Zach on Leadership

The best part about technology leadership is that almost every technologist can do it, though few are up for the adventure. To do so requires a willingness to depart from the world of ones and zeros and enter a different world governed by actual human beings. While human beings are in fact, mostly harmless, this other world is a bit unnerving for the average technology geek. Therefore, I’ve assembled this hitchhiker’s guide to help you find your way. Don’t panic…

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Henry Ford is famously credited as saying, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” The attribution may not be accurate, but it’s still stirring. Apple made the iPhone because everyone at Apple universally thought all cell phones stunk. So, they made one that they liked. I gave conference presentations in 2013 and 2015 postulating that when users ask for an iPad for work, they would be better served by a Windows tablet instead….

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In A.D. 2101 war was beginning. Sure, but about one hundred years prior to that, there was an internet meme that went viral at a time where we didn’t know what the term “internet meme” even meant. This was before YouTube and Facebook. Videos were made from Flash or GIFs, and shared via email. All Your Base Are Belong to Us was the preeminent internet meme of the early 2000’s. Why was it huge? Geek kitsch and nostalgia. About 15…

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In many ways I’ve thrived in my career through meritocracy. Competition is one of my top five StrengthsFinder themes. I compete for promotions and new job opportunities. I compete with other companies to get top talent onto my team. I’m intrinsically motivated to be the best performer among my peer group. Sometimes I achieve that and sometimes I don’t, but no one needs to tell me to do it. I naturally pursue high-performance. There are many companies that confidently call…

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