We’re not yet sophisticated enough to know our readers’ demographics, such as your age.  We do know that EarthPM is enjoying immense popularity, and that the visits are coming from all over the world and from diverse sources.  But we don’t know our visitors that well, other than you’re interested in project management, sustainability, and most likely, your careers.  We do remember Sputnik, because we are (now how do we put this?) well-seasoned PMs who have been in industry since the 1970s.  Old, in other words.

So, since we don’t know your age, we don’t know whether you remember Sputnik.  Ah yes, dear old Sputnik.  President Obama invoked its memory last night in his State of the Union address.  Here is the key extract:

“This is our generation’s Sputnik moment. Two years ago, I said that we needed to reach a level of research and development we haven’t seen since the height of the Space Race. And in a few weeks, I will be sending a budget to Congress that helps us meet that goal. We’ll invest in biomedical research, information technology, and especially clean energy technology — (applause) — an investment that will strengthen our security, protect our planet, and create countless new jobs for our people.”

Now, when the President says “especially clean energy technology”,  your ears should perk up – whether you work in America or not.  This is significant.  President Obama is issuing a challenge not unlike President Kennedy did when he promised to land a man on the moon.

How many NASA project managers did that employ?  How many government contracts were issued that, in turn, generated projects for project managers to manage for years to come?   We calculated the answer: it was 349,331 jobs.  Okay, so we made that up.  But it was a lot.

The President, as he is prone to do, gave a specific example:

“Already, we’re seeing the promise of renewable energy. Robert and Gary Allen are brothers who run a small Michigan roofing company. After September 11th, they volunteered their best roofers to help repair the Pentagon. But half of their factory went unused, and the recession hit them hard. Today, with the help of a government loan, that empty space is being used to manufacture solar shingles that are being sold all across the country. In Robert’s words, “We reinvented ourselves.”"

These “reinventions” will be happening to businesses large and small.  Even if you don’t reinvent yourself, you will likely be called on – as a project manager – to lend your talent to a reinvention.

Will you be ready?

You can find the entire transcript of President Obama’s State of the Union address here.

…and for you youngsters who know not of Sputnik, you can quench your curiosity here.

President Obama announced yesterday that he would provide$2.3 billion dollars of stimulus money to spur the job market.  That money would be available, in the form of tax credits, to companies, like TPI Composites, a wind turbine company, and other companies for investment in “clean energy” manufacturing initiatives.  The US is being outpaced as a clean energy provider by countries like China, Germany, and Japan.   The competition worldwide, according to the president, is good, but the US

US Environmental Protection Agency

wants to be able to compete, and win.  After all, the US is the leading technological developer of green energy and should be leading the manufacturing as well and not send those jobs overseas.

The stimulus money is intended to provide approximately 17,000 jobs to the US clean energy manufacturing market, to produce products like wind turbines, mentioned before, solar energy equipment, cutting edge batteries to power hybrid automobiles, and harnessing new forms of energy.  There is a hope that this money will help in three ways; reduce our dependency on foreign oil, combat the threat of climate change, and propel US manufacturers to close the clean energy gap and eventually lead the market in production.   The program has been so popular that there are 180 projects being funded in 40 states, and there are many more applicants that money available.  Thus the president is asking Congress for an additional $5 billion dollars in future funding for the program.

The word project is bolded for a reason.  For emphasis, that is $7.2 billion dollars in funding for “green” projects, because whether it is “harnessing new forms of energy” or developing “cutting edge batteries” (new product introduction) or expanding manufacturing capabilities, like TPI Composites, those projects are defined in our upcoming book as “green by definition.”  Like other projects, these will require someone to manage those projects.   We feel that project managers who “view their projects through an environmental lens,” will have an advantage managing all future projects , especially  those that are “green by definition.”