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Month: October 2017

Transformation in Progress: Leadership Lessons from Satya Nadella

Transformation in Progress: Leadership Lessons from Satya Nadella

I recently read Satya Nadella’s new book Hit Refresh, and I also heard him speak at Microsoft Ignite and Envision last month. As a technology leader, and as a Microsoft fan, there’s a lot to like about Satya’s approach to leadership, so I thought I’d write a blog article summarizing my learnings. I am biased I’ve been a long-time fan of Microsoft. Frankly, I owe my career to the company. Starting nearly 20 years ago, I built my skills on…

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Let’s Clear Up the Confusion: Cloud is in the Eye of the Beholder

Let’s Clear Up the Confusion: Cloud is in the Eye of the Beholder

I love the cloud. I’ve had the opportunity to run mission critical cloud services and applications at several large enterprises. I migrate workloads to the cloud. Sometimes, I migrate workloads out of the public cloud into a private one. In enterprise technology, we have an odd relationship with the cloud. We often get it right, but sometimes, we get it wrong. I’m writing this blog to level-set the discussion. The cloud isn’t a Visio shape Once upon a time the…

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Worth the Drive: Commute to the Work You Love

Worth the Drive: Commute to the Work You Love

I live in Brooklyn Park and work in Inver Grove Heights. For those of you that aren’t familiar with Twin Cities geography, that’s a 30-mile one-way commute straight through the middle of Minneapolis and St. Paul. It’s funny. When I talk with people about my job, this is the first thing we always discuss. We don’t talk about work satisfaction, career growth, company culture, employee benefits, or company profitability. We talk about my commute. I’m sure that I drive past…

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Rules for Advancement: Managing Up is Not Enough

Rules for Advancement: Managing Up is Not Enough

As a leader looking to advance, you have to manage effectively in a number of directions. You need to lead your function well (managing down). You need to have a good comradery and collaboration with your peers (managing sideways). You also need to be a courageous follower of your leader (managing up). This, however, is not enough. At one point in my career at a previous company, I thought I was doing really well. I was leading a high performing…

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