E27 Judy Umlas from IIL and Jason Kwolek from meltmedia
In this episode of Project Management Office Hours, Joe Pusz, PMO Joe, talks with guests Judy Umlas from IIL and Jason Kwolek from meltmedia. The show takes a deep dive into the topic of Grateful Leadership and Project Management in a leading digital agency.
We learn from Judy the story behind her book, “Grateful Leadership, Using the Power of Acknowledgment” and the start of her career as an author, speaker and leader of the Center of Grateful Leadership. Judy walks us through several stories of the impact of acknowledgment and the travels that ensued sharing this message across the globe. Listen to hear Judy discuss the emotions with acknowledgment, vulnerability and the immediate impact one can experience when giving the gift of acknowledgment.
Like many leaders, Jason shares his story to Project Management leadership as an Accidental Project Manager working his way up the career ladder leading to his current role. Jason shares the important elements clients should consider when selecting a digital partner. We also hear how meltmedia holds many of the beliefs expressed within Judy’s book including communication from the Executive level of the organization. Listen in to get this behind the scenes access to how a leading digital agency operates and ways to ensure you are optimizing your benefits with your digital partners.
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Judith W. Umlas is Sr. Vice President, author and trainer at International Institute for Learning, Inc. (IIL), a global corporate training company. She is the publisher of IIL Publishing, New York. She is also the author of the ground-breaking book, The Power of Acknowledgment ©2006, IIL Publishing, New York, which has been credited with changing workplaces and lives by making use of the 7 Principles of Acknowledgment she 
developed. Her book on Grateful Leadership, Using the Power of Acknowledgment to Engage All Your People and Achieve Superior Results was published by McGraw-Hill Professional in association with IIL in early 2013 and You’re Totally Awesome! The Power of Acknowledgment for Kids was published in late 2013 by IIL Publishing.
Judith delivers inspiring, motivational and transformational keynote addresses on Grateful Leadership and The Power of Acknowledgment all over the world. She also leads webinars and teaches full day virtual and traditional courses to organizations such as Volvo, the U.S. Army, Prudential, JMP Engineering, the World Bank, Fannie Mae, IBM, AT&T, Google, Amway, the New York Police Department and many others. She has trained over 50,000 people through her leading edge, highly interactive and engaging courses and keynotes – with outstanding and longlasting results.
In 2016 she founded the Center for Grateful Leadership whose members from around the world are committed to practicing and implementing the Grateful Leadership initiative in their organizations. Grateful Leadership and The Power of Acknowledgment are Judith’s passion, mission and purpose!
Connect with Judith on LinkedIn and follow Grateful Leadership on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
meltmedia is a digital transformation partner specializing in pharmaceutical, biotech & life sciences marketing. They help you orchestrate a better customer journey through websites, apps, and other digital touch points.
The company was founded in 2000, and has no outside debt/equity. All employees are “in house” (They do not outsource) and operate with over 50% female staff. meltmedia employs expert UX and Visual Designers, has a dedicated Quality Assurance team, and has developers with the deep and diverse skill sets essential for problem solving.
Starting as an interactive developer over a decade ago, Jason Kwolek now operates as a key executive at Phoenix’s highest rated web design and mobile application development firm in the Phoenix area (#1 web design rm, #1 mobile application developer, #4 interactive marketing rm, #4 software rm, and #12 best small places to work in the Phoenix Business Journal’s 2018 Book of Lists, the leading business ranking directory in Arizona).
Over the course of his career, he has accumulated a wealth of project management, leadership, and operational experience in the internet and software industries. From highly regulated verticals such as healthcare or government, to more leisurely professions like entertainment and hospitality, he’s worked with a large spectrum of varying personality types, cultures and environments.
Jason has successfully managed projects for clients such as Disney, The Weather Channel, Tyson Foods, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Genentech, The Queensland State Government (Australia), and many more. He enjoy’s traveling the globe whether it’s for business or pleasure, and takes each of those experiences as an opportunity to grow both personally and professionally.
Connect with Jason on LinkedIn and follow meltmedia on Facebook and Twitter.
ABOUT PROJECT MANAGEMENT OFFICE HOURS SERIES
Project Management Office Hours is intended to provide Project Management professionals a place to drop in and discuss Success Stories, Best Practices, and Lessons Learned. Project Management Consultant Joy Gumz has shared with us, “Operations keep the lights on, strategy provides the light at the end of the tunnel, but project management is the train engine that moves the organization forward.”
Each of us has a unique story to tell, but collectively we share a message that organizations who embrace Project Management Best Practices perform better than those which don’t. Organizations which align Projects to Strategy perform better. Organizations with Engage Executive Sponsors deliver better results. Organizations which measure Project Management performance outperform those which don’t.
During our Project Management Office Hours, we hear directly from Industry leaders how to make an impact in our profession. How we, collectively, will Advance Project Management Best Practices, One Listener at a time!
Project Management Office Hours is powered by The PMO SQUAD
ABOUT YOUR HOST
Joe Pusz started THE PMO SQUAD to bring real world PMO Leadership experience to the consulting space and to advocate for Project Management through his blog PMOJOE.com. The old saying is “Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.” Following this mindset Joe left Corporate America in 2013 to start THE PMO SQUAD and work with fellow Natural Born Project Managers to advance Project Management Best Practices.
THE PMO SQUAD focuses exclusively on PMO and Project Management consulting. Corporate America is full of Accidental Project Managers running projects who haven’t been trained to be PMs. To help solve this problem THE PMO SQUAD is on the Leading Edge with PMO As a Service. PMO As a Service allows our clients to focus on their respective core competencies while THE PMO SQUAD delivers Project Management expertise. Contact Joe at 678-591-7868. Follow The PMO Squad on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.
