I’m returning from Interop in Vegas, fresh from a talk about how to climb the career ladder, “So You Want To Be A CIO”; I thought I’d share a point that resonated with the audience: everybody wants to do cool stuff at work, but: “nobody trusts you to do cool things if you don’t have […]
Got A Terrible Manager? So Does Everyone. Succeed Anyway.
People blame things on bad management because, well, it’s fun. But they’re also looking for a scapegoat. If you want to create great work, you must also realize that most management is imperfect and that you must succeed despite this. In one of my roles years ago, my staff was bitterly complaining about executive management […]
On Causing Unreasoning Love In Customers: You Are Amazing! You’ve Got This!
What turns something from a death slog-fest into a life-affirming event? As it turns out, an over-the-top amount of encouragement. In any profession that causes as well as alleviates work pain, we’d do well to remember that. I ran the Black Mountain Marathon a few weeks ago. Beautiful conditions at the start line; it was […]
College or Workplace Evaluations: One Size Does Not Fit All
My #2 son procrastinated his college application essays until just two days ago–the very last minute. Why? He’s a math and music guy, not a writer. That’s right: a key evaluation mechanism relies on his Achilles heel. There’s a reason that this sounds like your experience in the workplace; the sad part is that it’s […]
Is Lean Startup The Future of The Workplace?
It’s kind of like an orange juice commercial from the 70s: “Lean Startup: It’s Not Just For Startups Anymore.” Or that’s how it seemed to me on the first day of the Lean Startup Conference. Though many observers, including myself, have urged the adoption of Lean Startup (and startup principles in general) into the workplaces […]
Startup Weekend: A Special Kind of Crazy
Asheville Startup Weekend inspired me to talk about a special kind of crazy — the kind of crazy that inspires you to work, to create, to spend time outside of goofy entertainment during your free time. I hope to eventually update this post with just that part of my remarks, but for now, it starts […]
Ignore Social Business At Your Peril
My column, “Ignore Facebook At Your Peril” generated a good conversation. Some readers essentially asked, “where’s the proof” that business (and therefore IT) must adapt to the new reality that Facebook is a juggernaut of both identity management and social business. Fellow editor Alex Rudansky made a good point that, proof or no proof, whatever […]