From insight to foresight: stronger sensemaking and decision-making that shapes projects’ outcomes.
Agenda
6:30pm - Intro & announcements
6:40pm - Talk commences
8:00pm - Talk concludes with (optional) post-event networking
9:00pm - Building closes
Speaker
Eleonora Cao
Synopsis
Modern projects aren’t failing because of a lack of data, talent, or tools. They’re failing because Project Leaders are being asked to navigate environments defined by paradox: speed and rigour, innovation and control, autonomy and alignment, ambition and fatigue.
Traditional governance models, built for linear problems, remain largely retrospective - calibrated to interpret what has already happened rather than anticipate what is unfolding.
This session introduces Strategic Empathy - not a framework, but a paradigm for understanding and navigating complexity in a time of competing truths.
It offers a prospective way of seeing: enabling Project Leaders to detect drift early, interpret weak signals before they crystallise into issues, and make decisions that hold coherence across multiple time horizons.
Drawing on real-world experience across large-scale transformations, engineering programmes, and organisational change, this talk explores:
- Why complexity cannot be simplified without consequence.
- How paradox tolerance becomes a core capability for Project Leaders.
- Why governance systems anchored in retrospection create systemic blind spots.
- How the Strategic Empathy paradigm restores clarity, alignment, and meaningful progress by shifting leaders toward a prospective mode of judgment.
Participants will leave with a deeper understanding of how to lead projects where linear logic fails - and where the capacity to see ahead of the data becomes the ultimate differentiator.
About the speaker
Eleonora Cao is a strategic project leader with nearly two decades leading complex projects and transformations across the energy and industrial manufacturing sectors.
She has led cross-functional teams and large-scale initiatives across Europe, the Americas, MENAT, and APAC, progressing from project finance to overseeing global governance structures.
Working at the intersection of finance, operations, and delivery, Ele builds momentum where progress has stalled and brings clarity to environments defined by uncertainty. She solves problems through a strategic yet emotionally intelligent lens that is clear, precise, and just enough.
As the founder of Panta Rhei Services, she partners with organisations ready to break through bottlenecks and accelerate meaningful progress. Her work centres on Strategic Empathy, a paradigm that helps project leaders move beyond retrospective governance toward a more anticipatory, judgment-driven approach to complex projects.
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This event is brought to you by: Project Management specialist group (PROMS-G)
