What is your company’s culture? If you are honest with yourself, it’s probably a mixed bag. Some aspects are great. Those are probably the reasons that caused you to join the company in the first place and are the reasons why you stay. Some of the other cultural aspects aren’t so great. That’s normal. The question is, what can you do about it? Or even more importantly, what will you do about it? For most, the answer is nothing, but…
I’m writing this article to show my readers that leadership isn’t just my day job, it’s also my lifestyle outside of the office. In fact, the leadership I do outside of the office makes me a better leader in the office. For eight years in a row, I’ve taken my boys camping in the wilderness for a weekend. While it’s always good to have father-son time, our trips have a few specific purposes: We get out of our comfort zone….
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…
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”…
When I was 13, I got my first job. I was a newspaper carrier. I learned a ton of formative personal leadership lessons from that experience and I wrote them all down here. With that job, I was my own boss. I worked alone. When I turned 16, I got a second job, in addition to the paper route. My next-door neighbor, Bruce, ran his own candy vending machine business. These were the small pedestal machines with bulk candy in…
I am here to help. I like being helpful. It makes me feel useful. I like doing for others what they cannot do for themselves. This may not seem like much of a leadership attribute, at least not in the traditional sense. You may think that leaders don’t give help, they get help. In many ways, that’s true. They hire people who help them achieve their desired tasks. However, when adhering to the principles of Servant Leadership, leaders take the…
I am from the email generation. I came of age and joined the workforce in the late 90s right around the time that email became the standard-issue, de facto communication standard. When I attended college, students were issued email addresses. When I got my first professional job, it came with an email address. Folks a few years older than me didn’t have that experience. I was right on the edge of it. Faxing and inter-office memos were on their way…
Most people get varsity letter jackets from their school, not their company. I didn’t realize it at the time, but my first corporate job was more like a school for me, than just a job. Like a good school, I learned how to lead. I learned good habits. I learned the right way to do things. It’s easy to be nostalgic about the past, but more than that, I want to share what I experienced because it was rare and…
Confession time: I’ve become known on this platform as one of those tech leaders that is hard on salespeople. Some of my most successful blog articles have poked fun at the peculiar and annoying things that salespeople do to try and earn our business. You can read them here, here, and here. I’ve been told that some sales managers use that blog series as a training manual when they assign new salespeople to my account. I’ve taken plenty of shots….
What does it look like to live out your faith at work? It’s a challenging question. I’ve thought about it plenty. I’ve talked about it one-on-one countless times. This is the first time I’ve written about it on my leadership blog. Today is Good Friday, one of the most significant Christian holidays. I figured, if I can’t write about my Christian faith on a day like today, then I never will. So, here it goes. Faith is personal. Jesus Christ…