Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/IZ-hyxE6v3Q
The project driven organization is Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez’s answer to a world where agile is no longer enough. In this episode of The Innovation Show, the creator of the project economy concept and author of Powered by Projects joins Aidan McCullen to explain why projects have become the primary engine of value creation — and why every organisation is now project-driven, whether it behaves like one or not.
Antonio’s mission has always been to simplify a subject the textbooks made technical. Certifications teach people to build bridges and nuclear plants, but that’s not why most of us run projects today. We run them to transform, and Antonio’s more motivational definition captures why that matters: your projects are your future. Every project, big or small, is a building block of the future you’re creating — as an individual, a family, a business or a country.
Why perfect plans still fail
Two opening case studies in the book show what planning alone cannot fix. EY’s Project Everest — the attempt to split its consulting and audit arms — had a well-defined plan. However, the execution failed because of culture: people fought for their turf, and when there’s no collaboration at the top, nothing works at the bottom. Nike’s digital transformation had the opposite problem. The culture work was done, but the structure and governance never shifted power to the teams — proof that companies built for fifty years ago struggle to share resources today.
That’s why Antonio watches Bayer with interest, where CEO Bill Anderson is dismantling hierarchies and approval steps to work more like a team. Not everything needs restructuring, Antonio notes — parts of the business can run as they have for a century — but the transformation side must operate differently.
From agile to the project driven organization
One of the most important tables in Powered by Projects traces the evolution: operations-driven organisations focused on efficiency, stability and control; agile added speed and flexibility at team level, but nothing changed at the top. The project driven organization (PDO) puts enterprise-wide transformation at the core: the best people work on projects full-time, resources flow dynamically, and value comes from strategic execution and innovation at scale rather than cost optimisation alone.
AI accelerates the shift. Antonio believes AI and robots will run most operations — not just finance and logistics, but sales and marketing too. He shows sceptical executives a video of a robot hairdressing. His warning is blunt: if you’re doing the same job every day with the same people, that job will go. The question is what skills you build alongside AI to find your new space.
Launch less, finish more
Antonio asks leadership teams how often they launch new initiatives — usually every few weeks. Then he asks when they last finished or killed one, and the room goes quiet. His rule is simple: if you launch more projects than you finish, you’re a bad leader. A good leader says no often, names the top three priorities, and removes blockers. Before launching anything new, decide which two or three projects you’ll finish first.
The discipline extends to killing projects. Like Toyota’s assembly line, where anyone can stop the line, Haier lets people stop projects early and often. Set kill criteria before you start, limit project timeframes, and accelerate closure once the decision is clear. And remember Antonio’s most quotable rule: 90% done is done — finishing early is finishing.
Are you crazy? Good.
Risk aversion fills portfolios with 10% improvements when the future belongs to 10X bets. Antonio calls these “are you crazy?” projects, because that reaction is the best compliment an idea can get. One insurance company ring-fenced €50 million for crazy ideas — and employees asked for only €2 million, because they were afraid. A major bank had the idea behind Revolut before Revolut existed, then killed it in the budgeting cycle. By contrast, IKEA empowered its shops to generate sustainability ideas from the bottom up, and some scaled into global changes.
None of it works without transparency. Alan Mulally arrived at Ford to find every KPI green while the company lost billions. In a PDO, town halls start with what’s not working and leaders ask for help — because projects are made by people, and people follow leaders they trust.
About the guest — Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez
Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez is the creator of the project economy concept and the author of Powered by Projects: Leading Your Organization in the Transformation Age and the Harvard Business Review Project Management Handbook. A Thinkers50-ranked thinker on modern management and a visiting professor at leading business schools, he works with organisations worldwide on transformation and project leadership. Find him at antonionietorodriguez.com or on LinkedIn.
About the host — Aidan McCullen
Aidan McCullen is the host of The Innovation Show, a Thinkers50-recognised podcast, the 2025 Thinkers50 Innovation Award recipient, and the author of Undisruptable: A Mindset of Permanent Reinvention (Wiley). A former professional rugby player turned change and innovation specialist, Aidan works as a keynote speaker on AI, disruption, innovation and change for organisations in Ireland and worldwide, and runs workshops that help leadership teams reinvent before they have to. Connect with him on LinkedIn or at theinnovationshow.io.
About The Innovation Show
The Innovation Show is the Thinkers50-recognised podcast where square pegs find their place in a world of round holes. Each week, Aidan McCullen hosts world-class authors, scientists and practitioners on disruption, innovation, change, transformation, leadership and creativity. This series is brought to you by Kyndryl, who run and reimagine the technology systems that drive advantage for the world’s leading businesses — learn more at kyndryl.com. Subscribe to the Thursday Thought on Substack for a chance to win a copy of Powered by Projects, with thanks to Kyndryl.
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Frequently asked questions
What is a project driven organization (PDO)?
A project driven organization is Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez’s model for a company rearchitected around dynamic, empowered, cross-functional project teams. Projects sit at the core of how the company is structured, led and rewarded, with the best people dedicated full-time to transformation, decisions decentralised to teams, and value created through strategic execution and innovation at scale.
What is the project economy?
The project economy is Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez’s term for a world in which projects, not operations, have become the primary engine of value creation. In the project economy, everyone is a project manager regardless of role or title, and every organisation is project-driven — most just don’t behave like one yet.
Why is agile no longer enough?
Agile introduced speed and flexibility at team level, but nothing changed at the top of organisations — which is why transformations kept failing even in agile companies. The project driven organization is the next evolution: it changes structure, governance, leadership and culture across the whole enterprise, not just how individual teams work.
What are “are you crazy” projects?
“Are you crazy?” projects are the bold, exponential bets — 10X rather than 10% improvements — that determine an organisation’s future. Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez argues that hearing “are you crazy?” is the best compliment an idea can receive, and that risk-averse cultures and budgeting cycles kill these ideas, as one bank did with the idea behind Revolut.
Why should leaders kill more projects?
Leaders launch far more projects than they finish, which fragments focus, strains resources and burns people out — when every project is a priority, none truly is. Antonio’s rule: before launching a new project, decide which two or three to finish or kill first, set kill criteria upfront, and accept that 90% done is done.
Who is Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez?
Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez is the creator of the project economy concept, author of Powered by Projects and the Harvard Business Review Project Management Handbook, a Thinkers50-ranked management thinker, and a visiting professor at leading business schools.