Zach on Leadership

Enterprise technology is the business of customer service. Sure, we are highly technical. We also are innovators of the digital revolution, and protectors of enterprise information. There are a lot of aspects to the job, and we need to do them all well. But at the end of the day, there is one overarching measure of success: Did we serve the customer? My passion for customer service runs deep. I learned the basics on my first job as a paper…

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When people ask me what I do for a living, I tell them that I am a technology leader. When they ask me specifically what that entails in a typical day, I say that I spend the majority of my time in meetings. The response to that is often a bemoaning sentiment, such as, “All day every day in meetings? That sounds terrible and boring.” There are people that hate meetings. I’m not one of them. They are a helpful…

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Think back to when you were a kid. What was the first music album that you purchased? Whatever it was, it probably doesn’t represent your current music taste, as you’ve certainly matured. If you are like me, it was simply a sign of the times. Oh, and what bizarre times they were. My first music purchase was a cassette of Milli Vanilli’s Girl You Know It’s True. Poke fun at me if you want, I can take it. Just in…

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Omelets You have probably heard the expression, “you’ve got to crack a few eggs to make an omelet.” This means that if you want to accomplish something, it is inevitable that some sacrifices or mistakes must occur. In the world of enterprise technology, we often talk about cutting edge technology and agile practices. It’s often the new technology and practices that are less stable and proven than the legacy technologies and traditional practices. Hippocrates You have probably heard of the…

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In The Return of the Jedi, the Emperor did a nice job of executing a comprehensive plan to turn Luke Skywalker to the dark side, crush the Rebellion, and rule the galaxy. Admiral Ackbar astutely observed that the rebellion had fallen into a trap and Luke succumbed to the Emperor’s manipulation. Things were looking good for the Emperor, who had previously declared, “everything is proceeding as I have foreseen.” That’s a pretty good place to be. As a leader, you…

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Because I said so I remember as I child, I hated those words. It was the ultimate exercise of authority. No explanation, no “start with why,” just pure authority. These words are designed to end discussion and leave the subject with two choices: comply or rebel. I often write about leadership outside of the context of hierarchy. I believe formal authority structures have little to do with modern leadership. Despite that belief, all of us operate in a formal hierarchy, and it…

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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….

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Congratulations, you clicked on this article. You must really want to know if there’s some deep leadership wisdom you can gain from an obscure dragon drawing. Well, if you’ve gone to the trouble to click, then I better deliver. Here it goes. Before I get too deep, I better explain Trogdor. I’m guessing you probably already get the reference, since you clicked on the article, but just in case you have no idea who Trogdor is, and you just click…

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It started as an idea. Then it picked up momentum. Finally, it happened. Just yesterday, CHS held its first-ever internal technology conference. We called it CHS TechKnowledge 2018 and it was awesome. While the term, Digital Transformation, is over-used, it is a relevant impetus for this event. As an IT organization, we realized that simply being great technologists isn’t going to do it. As much as we need to continuously improve as a department, that still won’t cut it. For…

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Corporate IT is a tough place to work. The hours are notoriously long. The blame is thick and the gratitude is seldom. Business people don’t talk to you when they are happy. They only come around when they are upset. And that’s just life within the four walls of your office building. Every once and a while, you get to go out and network, talk to a vendor, or attend a conference. Then you come to realize that your processes…

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