Beware of self-proclaimed experts as they are rarely what they claim to be. Expertise can at times be subjective and skin deep which is why you should accept expertise cautiously (especially the one where it is self-proclaimed). I have experienced numerous examples where so called experts were miles away from what they have claimed to be and as such our …
Challenge status quo
Challenge status quo! Now, that’s easily said, but it has to make sense, serve a purpose and be done with value and improvements in mind. In all you do, look for improvements, advancements and opportunities to contribute to a great good, one that would benefit everyone you work with. A certain path to irrelevance and becoming obsolete is lack of …
You are only as good as your team
Your team matters a lot, even more than some of you might think. They matter as much as you do (if not more in some instances) as their actions, values and contributions speak volumes about you, their leader. Your job is to select (attract and retain) the best people you can, provide them needed resources then get out of their …
Customer Service: UPS vs Amazon
Customer service is essential and nonnegotiable for any business that wants to be competitive, successful and valuable. Furthermore, today more than ever, longevity and long-term client retention directly depends on the overall customer experience your business provides to their clients. Here’s is my most recent example with two major companies, UPS and Amazon. One has failed miserably while the other …
LinkedIn spam is not marketing
LinkedIn spam is something we are all familiar with and the reason for it can be summarized in the words of Gary Vaynerchuck: marketers ruin everything. While this is in no way a proper marketing approach, strategy or even a tactic it is certainly of great annoyance to most. LinkedIn spam generally beings in the following way: 1. You get …
Don’t trade your character for the corner office
As we grow, advance and ascend to positions of greater responsibilities, it is essential to remain grounded and stay true to yourself. No matter what happens and where you end up in your career make sure you remain who you are as a person, as a human being. While I do understand that certain positions may require adjustments to protocols …
Leaders focus on what’s important, not what’s urgent
Each of us are faced with multitude of inputs and decisions to make each day. Keeping this in mind, it is important to spend your time, resources, attention and energy wisely. As a leader, your decisions impact not only your own life, but lives of others and as such you should focus on what is important and valuable to all, …
Marissa Mayer: is Yahoo! in need of new leadership, again?
Once again, Yahoo could soon be looking for a new Chief Executive Officer (CEO). That is, if an investor (Eric Jackson) has his way. According to him, Marissa Mayer has been lavishly spending money, Yahoo’s money on events which provided no return on investment. Furthermore, her executive team have made questionable acquisitions in recent past. You can read more about …
Business and IT alignment
Dear fellow IT leaders, please stop aligning IT to business and be the business! Allow me to explain. Generally, in life, one aligns two separate things, two separate items while IT and business need to be one and the same. There are no IT organizations, there is only one organization, one business that you as IT are integral to. Information …
Why Educause matters to me
Each industry has a number of organizations that unify professionals and enable them to network, collaborate, communicate and exchange ideas and knowledge. For me, one of such organizations, is certainly Educause. Educause is an association that unifies all of us who are in higher education (higher ed) information technology (IT) and provides opportunities for collaboration with colleagues and vendors. When …