like many other professions, project management will not be immune to the impacts of AI.

5. The Trinity – Artificial Intelligence
5

6. What is Artificial Intelligence (AI)
• You’ve already heard the word AI; It drives, it cooks, it tags you in photos,
• Artificial intelligence (AI) is the ability of a machine or a computer program to think, learn
and act intelligently like human- fueled by
– Connection of all things – everything is a connected device producing data
– Data – structured and unstructured are unified
– Rise in computing power – Machine learning, deep learning
• AI a reality now; turning data into valuable insights and creating tremendous
opportunities
6
According Gartner
• 80 percent of tasks involved in project management will be eliminated by 2030
• Companies, where project managers have adopted AI have observed
a. performance increase of up to 20%.
b. Their revenues have seen a boost of 4%,
c. and their losses have been significantly mitigated by 35%.

7. More accurate planning with AI enabled process automation – time,
budget etc
01
AI is capable of analyzing large amounts of data, predicting possible
challenges, and suggesting optimal solutions- risk management
02
Effective resource management – find, deploy and redistribute
resources
03
AI Virtual Assistants that will do routine works- recommend what’s
next, alert to vital events, automate time scheduling, and reply to e-
mails, leaving us free to be more strategic
04
Artificial intelligence is still a new technology; however, it
has already proven to be quite useful for project managers.
How AI could revolutionize project management
The bottom line is: be excited about AI in project management, be open to it, and do not fear it.

8. Some AI-enabled Project Management Tools
8
It learns from project history and creates a regression
model to provide future estimates of budget and task
duration.
Knightspear, an IT project management tool, introduced a
virtual assistant – a chatbot – Isabella to help project
managers in decision making and problem solving. She
reminds you of overdue tasks, upcoming critical events,
unconcluded conversations.
enables organizations to plan and allocate resources more
effectively, as well as improve everyday work collaboration
Lili detects incoherence and early signs of delay across the
project portfolio. It helps prioritize to-do lists to reduce wait
time. It e-mails you weekly progress reports. It notifies you
of priority shifts.

9. The Trinity – Emotional Intelligence (EQ)
9

10. Moving From Fear To Flourishing- AI + EQ
10
• “Those that want to stay relevant in their professions will need to focus on skills
and capabilities that artificial intelligence has trouble replicating — understanding,
motivating, and interacting with human beings.”
• “[A] smart machine may be able to diagnose complex business problems and
recommend actions to improve an organization. A human being, however, is still
best suited to jobs like spurring the leadership team to action, avoiding political
hot buttons, and identifying savvy individuals to lead change.”
• Tay – an AI chatter bot, release by Microsoft in 2016 and shutdown within 16hours
for racist and offensive tweets
• Zo - She’s as binary as the code that runs her—nothing but a series of overly
cautious 1s and 0s.
We need embrace the new reality and double down in our efforts to develop a critical “superpower”—
emotional intelligence (EQ or EI).

11. What is Emotional Intelligence (EQ)
11
• Like it or not, project managers need to
• manage the mood of their organizations,
• read and regulate their own emotions
• Intuitively grasp how others feel and
• gauge their organization’s emotional state
Emotional Intelligence is our depth of self-awareness, our ability to manage our own emotions, and our
internal capacity to intuitively navigate diverse social environments.
The necessary foundation for superior leadership performance – understanding, motivating and interacting with
human & Machine

12. Emotional Intelligence – Five Dimensions
12
1. Self-awareness
Self-awareness is the ability to accurately
recognise your: emotions, strengths,
limitations, actions and understand how
these affect others around you.
2. Self-regulation
Self-regulation allows you to wisely manage
your emotions and impulses - you show or
restrain certain emotions depending on
what is necessary and beneficial for the
situation.
3. Empathy
To be empathetic means you are able to
identify and understand others' emotions i.e.
imagining yourself in someone else's
position.
4. Motivation
Being self-motivated consists of: enjoying
what you do, working towards achieving
your goals and not being motivated by
money or status.
5. Social skills
Effective social skills consist of managing
relationships in a way that benefits the
organisation.
"The ability to control my emotions and actions sets me apart from other men." -- Navy SEAL Creed

13. The Trinity – Cultural Intelligence (EQ)
13

14. Together the possibilities are exponential- AI+EQ+CQ
14
Emotional intelligence (EQ) , with its ability to understand how skilfully one manages personal emotions
and harnesses the emotional drivers in others, will continue to be fundamentally important. But in the
connected world where all global markets are accessible with the click of a mouse, another dimension
will be critical - Cultural Intelligence (CQ).
With barriers broken by globalisation and technology, the reality is more tidal with currents of commonality, distinction and
dissonance flowing unpredictably.
The secret of innovation is that it comes best from well-led discord. The enemy is 'group-think’
Cultural Intelligence: CQ: The Competitive Edge for Leaders Crossing Borders By Julia Middleton
Emotions vary tremendously across cultures — both in terms of their expression and their meaning.
Without a detailed understanding of these emotional landscapes, crossing cultures can become a
communication minefield
While EQ involves looking inward, Cultural Intelligence (CQ) is the vision to see the global environment
and interpret both its particulars and patterns quickly and accurately

15. Cultural Intelligence (CQ)
15
• Cultural Intelligence is the ability to cross the divides that exist
between people and thrive in multiple cultures.
• This also extends to the divides that exist between sectors,
organisations, generations and all people who are different from us.
“The capability to function effectively across national, ethnic, and
organizational cultures.”
― David Livermore, Leading with Cultural Intelligence: The New
Secret to Success
• Cultural intelligence is related to emotional intelligence, but it goes a
step further.
A cross
cultural
environment
relational
dynamics
body
language
customsexpectations
power
structures

16. Cultural Intelligence (CQ)- Capabilities
16
• High CQ leaders see heterogeneity and difference as
Inspiring, rich, exciting and full of potential.
• They can build collaborative relationships capable of
negotiating differences and solving messy problems.
leading across boundaries through collaboration is crucial to successful project delivery
• They can cross cultural boundaries: between east and
west, and north and south; between faiths and beliefs;
between public, private and voluntary sectors; and
between the generations

17. Readiness for the Future
17

18. Developing capabilities to deliver superior performance
18
Embrace the rise of AI-Take the time to understand the potential of AI and be
honest with yourself as to how AI is likely to supplant some of your existing
functions.- immerse yourself in learning- Udemy, Coursera, etc.
Recognize where you stand in terms of EQ & Invest in EQ Learning
Opportunities -
The simplest way is to change your mental model about what is important in
your role, and begin focusing on how you can better manage, influence, and
relate to others.
- Volunteering, online and offline classes etc
Recognize where you stand in terms of CQ & Invest in CQ Learning
Opportunities – understand your culture, learn new languages, experience
different culture
- Take a language class , travel and experience a new culture

19. How do You Start ?
19
• Where do you go to learn these skills? What courses are the best? – MITx, Edx, Udemy Coursera etc
• There’s no best answer. Everyone’s path will be different. Some people learn better with books, others
learn better through videos.
• What’s more important than how you start is why you start.- Why do you want to learn these skills?
• Start with why because having a why is more important than how..
Having a why means when it gets hard and it will get hard, you’ve got something to turn to.
Something to remind you why you started

20. The Holy Trinity
20
If we could understand AI and its applications, and develop a
higher EQ and CQ we will become project leaders that will
shaped the future in our rapidly changing world.

21. Thank you!
21

22. References
22
• All pictures from www. Unsplash.com
• Livermore, D.A. (2015) Leading with Cultural Intelligence: The Real Secret to Success, 2nd edition.
New York: AMACOM
• Earley, P.C & Mosakowski, E. (2004). Cultural Intelligence. Harvard Business Review, October issue.
Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2004/10/cultural-intelligence

23. About me
23
Eze is an Infrastructure and capital project specialist with over 14 years of experience in optimizing the delivery of major
projects and the use of capital assets and; driving go-to market strategy and execution for capital intensive industries, by
optimizing their portfolios, building the right teams, capabilities, and operating models, and harnessing digital
technologies.
He has deep expertise in PPP, financial modelling, value engineering public private partnership, business case
development, go-to market strategy, operations, asset management, financial modelling, procurement and project
planning.
Additionally, He help start-ups and SMEs cut through the deceptions and complexities of the global economy in order to
develop the “discipline” and structure to launch and grow their businesses and his research interest development of
inclusive and sustainable infrastructure & capital projects that drives economic growth and social impact in emerging
markets and can reach on ezeuloho@yahoo.com