An interview I did with ex-Apprentice Claire Young. The article appeared in Project magazine and was designed to provoke a reation from regular readers, hence the 'spiky' opening para. The full version was around 1,200 words.
"Project management is boring." Claire Young pulls no punches when offering her thoughts on how the profession is perceived in UK schools. “Young people’s lives have changed dramatically: technology, the pace of life, peer pressure and celebrities; you’ve got to find new ways to engage with them.”
The ex-Apprentice star perpetuates a brand – a style – of PM that you’ll either love or hate. She says openly she’s a bit like Marmite and makes no bones about rubbing people up the wrong the way if it means getting the job done.
In her opinion The Apprentice made PM sexy again. It put the profession, or a side of it, in the spotlight and PM was all the better for it. “I call it OTT – Off The Telly, that’s my hook for the students. If I went into a classroom and said, ‘Today we’re going to do project management’, it would be an instant turn off. But if I said it was a day of business and enterprise, that would be exciting.”
With no formal training in project management and a background in the corporate world, Claire has worked tirelessly to boost her learning – and
her profile. Since finishing as runner-up in 2008, having never lost a task as PM, she has quickly carved out a reputation as a youth business
champion, promoting entrepreneurship and enterprise skills in schools.
“All the work I do is on business and enterprise. Enterprise is a term I like to use because it encompasses doing things in a enterprising way.”
So why is she doing it? Obviously it makes sense financially but the reasons go deeper. Claire has taken it upon herself to up-skill the nation’s youth. She
speaks passionately about a lack of core skills, of children leaving school poorly equipped and of employers crying out for a change.
The ex-Apprentice star perpetuates a brand – a style – of PM that you’ll either love or hate. She says openly she’s a bit like Marmite and makes no bones about rubbing people up the wrong the way if it means getting the job done.
In her opinion The Apprentice made PM sexy again. It put the profession, or a side of it, in the spotlight and PM was all the better for it. “I call it OTT – Off The Telly, that’s my hook for the students. If I went into a classroom and said, ‘Today we’re going to do project management’, it would be an instant turn off. But if I said it was a day of business and enterprise, that would be exciting.”
With no formal training in project management and a background in the corporate world, Claire has worked tirelessly to boost her learning – and
her profile. Since finishing as runner-up in 2008, having never lost a task as PM, she has quickly carved out a reputation as a youth business
champion, promoting entrepreneurship and enterprise skills in schools.
“All the work I do is on business and enterprise. Enterprise is a term I like to use because it encompasses doing things in a enterprising way.”
So why is she doing it? Obviously it makes sense financially but the reasons go deeper. Claire has taken it upon herself to up-skill the nation’s youth. She
speaks passionately about a lack of core skills, of children leaving school poorly equipped and of employers crying out for a change.