Zach on Leadership

Have you ever been told that you need to “elevate your thinking?” What does this mean? Why is my current thinking not elevated? How does elevated thinking differ from what I’m currently doing? Is this just management-speak, or does it really matter? In this article, I will answer these questions from my perspective. When I write my articles, I picture my readers as somewhere in the middle of a complex hierarchical organization. You have people that report to you. You…

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I haven’t always been a technology leader. I used to be a systems engineer and I spent way more time in a data center than in a conference room. Approximately 15 years ago, I worked on a team that engineered and supported our enterprise application platforms. The job required some depth of knowledge, so we all specialize in different areas. One my specialties was the analytics systems. Analytics systems: back then Analytics systems back then are nothing like what they…

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The original Jurassic Park film was the summer blockbuster of 1993. I was 14 years old which put me at the top-end of age range to be captivated by this masterpiece. As an adult, I went many years without watching it, but since my third son, Josiah, first saw it (and other movies in the franchise), we’ve enjoyed the opportunity to watch it regularly, as it is one of his favorites. He fully plans to drive around in a Jurassic…

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Most of us focus all our time and attention doing our day job. What is your “day job?” It is on your job description. It is probably what you went to school for. It is on your goal sheet, and you talk about during your performance review. This is critically important, and it should take up most of your time, but not all of it. Other duties as assigned There is another category of work, which is the work your…

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I drive manual transmission cars. I always have. Everyone one of us inherits certain traits and ideas from our family of origin. We all learned about politics and faith from our parents. I also learned that drivers in the Hughes family prefer manual to automatic transmissions. My first car was manual. It made learning to drive harder, but I accepted the challenge. Nearly everyone else I knew started with an automatic. It didn’t matter that it only had a mere…

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Many of us have been working remotely for over three months now. Most of us have implemented several adaptations and new routines for self-care to maintain our mental and physical health during these times. About a month ago, I chronicled my adaptation story which ended with me working from my backyard treehouse. If you missed that article, please go back and read it here, then continue on. Working from home to working from anywhere I enjoyed the journey of adding…

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George Floyd was killed nearly four weeks ago. The riots are over. The National Guard presence has drawn down. Social media is no longer dominated by a singular subject. Are we all just moving along? Dare I say, “back to normal?” Normal isn’t acceptable. I have not moved on. I’m not “over” George Floyd’s death. I’ve spent a great deal of time thinking about what all of this means to me. I think about what I can do about it….

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Pablo Picasso Whether you are an art fan or not, I trust that you are familiar with the works and style of one of the most famous 20th century artists, Pablo Picasso. You likely associate him with his distinctive abstract style. If you need a quick reminder for your mind’s eye, take a look at the famous Guernica from 1937. There is a fascinating story about Picasso that I found in the introductory pages of one of my all-time favorite…

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A week ago, I wrote my leadership reflections on George Floyd and the Minneapolis riots. This was a very rare case for me where I felt the intense need to share my real-time observations on what was going on in the world around me. I wrote it and published it on the same day. As time elapsed this past week, I’ve had more time to ponder and reflect. I’d like to more fully explore an important lesson that I touched…

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I had a different article queued up to publish today. It’s a good piece and I’ll publish it soon, but not today. Our community is inflamed and our city is burning. I find it hard to think about anything else right now. I’d rather not write about George Floyd and the Minneapolis riots, but I am compelled to. Like many of my readers, I am deeply disturbed by what is unfolding. As usual, I look at everything around me through…

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