Zach on Leadership

Sports analogies in business leadership are nearly as certain as death and taxes. You simply cannot lead in a large organization without hearing sports analogies daily. For me, sports analogies don’t bother me too much; however, I do notice them. I wish there were fewer of them. If you’ve ever been told to “skate to where the puck is going to be,” “it’s time for a full-court press,” “throw a hail mary,” or discussed the “bench strength” of your team,…

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A leader’s reputation is everything. Without a good reputation, no one will listen to you, no one will willingly follow you, no one will give you a stretch assignment, and no one will promote you. Understandably, leaders care a lot about their reputations.   Leaders can do things that completely destroy their reputations. Those make for interesting headlines, and they keep public relations teams very occupied. This article isn’t about that. I’m writing about the moderate issues that can be…

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You always remember your first real promotion. It’s a big moment. It’s bigger than just landing your first real job. To do that, you need a good resume and interview. To get promoted, you have to prove yourself. I remember mine. I started my career as a contractor working on the Y2K crisis. After doing that for about a year, I decided I wanted to be real employee at a real company. Some people love contracting, but it wasn’t for…

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Last week, I had the opportunity to teach SQL (Structured Query Language) to 14 middle and high school students in our homeschool co-op. I use my company’s Volunteer Time Off program to make this possible. In a previous article, I shared how I helped one of my students repair his broken laptop with a soldering pencil. If you missed that article, check it out here. I am teaching a digital literacy course, which covers a wide variety of subjects. Just…

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Many of you can relate to this picture. I certainly can. I spent many hours of my childhood helping my dad fix the car, repair broken appliances, and assemble furniture. My job was to hold the flashlight, fetch a screwdriver, and otherwise assist in the effort. I use the word, “assist” in the most liberal sense possible. At the time I was oblivious, but now I know the truth. I distinctly remember finishing many projects that Dad and I worked…

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The 2003 film, Elf, starring Will Ferrell and directed by Jon Favreau, is one of the most beloved Christmas films. My family makes a tradition of watching it every year. As with many of my favorite movies, I cannot help but notice the subtle leadership lessons sprinkled about like candy in spaghetti. Elf is packed with too many leadership lessons for just one Zach on Leadership article, so I’ve thoroughly covered it over the past three weeks. You may not…

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The 2003 film, Elf, starring Will Ferrell and directed by Jon Favreau, is one of the most beloved Christmas films. My family makes a tradition of watching it every year. As with many of my favorite movies, I cannot help but notice the subtle leadership lessons sprinkled about like candy in spaghetti. Elf is packed with too many leadership lessons for just one Zach on Leadership article, so I will thoroughly cover it over three weeks. Last week, we explored…

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I had a great opportunity to be a guest on the Change Agent CTO Podcast with Nathan Lasnoski. Nathan is the CTO of the technology consulting firm, Concurrency. We covered the CHS journey through DevOps and the Cloud. We mostly covered the leadership issues surrounding transformation such as change management, servant leadership, and vision casting. We talked about building diverse teams, embracing geek culture, and dealing with resistance. I think you’ll enjoy this episode. Many of you read my writing,…

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The 2003 film, Elf, starring Will Ferrell and directed by Jon Favreau, is one of the most beloved Christmas films. My family makes a tradition of watching it every year. As with many of my favorite movies, I cannot help but notice the subtle leadership lessons sprinkled about like candy in spaghetti. Elf is packed with too many leadership lessons for just one Zach on Leadership article, so I will thoroughly cover it over the next three weeks. You may…

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I received a phone call from a former team member this week. He called for tech support on his iPhone. After I addressed that matter, the conversation moved on to how things have been going in his retirement. In that conversation, I remarked, “Retirement is still a long way off for me.” He replied, “How old are you nowadays?” “43.” “Huh. If you are 43 now, how old were you when you hired me?” “30.” “Really? Well, you were a…

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