The broader your perspective, the wider your view, the better prepared you are to act. Therefore, it pays to seek opportunities to expand your vision.
In that spirit, 16 executives, along with a handful of Integrated Project Management (IPM) leaders, gathered to share insights about and solutions for a series of pressing challenges. Attendees included executives from consumer products, industrial products, healthcare, pharmaceutical, and technology companies. The cross-industry representation was meant to bring new perspectives to attendees, who may not interact with leaders outside their sector.
To ensure relevant discussions, IPM asked the executives to vote on the topics in advance. Then participants facilitated the discussions with IPM experts.
Three sessions centered on the following:
Talent Challenges
The discussion centered on treating talent and culture as a strategic risk, developing short- and long-term plans to address them. They discussed challenges including building trust and empathy, shaping culture, empowering staff to own their development, and recognizing capacity and capability constraints. And they stressed their own accountability in ensuring clarity and measuring and driving short- and long-term results.
Strategic Portfolio Development, Prioritization, and Execution
“Relentless” was the word multiple participants used to describe effective strategic prioritization. The group shared the signals they see when priorities start to drift, such as failed or delayed projects, inconsistent messaging from leaders, overworked teams, and lack of visibility into results. And they suggested disciplined approaches to getting and staying aligned, communicating, managing change, and making hard tradeoffs.
Technology and AI
Most of the executive attendees said they are piloting AI, looking for the right use cases, particularly around efficiency and safety. However, they are cautious, mindful to keep humans in the loop to ensure accuracy and compliance. They’re assessing impacts—positive and negative—on creativity, culture, and customer relationships. Governance and guiderails are a priority, while training and data management continue to be challenges.
Owning the Complexities
Some of the most compelling insights were found where the three topics intersect. For instance, one executive shared that one of his key strategic objectives, measured growth, demands resources that won’t be available, according to demographic trends. So they must improve recruitment and retention, as well as apply AI tools to streamline or eliminate processes. The project list includes culture-building, training, and AI governance initiatives, and the company needs to make tradeoffs to prioritize them.
Another executive spoke of the desire to seek out and encourage entrepreneurial “unicorns” for leadership development. However, in an environment where they are rewarding consistency, efficiency, and cost savings, few employees have time or space to explore ideas outside their role. And if AI tools replace roles, even fewer of those curious over-achievers will emerge. The group shared ideas including building cross-functional tiger teams to drive projects and identify leaders, watching for those who are teaching themselves how to use AI, and publicly showcasing those who are using tools in innovative ways.
Overall, the theme that emerged is that executive leaders must take ownership of the culture, strategic prioritization and clarity, and change management required to navigate their organization through uncertain times and into the future.
Building on the Platform
IPM CEO C. Richard Panico, who hosted the event, stressed the importance of taking the insights back to their organizations and of continuing the conversation.
“My hope is that the executives gained something from their peers that they can apply on their own teams,” he says, “and that they started to build relationships with people outside their specific industry that will continue to provide new perspectives.”
April 20, 2026