Zach on Leadership

We humans have become quite accustomed to our technologies working for us all the time. It doesn’t matter if a service is available 99.9% of the time or even 99.999% of the time. That .001% of downtime couldn’t come at a worse moment. I work in Information Technology. Our industry is famous for building technologies that people rely on 100% of the time but are only available a high percentage of that time. How high? It depends, but generally, not…

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In 2004, the film Miracle was released, starring Kurt Russell as Herb Brooks, and directed by Gavin O’Connor. The film told the story of the USA Hockey team that triumphed over the Soviet Union in the 1980 Olympics. I love this movie. It’s packed with leadership lessons. However, in this article, I’m only going to focus on one of them. For those of you unfamiliar with the film or the events that inspired it, I’ll provide a little background. Herb…

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I think one of the most important things leaders can do is remind their team about their purpose. Where does purpose come from? Practically speaking, usually, the top leaders of an organization put their heads together and come up with a powerful statement. Then, they put some effort into communicating that purpose to their teams in a campaign. I’ve personally experienced and participated in many iterations of these in several organizations. The purpose of purpose Why do leaders put so…

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Our organization is going through a transition from a project operating model to a product operating model. Many enterprise organizations are pursuing a similar path and are at various stages of the journey. I’d like to use this article to explain why I am so enthusiastic about this change. In so many ways, this pathway helps me realize some career-long objectives. Before I get into that, we should define a few terms. What is a product? In this context, a…

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Happy April Fools’ Day! When I was growing up, my brother and I treated April Fools’ like a national holiday. You can feel bad for my parents. However, what goes around comes around. Now, with four kids of my own, the tables have turned. My kids really know how to pull some elaborate pranks. I remember when I first expressed my love for pranks at the workplace. I had a job on a help desk. I was working on developing…

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Like many of you, I started my week working from my home office. My day was unfolding in a typical fashion when all of a sudden, in the middle of an important meeting, I lost my internet connection. Since I am an IT professional, I don’t immediately begin with the conclusion that the issue was caused by my internet service provider. I first eliminated the technologies that are in my direct control. I checked my computer, wireless access point, switch,…

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I’m glad you clicked on this article. It means that you are aware that you are leading people smarter than you, and you need some help. That’s awesome. Think about all of the leaders out there that read this headline and kept scrolling because they assume they are smarter than all of their team members. Why do leaders like that exist? Well, we make them. Executives and directors look around their teams for those capable of stepping up and taking…

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Sports analogies in business leadership are nearly as certain as death and taxes. You simply cannot lead in a large organization without hearing sports analogies daily. For me, sports analogies don’t bother me too much; however, I do notice them. I wish there were fewer of them. If you’ve ever been told to “skate to where the puck is going to be,” “it’s time for a full-court press,” “throw a hail mary,” or discussed the “bench strength” of your team,…

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A leader’s reputation is everything. Without a good reputation, no one will listen to you, no one will willingly follow you, no one will give you a stretch assignment, and no one will promote you. Understandably, leaders care a lot about their reputations.   Leaders can do things that completely destroy their reputations. Those make for interesting headlines, and they keep public relations teams very occupied. This article isn’t about that. I’m writing about the moderate issues that can be…

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You always remember your first real promotion. It’s a big moment. It’s bigger than just landing your first real job. To do that, you need a good resume and interview. To get promoted, you have to prove yourself. I remember mine. I started my career as a contractor working on the Y2K crisis. After doing that for about a year, I decided I wanted to be real employee at a real company. Some people love contracting, but it wasn’t for…

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