Zach on Leadership

Today is the fifth anniversary of the launch of Zach on Leadership. Why launch a new blog on the Friday before Memorial Day? Is anyone even paying attention then? There was a reason for this decision. In my leadership journey, this is an important date. 19 years ago, something happened to me that shaped my view of leadership forever. I made the biggest operational mistake of my career. I singled-handedly blew up my company’s data center. How I was treated…

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Over the past few weeks, I’ve been working with one of my teams and an outside party to bring forward a proposal for approval. At one point in the process, there was some difference of opinion between the internal team and the external group. In that moment, I heard these words come out of my mouth: “alignment is more important than accuracy.” I was simply trying to be helpful, not profound, but after reflecting on the statement, I think there…

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Back in high school, my days were broken up into several class periods. At the end of a period, the bell rang, signaling the time to transition to the next class. If I remember correctly, I had about 7 or 8 minutes to travel to my next class, use the restroom, swap books at my locker, and say “hi” to my band-geek friends. When the bell rang a second time, I was expected to be sitting at my desk at…

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I often talk with leaders that are new in their roles. They aren’t new leaders, but for some reason or another, they are in a new role, due to a reorganization, promotion, or job change. When I ask how it’s going, I usually hear answers like “busy” or “good.” Occasionally, I get a very brave answer: “I’m overwhelmed.” I appreciate this answer because it’s completely normal to feel this way in a new leadership role, yet few are vulnerable enough…

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There are two questions that every leader must continually answer: Where are we going and what’s next? Answering these two questions every day is one of the most important things I can do. While the questions are simple, the answers are never easy. Additionally, the work is never done. These questions need to be re-asked and re-answered regularly. Not because our direction is erratic, but because our world changes constantly, and so does our context. In this article, I’ll break…

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Recently, one of my LinkedIn followers, Jen Musbach, told me that one of the most significant things she appreciates about the Zach on Leadership blog is my consistency. Every Friday, my readers can count on a new blog article and podcast episode. While I am indeed intentional about consistency, I hadn’t thoroughly considered how rare and how important this is. Furthermore, for those of us who call ourselves leaders, there is an inherent lesson here for all of us, whether…

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Once upon a time, Minnesota was known for bad weather and more than our fair share of lakes. For the past 11 months, we’ve become world-renown as one of the most divisive places on the planet. 11 months ago, following the tragic death of George Floyd, I wrote a series of articles about my observations and how these events influenced my leadership philosophy. You can read them here, here, and here. Now, this week, a new tragedy occurred. This one,…

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Many leaders have an awkward relationship with their job titles. Titles drive us to achieve. I distinctly remember the moments I was given the title of senior engineer, then manager, then director, then vice president. Those were big moments that simultaneously made me proud and humble. I also lead outside of my corporation. At my church, I was elected to an elder position, and then subsequently, board chair. When people address me by my formal title, I often do a…

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It is a standard business practice to set an Out of Office auto-response on your email when you will be unreachable. That way, when people reach out, you can set their expectations and redirect them, so they won’t think you are just ignoring their message. This is a good courtesy and almost everyone does it. If you’ve forgotten what that feature even is, then it’s probably been too long since you’ve had a break. Read my article on the importance…

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I very well may be one of the most prospected people on the planet. I don’t have any data to back that up, so I’ll just call it a hunch. I’m a senior technology leader at a large corporation. I have a very active LinkedIn presence. Those two facts must automatically stuff me into every technology salesperson’s leads database. I don’t regret my role or my social media engagement, so I accept that this simply comes with the territory. The…

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