New Horizons Blog and Resources

There is a saying, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.” Such a simple phrase can encompass many scenarios in life, both personally and professionally. This idiom was originally meant to convey a stubborn person who is unwilling to take advice. I admit I have sometimes been that horse.

But as a trained project manager, I must say that lately this saying has been playing in my head even more frequently because of recent changes to the Certified Associate Project Manager (CAPM) curriculum. The concepts of “Information Management” and “Knowledge Management” have been added since the 6^th edition of the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) guide. I think many people gloss over these additions as “just more things to manage” or “just more things to memorize for the certification exam.” However, to me, it speaks volumes to the most underlying issue that plagues all projects in every industry all around the world, and that is: information is essentially worthless until it is transferred into knowledge.

Pentagon - 9/30/2022
Modern Warfare- Killer Robots: Beyond Artificial Intelligence

How AI impacts security, military affairs

For too long, the conversation on AI and militaries has been narrowly focused on autonomous weapons and the ethical issues that come with them. The time is ripe to take stock of the myriad of other ways that AI will impact security and military affairs. Just as AI is dramatically changing a range of sectors in the civilian world, improving efficiency, reducing costs, and automating processes, there is no reason to believe that militaries, too, will not be joining the AI revolution.
Israel is a world leader in developing autonomous military capabilities, from Iron Dome interceptors to unmanned aerial vehicles to ground-based platforms – though all currently rely on human approval before kinetic firepower can be activated, in line with the values of the Israeli defense establishment.

High-level military leader selections impact thousands of individuals and processes that make up our military, which means the leaders need to be effective and resilient and rise above leadership military challenges.

How do military leaders learn the lessons of leadership? Traditionally classroom leader development and battlefield experience are perhaps the key places where officers learn about leadership, but is there a broader set of experiences that have an important developmental impact?

What lessons do military leaders actually learn that they come to see as most valuable? And how can we draw upon their experiences to avoid future mistakes and build on past successes?

Going directly to senior military officers and asking these questions about leadership military challenges and experiences are difficult and rarely answered.

Conflict, while unpleasant, is something we will all face multiple times over the course of our careers. Though conflict is inherently negative, when managed effectively it can actually yield productive conversations and personal growth. Because conflict at work is inevitable, it is best to know how to manage conflict by having some strategies at your disposal so that you can resolve conflict quickly and get back to focusing on your goals. Your ability to manage conflict will provide a lot of value to your team as so many employees lack this skill and often don’t know how to express themselves professionally and respectfully when they are experiencing a high degree of emotion. Knowing how to manage conflict is a great way to practice emotional intelligence at work. Whether you’re a manager or a team member, having the right conflict management techniques at your disposal will give you simple, actionable steps to take so you can resolve these unpleasant, unavoidable situations.

If you’ve been in a manager position at all in the last few years, you probably know the pain that comes with saying goodbye to a valuable team member who holds a lot of institutional knowledge and going through the lengthy hiring process of reviewing applications, giving multiple rounds of interviews, and finally getting your new hire up to speed on their role and your company. The Great Resignation reminded us all of the importance of retaining great employees. Not only does employee retention prevent the disruption of projects and goals, it also saves companies time and thousands of dollars. Besides toxic company culture and low salary, many employees cite poor management as one of the main reasons they’ll leave a job. Read these tips on how to be a good manager and foster a work environment employees want to stick around for.