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…
I had a great opportunity to be a guest on the Emerging Technologies in Business Podcast with Brock Riney. Brock is an XR Solution Architect and Strategist at Concannon XR. We talked about in-person engagement for remote teams. We talked about unlocking higher levels of team performance. We discussed how to empower teams with decision-making authority. We rounded out the discussion by talking about caring for team members and empathy with customers. I think you’ll enjoy this episode. Many of you…
Choosing the path of leadership means embracing change. Leadership implies movement. If you are standing still, you aren’t leading. You cannot lead people where you haven’t gone yourself. While the act of leading implies a journey, becoming a leader is a journey in itself. That journey is something we call growth. We embrace a growth mindset. We listen. We learn. We improve our skills. We never stop working on ourselves to be the best leaders we can be. Why? Because…
I believe that great leaders are made, not born. Many experience the drive and calling of leadership, but it’s the skills that make us successful. Many leadership skills are self-evident. Leaders need to be good collaborators and connectors. They need to be good at listening and communicating. They need to be good at motivation and encouragement. They need to be good at vision, goal setting, and strategy. The list goes on. In the brief sample of skills, I just listed…