Leading Extreme Projects: Strategy, Risk and Resilience in Practice

Alejandro Arroyo · Thomas Grisham

Apr 2017 · Taylor & Francis

About this ebook

Leading Extreme Projects explores the challenges, obstacles and techniques associated with running large projects in some of the most challenging environments and economies in the world. From an oil and gas program in the Amazon with a background of drug trafficking, delicate indigenous communities and some of the most challenging logistics; to a mining project in West Africa involving a consortium of state and private contractors plus a global supply chain. From a shipping efficiency project involving two joint venture programs with stakeholders from the European, North and South American and Asian continents; to a hostile gold project stakeholder management process in Central America involving substantial cultural differences between the north and the south.

The authors’ insights and advice will help the reader understand the global context of leadership in these extreme projects as well as the nature of the structures and teams required to create, design, operate and transfer global capital programs. In particular, they provide perspectives on the issues of leading cross-cultural teams, working amongst sensitive indigenous people and transferring knowledge to build local capacity.

This is an important reference text for senior executives involved in both the strategy and the delivery side of extreme projects, as well as for those researching and studying the field.

About the author

Alejandro Arroyo has more than 30 years experience as operator and consultant in global project logistics, stakeholder management, environmental management, and strategic contextual assessment with respect to mining, oil and gas, hydropower, nuclear power and alternative energy projects. Alejandro has worked for and cooperated with a long list of well-known companies in both the natural resources and global transportation industries, such as Pan American Silver; Silver Standard; Aura Minerals; Talisman Energy; Talon Metals; AECL-CANDU; ABB; Alstom; FMC Lithium; ZIM Israel Navigation; and many others.

Thomas Grisham has 40 years of project management and PMO experience gained on projects across a variety of business models and sectors, including medical, infrastructure, transportation, commercial, communications, finance, consulting, utilities, manufacturing, business development and more. Thomas has gained this experience in 73 countries, with expat assignments in Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Japan, Korea, China and Hong Kong, and has experience with over 400 companies globally from Abbott Labs to ZTE.