STOP COMPLAINING! Stop it now as it serves no purpose to you or those you complain to. Negativity is a horrible trait and it will only detract from your goals and plans and will bring no value to anyone. Challenges are part of life, accept them, embrace them and move forward towards solutions and success. Make progress each day, stay …
Stop drifting through life and career
Opportunities are created, they are not found on the side of the road. You must be intentional, direct and focused on your future and desired outcomes. You must be relentless and tireless in the pursuit of your goals and realization of your ideas. Whatever your personal and professional goals may be, it is up to you to own the process, …
Expand your circle of trust
Meeting people, getting to know them and learning what matters to them will be of great value to you in the long run. Build relationships, expand your network and invest in growing your circle of friends, colleagues and acquaintances. While we all know that networking has a potential to produce great value, this became even more evident to me during …
Don’t steal ideas of others, give them credit
Ideas matter, but the execution of those ideas matters even more. Furthermore, wherever an idea might come from, make sure it retains its rightful ownership and attribution. As a leader, it is your duty to properly recognize the contributor and give credit where credit is due. Under no circumstances should you ever claim someone else’s idea as your own. Stealing …
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 …
Identify problems with questions, not statements
To solve problems one must first identify the core reasons of those issues and must accept their existence. Once ownership is established it is essential to ask proper questions as to how did you get to your current predicament and what can you do to make progress and move towards solutions. Don’t make vague statements, but rather take change of …
Leaders think and speak clearly
Leaders listen to ideas, consider them, and then make their own decisions based on collective experience, knowledge and available information. While you should always be considerate, professional and respectful to your colleagues you should not agree with ideas and courses of action that you don’t believe in. If your experience, education and knowledge advise you against a particular idea then …
Best leaders are approachable and welcoming
If you were to take a moment and think about some of the great leaders you have worked with (hopefully you were fortunate enough to work for a few) what are some of their characteristics that were common across the board? One that comes to my mind, without a doubt, was their approach-ability and willingness to be there for staff. …
Speak openly, honestly and frequently
Speak openly, honestly and frequently. Think for yourself, leverage your experience, knowledge and education to arrive to your own conclusions. Don’t simply follow the majority and fall into complacency, lack of action and lack of commitment. You should be represented by your own actions, not by actions of others. Stand up and speak up on items you feel strongly about …
Ideas are cheap, execution is priceless
While ideas are important and valuable, often they are no more valuable than that piece of paper you wrote them on. We all have ideas, some are great, others not as much, but what differentiates success from failure, what determines the overall outcome is what we do with our ideas; how do we execute them.