I’ve gone out of my way on this blog to explain that I’m not a salesperson, but that’s only partially true. My primary job isn’t revenue-producing. Yet to be successful as a tech leader, I sell ideas and strategies all the time. Even more than that, I spend an awful lot of time selling my company as a great place to work, with my existing team, and with prospective employees. If you haven’t figured it out by now, this is…
So, what’s the priority? If you are in a leadership role, there’s a good chance you get asked that question regularly. That question doesn’t bother me. I enjoy making priority calls. I don’t agonize over it at all. How do I do that? Well, that requires some explanation. I was just in a meeting earlier this week where this subject came up. I started to talk through my thought process and afterward decided to write it down for you all…
The film, Tommy Boy, starring Chris Farley and David Spade was released in 1995. I was in high school at the time. My friends and I watched it constantly. Nearly 30 years later, people quote it, sometimes not even knowing it. I overheard my 11-year-old the other day say, “Brothers don’t shake hands. Brothers gotta hug.” I’m quite certain that he’s never seen the movie. Now, there are plenty of leadership lessons from Tommy Boy, especially for the sales crowd….
We live in a cynical world. A cynical world. And we work in a business of tough competitors. – Jerry Maguire The world of the corporate enterprise can be a cynical place. Week after week, I preach leadership. I do it for all of you, but I also do it for myself. By writing, I remind myself of the truth. Why do you and I need these constant reminders? Our world is cynical, and frankly, sometimes so are we. Cynicism is…
In the informal conversation circles of tech leadership, there’s a current topic that’s been just too juicy to resist. I can’t tell you how many times over the past few weeks and months I’ve been asked, “So, what do you think about Elon and Twitter?” This whole situation is unfolding in real-time, so I don’t yet have the luxury of looking back and evaluating what worked and what didn’t. Therefore, my analysis is simply a set of current observations. Before…
Many enterprise organizations are implementing a product model to enhance their overall agility, customer satisfaction, and team health. In the product model, we often talk about the empowerment of product teams. The members of a product team have the autonomy to design, build, test, and deploy their product. They have the responsibility to gather customer feedback and strategic insight, then use that to make their product better. Empowered, self-organizing product teams are great. Everyone, regardless of title, is leading to…
Production. I love production. Production is where I want to be. That’s where the magic happens. That’s where value is generated. I am highly driven to get to production. I’m going to explain this concept in the context of digital technology but let me make a few non-technical analogies first. Vacation You decide to take a vacation in Costa Rica. You book your resort and air travel. You pack your bags. You drive to the airport, park, go through security,…
Many of my coworkers saw me wearing an Iron Man helmet at work last week. Many of my followers on LinkedIn saw my Halloween post featuring the helmet. This article is the story behind it. Yes, there will be leadership lessons, as always. Three months ago, my 16-year-old son, Caleb, asked me if he could buy a 3D printer with his own money. I wasn’t surprised by his request. For years, he’s been following several science and engineering YouTubers such…
People, all people, are deeply flawed. We are all so far from perfection, that it’s not even close. Yet corporations exist with the understanding that we can assemble a vast array of imperfect people to achieve a great outcome. That task is something we call leadership. The body of theoretical and practical knowledge here is vast. There are a few foundational concepts that I’ll use to frame the topic. Theory X. People are extrinsically motivated. Through the use of rewards…
I’ve seen many early career professionals talk about how to break into cybersecurity, break into data engineering, and break into FAANG (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Google). To “break into” means to get a legitimate job in one of those arenas. The language implies gatekeeping. It also implies that someone seeking entry must case the joint and look for weaknesses in the defenses like a cat burglar. Reconnaissance I’ve been in management for about 15 years now. Back when I was…