In order for us to continue to grow, learn, improve and advance, we need to be mindful of our areas for potential improvement. For me, one of them is certainly not overextending myself and entering “swim lanes” of others.

While I will always continue to ask questions and provide ideas and suggestions, it is important to let things go when the other side may not be as receptive or as welcoming of this “proposed” partnership and collaboration.

In many respects, this is a behavior of a CEO, and I am not one just yet. 😉

Know your pitch and don’t lie to your audience, whether they are prospective or current clients.

By the way, this exchange took place in January of 2020 at my previous university in Jersey City, NJ.

While there is no embarrassment in learning from those who are better than you or further along on a particular journey, one should not spend their time, effort, energy and resources on their competition, but should rather get as close as possible to their customers.

Answers to all of your troubles, problems and tribulations lie within your customers. Ask them what they are looking for, what they need and what your products or services may be lacking today. Furthermore, be mindful as to how you define who your customers are (or could be) as not everyone is meant to be your customer.

This segmentation is more prevalent across technology then in any of the other areas. In Finance there’s generally a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) who leads everything; in Marketing, that position is a Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) and so on. Yet, across tech and innovation, we have other positions of consideration to name a few…

Chief Information Security Officer (CISO)
Chief Innovation Officer
Chief Digital Officer
Chief Data Officer

Here are my thoughts on how do they all fit and align for the growth and success of their organizations and their customers.

Two of my “favorite” buzzwords in recent months and even years are innovation and transformation. The reason for that is that they are both complementary and generally the right area organizations should focus their attention, time and resources, yet most of them will NOT do what it takes to transform their businesses and innovate along the way.

These changes take time, effort and energy and disrupt the comfort and the way we have always done things and most people are after all creatures of habits.

As always, one man’s point of view, but let’s highlight some of the major areas of concern I see on this, otherwise, very valuable network.

1. Don’t SPAM people. If we have connected, don’t sell me your product or service within 60 seconds of me accepting your invitation.

2. Don’t endorse people you don’t know. This should be obvious, yet it isn’t.

3. Don’t post unprofessional content…it’s the internet, it stays there forever. 😉

3 major benefits of diverse teams:


1. Differences in background, upbringing and values (integrity and character)
2. Exposure to different experiences, successes and failures
3. Byproduct of the first two: ideas, thoughts and solutions

Diversity includes, gender, race, age…and so many other things we can all benefit from as one team.

Lead your life. Be a leader of your life and do all you can to live it to the fullest each day. Yesterday is gone, never to be seen again. Today is here, value it and leverage it fully. Tomorrow, is a promise, not a guarantee.

Along the way, focus on happiness and what truly matters to you, your family, friends, your inner circle and do not allow comments or thoughts of those outside that circle to derail your plans and progress. Remember, this is your life and you are in charge, not them.

Are you growing your team? How deep is your team? Are you a one woman or a man show and is that scalable?