Episode

Why Most Projects Fail—and How to Achieve Better Outcomes

Podcast
HBR On Leadership
Published
Feb 18, 2026
Duration seconds
1505
Processing state
not_requested
Canonical source
https://hbr.org/podcast/2026/02/why-most-projects-fail-and-how-to-achieve-better-outcomes
Audio
https://audio.hbr.org/on-leadership/20260217140808-WhyMostProjectsFailandHowtoAchieveBetterOutcomes.mp3
JSON
/v1/public/podcasts/hbr-on-leadership-6411274/episodes/why-most-projects-fail-and-how-to-achieve-better-outcomes
Markdown
/podcast/hbr-on-leadership-6411274/why-most-projects-fail-and-how-to-achieve-better-outcomes.md

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Summary

Companies of every size in every industry and part of the world are basing more of their work around projects. And yet research shows that nearly two-thirds of those efforts fail. Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez, who has studied projects and project management for decades, explains how we can do better. He offers advice on the right way to frame projects, how to structure organizations around them, and pitfalls to avoid. Nieto-Rodriguez is the author of the Harvard Business Review Project Management Handbook and author of the article “The Project Economy Has Arrived.”