# Why Most Projects Fail—and How to Achieve Better Outcomes Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/hbr-on-leadership-6411274/why-most-projects-fail-and-how-to-achieve-better-outcomes Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/hbr-on-leadership-6411274/why-most-projects-fail-and-how-to-achieve-better-outcomes.md Podcast: [HBR On Leadership](https://stenobird.com/podcast/hbr-on-leadership-6411274) Published: 2026-02-18T11:10:45+00:00 Episode link: https://hbr.org/podcast/2026/02/why-most-projects-fail-and-how-to-achieve-better-outcomes Audio file: https://audio.hbr.org/on-leadership/20260217140808-WhyMostProjectsFailandHowtoAchieveBetterOutcomes.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/hbr-on-leadership-6411274/episodes/why-most-projects-fail-and-how-to-achieve-better-outcomes Duration seconds: 1505 ## Resource 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.” ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/hbr-on-leadership-6411274/episodes/why-most-projects-fail-and-how-to-achieve-better-outcomes/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/hbr-on-leadership-6411274/why-most-projects-fail-and-how-to-achieve-better-outcomes.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.