Exploring the Disconnect Between Leadership Communication and Reality

Exploring the Disconnect Between Leadership Communication and Reality

You are a fantastic leader. You’ve got a great team. You gather everyone together in an all-team meeting. You carefully announce and explain your new innovative and strategic initiative. It’s inspiring. People nod their heads. They even clap at the end. Then the meeting ends and everyone goes back to their desks and does what they’ve always done. Despair This doesn’t really happen, does it? Your team members are good people. You are the boss. Of course, they listen to what you have to…

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A Legacy of Innovation: Happy 60th Anniversary to the CHS IT Department

A Legacy of Innovation: Happy 60th Anniversary to the CHS IT Department

I love the future, but sometimes, it is important to recognize the past. More than most, I pay attention to company history. I love our origin story and the twists and turns along the way. Understanding our past can help us make sense of our present and realize our future. CHS is a 95-year-old company. That history is filled with a lot of mergers. The most significant merger happened in 1998 when Cenex and Harvest States joined to form CHS. CHS’…

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How to Use Your Leadership Lenses

How to Use Your Leadership Lenses

Ever had a leader who was too involved in all of the details? We call that leader a micromanager. It can feel suffocating and unempowering. Ever had a leader who was aloof, uninvolved, with their head in the clouds? I’ve not heard “macromanager” as a commonly used term, but it seems like the appropriate semantic. This leader makes you feel unsupported and alone. Have you ever heard someone describe themself as detail-oriented? Have you ever heard someone describe themself as…

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Building Your Leadership Brand

Building Your Leadership Brand

Each week on this blog, I build my leadership brand. Whether you know it or not, that is what I’m doing. I spend more time doing it than talking about how or why I do it. It occurred to me recently that my readers may want to build their leadership brands. First, a caveat: What I do works for me because I’m me. How much of this is transferrable to you depends on so many factors. So, I’ll tell you…

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What You’ve Learned Matters a Little. What You’ve Learned Lately Matters a Lot.

What You’ve Learned Matters a Little. What You’ve Learned Lately Matters a Lot.

I was cleaning out my desk over the weekend and found some old relics of my professional past. I found a mix of trinkets, awards, business cards, certifications, and some old floppy disks. I flipped through the disks and found this exam preparation software for the Networking Essentials exam, which was part of the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer NT 4.0 certification. I passed this exam back in 1998 and completed the entire certification for MCSE in 1999. That was 25…

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Leadership Practices for Technology Vendor Management

Leadership Practices for Technology Vendor Management

One of the biggest themes in Zach on Leadership is leading teams. That’s the core part of the job where most leaders need the most help and encouragement. However, that’s not all there is. Another big piece, especially for technology leaders, is vendor management. I’ve written plenty about the technology sales process. In case you missed those articles, you can check them out here, here, here, and here. I’ve even written specific articles about price negotiations and sourcing. So, what…

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Leadership Lessons from Community Tech Support

Leadership Lessons from Community Tech Support

This is an article for all of you who spent Christmas and the ensuing days setting up and fixing all of the electronic gadgets that your friends and family received. If you’re that guy or gal, you know exactly what I’m talking about. This used to mean installing computers, televisions, and sound systems. Also, setting the clock on Grandma’s microwave, but times have changed. Now, so much has a digital component to it. Gaming systems, online services, internet of toys,…

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Leadership Lessons from the Christmas Story

Leadership Lessons from the Christmas Story

I love to look at the world around me and glean leadership lessons to inspire myself and others to rise to our calling. It’s Christmas. In years past, I’ve drawn leadership lessons from pop culture movies. If you are in the mood for that, please check out my series on Elf. Some of you read the title and guessed that I’d be writing about Ralphie from the movie, A Christmas Story. But this isn’t about “a” Christmas story, but “the”…

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Leadership Reflections on the 250th Anniversary of the Boston Tea Party

Leadership Reflections on the 250th Anniversary of the Boston Tea Party

On the evening of December 16, 1773, the brave patriots of Boston stood against tyranny. My Great Great Great Great Great Great Grandfather was among them and played a key role that changed the course of human history. Benjamin Edes Benjamin Edes was a member of the Sons of Liberty and publisher of the Boston Gazette. The Boston Gazette was the most radical of Boston newspapers often expressing a patriotic and revolutionary point of view. Some of the conspirators met…

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Leadership Lessons from Driving an RV Backward up Mountain Switchbacks

Leadership Lessons from Driving an RV Backward up Mountain Switchbacks

A few years ago, I took my family on an RV trip to the Canadian Rockies (Banff, Jasper, and Yoho). It was one of our most epic trips, and I’d love to do it again. If you’ve been there, you know what I mean. Some of you know that I’ve taken my family on a lot of epic RV trips. I’ve written about it before here. Since I’ve camped in 49 states, 5 Canadian provinces, and 37 national parks, people…

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