All leaders and all organizations make mistakes and will continue to make mistakes. However, what differentiates them is how they react after the mistake has been made. If a mistake (whatever it may be, a security breach, performance or stability issues…) is made by you or your organization as a whole, own it, apologize, fix it and learn from that …
Opportunities and new clients don’t come announced
Be yourself at all times, as you never know when a random encounter can develop into an opportunity. These opportunities could be personal or business related, but they often workout when least expected from random meetings and very casual conversations. Treat all those around you fairly, be positive and optimistic and keep living your life centered around who and what …
Say it with me: I don’t know
Saying that you don’t know something makes you human and that’s what we are best at being. Not having immediate answers to questions is OK as long as you go out to find the answers and follow up with those who have asked. Saying I don’t know builds your credibility as no one wants to be lied to and fed …
When the answer is no, provide alternatives
We have all been there, at times, you just have to say no. What happens next matters a lot more as it is up to you to understand the need at hand and provide valuable alternative solutions. If an organizational need (no matter how small it may seem to you at first) is not being addressed take a leadership role …
Focus on core competencies, outsource the rest
Perform a complete review of your operations and realign appropriately to ensure competitiveness, value and success. All business are doing things they shouldn’t and are not doing those which would bring them much needed value and quality. Focus your talent, people and effort into products and services you are good at, want to be better at and want to be …
Speak now or forever hold your peace
When you get an opportunity to share your ideas and suggestions with the leadership of your organization, please do yourself a favor and speak up. If you are really good at something don’t you think others deserve to know that?
Challenge everything: Long term incompetence is not a tradition
We can always do better, be better and so can our businesses and organizations. If you see areas that you believe can be improved (based on your knowledge and experience of course) please act on that. Processes, staffing, functional performance, operational needs, strategic alignment…they can all be improved and you can help – make them better today than they were …
Business & technology are partners, not competitors
Finding that perfect balance between business and technology can be a challenging process. Aligning them together where they are useful to one another, productive and most of all on the same page has proven to be the key to success for many organizations. It’s simple, in order to maximize return on technology investments, organizations must align IT decisions with strategic …
Know what you manage
I’m a strong believer that you must know the area you are managing. You should have either moved up in that industry or took some time to actually get yourself up to speed on current practices and common knowledge. Being only a manager of people without having the necessary (even if only fundamental) knowledge directly related to the area you …
Obama’s Tag Cloud
Photo Credit: http://www.wordle.net Above is a visual representation of the words most used by Barack Obama in his inauguration speech. “new“, “nation“, “America“, “people“, “every“, “must” and “less” were among the most frequently used words in President Obama’s inauguration speech. Words which were synonymous with his campaign didn’t make a notable appearance. “Hope” was mentioned three times while “change” only …