Growing up, I was an avid reader of Garfield comic books. These books weren’t challenging, epic, or educational in any way. They were just silly and fun. I didn’t read every book (there are over 60), but I read the first 30 or so before I reached adulthood. It’s impossible to read Garfield without learning these two principles: Lasagna is good and Mondays are bad. Mondays Why Garfield hates Mondays is a bit of a mystery since he doesn’t have…
There is one character in the universe of superheroes that inspires technology leaders more than any other. His technical prowess is unparalleled, and he commands more confidence than any technology geek could ever hope to muster. I am, of course, referring to the one and only Tony Stark, also known as Iron Man. Tony Stark, the individual contributor In the original Iron Man films (1-3), Tony Stark established his technical abilities, drive for innovation, tenacity, and arrogance. Sure, he had…
I love new technology. That’s one of the reasons my job is so fun. I get to see the latest and greatest technologies and put them to work to help our company achieve our purpose. There are two side-effects of this activity that are not as much fun: DevOps and Scrum frameworks have a useful term, called the Definition of Done. You can read about the concept here. I’ve never seen it applied to the technology lifecycle, but I’m going…
My work as a technology leader is more often marked and differentiated by the human element than technology itself. Certainly, on this blog, the vast majority of my articles are about people and organizations in the enterprise technology context more than about the actual technology. However, as a technology leader, I often embark upon intellectual journeys as well. Many are specific, but this one is general. It applies to almost every sizable corporation. If you are an enterprise technology leader,…
At my company, CHS, we are currently in our performance review cycle. This is a staple procedure in every large corporation I’ve worked. I’ve received performance reviews for 20 years and have been giving them for 13 years. Most people I talk to look at this process as an unpleasant chore. Most understand that it’s necessary, but painful nonetheless. Every Human Resources organization in every company gives plenty of guidance on how to give a performance review. That advice is…
As I’ve progressed through my career, the demand on my time has continually increased. I get a tsunami of sales calls, a blizzard of emails, and a monsoon of meeting requests. Leadership comes with a fair amount of extreme weather analogies. So, there you have it. The debtor I think subconsciously, many of us look at this subject like a debtor trying to pay our bills. We have more bills than money, and we honestly agonize about which ones to…
If you are an experienced leader in a completely new role, this article is for you. I haven’t started a completely new position in many years; however, I do talk with leaders in this situation all the time, so I think it’s worth sharing some wisdom. If you have recently started a new role, I know exactly how you feel. You are trying desperately to memorize names, find the conference rooms, and decipher company acronyms, all while trying to make…
Six months ago, I left my office in the corporate headquarters to join 40 co-workers in an office experiment. I wrote an entire article about the experiment and what we hoped to achieve, but I will summarize the main points here. Our corporate office campus is being remodeled floor-by-floor, so we needed some additional space to work while our floor got the makeover. We could have sought the closest suburban office building with space, but we intentionally decided to try…
Most people in leadership positions go through some sort of 360 feedback review from time to time. I’ve gone through this at several companies, and always learn something through the process. I’ve made the argument before on this blog that self-awareness is an absolutely critical attribute of every successful leader, so naturally, the more feedback we get, the better, right? I recently read a book that’s pretty popular right now: Nine Lies About Work: A Freethinking Leader’s Guide to the…
I’m a Seth Godin fan and follower. I read a lot of leadership books and there are a lot of great authors out there. However, if I had to pick one modern author that has made the biggest impact on my leadership, it would have to be Seth Godin. A few years ago, I wrote a blog article about my favorite leadership book: Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? If you missed that article, be sure to read it first, then come…