Recently I’ve had the surprising and pleasant experience of providing career consulting to a few aspiring professionals. Both individuals are pursuing creative endeavors – music and photography, respectively. This work has given me the opportunity to observe the creative process at work and inspired me to share a little bit of advice to others who …
Well-Meaning but Damaging Culture Dave Hatfield, the IT Manager at Blumfirth, Inc., was late to the morning team meeting. The rest of the team had been waiting patiently in the small conference room since 8AM. Some of them were chatting, others were checking email, or browsing on their phones when Dave finally burst in. “I’m …
Once, when I was but a wee IT Professional, I visited the company data center to perform some standard maintenance on one of the servers. In preparation, I brought over the “crash cart”. It was a standard crash cart with a monitor, a keyboard, and a mouse. I plugged the monitor into the rack’s (very …
John Larry Wright was a nice guy. A very nice guy. Just about everyone in the organization loved him … except for his own team in the IT Department. For all of his interpersonal strengths, John struggled to perform his job adequately. In fact, John had caused two major network outages in the past three …
We’re near the forefront of a new movement in business. That movement is to prioritize the employees as much as shareholders and customers. That’s not to say that some companies haven’t been doing that all along. There’s going to be some history in this post, so bear with me. The Triangle of Business Stakeholders Traditionally …
Why Delegate? A manager stuck doing everything is not going to be effective at anything. You’re bound to feel overwhelmed, frustrated, and lost. You may skip lunches and work late as you try to cram all of your responsibilities into your workday. This stress may manifest itself in both your professional and personal relationships. You …
Core Business Documents There are three core documents that drive business strategy: Your Core Values Your Mission Statement Your Vision Statement Each document informs the one that follows with the Vision Statement specifically driving your strategy. It all Begins with Your Core Values The Core Value document is not difficult or complicated. However, it is …
Core Business Documents There are three core documents that drive business strategy: Your Core Values Your Mission Statement Your Vision Statement Each document informs the one that follows with the Vision Statement specifically driving your strategy. The Vision Statement as an Evolving Document In their book Total Alignment: Tools and Tactics for Streamlining Your Organization, …
A Need for Work Analysis I had a talk with an old friend the other day. We talked about work and what makes a “good” job. I love the guy, but he was a bit cynical. He said “work should never be [thought of as] a source of accomplishment or fulfillment. You are trading a …
Early in my career I had the opportunity to work for an innovative new startup. They were doing something that no one else at the time was doing – they were selling used books on Amazon as a third-party seller. I know that’s common place today, but at the time they were doing something new …