Blog

7 Qualities of a Wise Man

In his book, Five Minutes on Mondays: Finding Unexpected Purpose, Peace, and Fulfillment at Work, Alan Lurie shares some of the inspirational messages that he was asked by his boss to provide at a standing team meeting each Monday morning. Many are thought-provoking and call business men and women to reflect on the way we work together as…
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speak into the mike

Upcoming Speaking Events

Kevin and I regularly speak on IT Leadership topics at conferences across North America and Europe. With the conference season just around the corner, here are a few places where you can catch us speaking. Steel City SQL in Birmingham, AL, Aug 20, 2013 DevLINK in Chattanooga, TN, Aug 28- 30, 2013 PASS in Charlotte,…
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Conducting Effective Meetings

Have you ever received an appointment request for a meeting that you knew was going to be unproductive? Nothing was accomplished the last time this team met; the only thing that was decided was that we needed to meet again. What a waste of time! Meetings are not free, even if everyone is local and…
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Closing Your Laptop in Meetings

About a year ago, a friend of mine introduced me to a weekly podcast from Manager-Tools. In each cast, Michael Auzenne and Mark Horstman share some of the lessons they’ve learned about how to be a more effective manager. These are actionable techniques rather than purely theoretical concepts. I regularly listen to one of their…
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So I Got Promoted, Now What? Get To Know Your Peers

[This is part four in a series of posts about how to effectively transition to your new role after being promoted.] Series Outline So I Got Promoted, Now What? Stop Doing Your Old Job Employ the Same Successful Tactics Get to Know Your Peers Get a Trusted System Manage Your Email Manage Your Calendar Start…
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So I Got Promoted, Now What? Employ the Same Successful Tactics

[This is part three in a series of posts about how to effectively transition to your new role after being promoted.] Series Outline So I Got Promoted, Now What? Stop Doing Your Old Job Employ the Same Successful Tactics Get to Know Your Peers Get a Trusted System Manage Your Email Manage Your Calendar Start Having…
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So I Got Promoted, Now What? Stop Doing Your Old Job

[This is part two in a series of posts about how to effectively transition to your new role after being promoted.] Series Outline So I Got Promoted, Now What? Stop Doing Your Old Job Employ the Same Successful Tactics Get to Know Your Peers Get a Trusted System Manage Your Email Manage Your Calendar Start…
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“So I Got Promoted, Now What?”

“In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence.” That’s the premise of Dr. Laurence Peter in his 1969 book, The Peter Principle: Why Things Always Go Wrong My first thought when I read a statement like that is: I wonder if Dr. Peter worked in a hierarchy and if so…
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I’m Choosing To Cheat

I’m cheating. And I bet that you are, too. In fact, most us of cheat at one time or another.  That’s the premise of Choosing to Cheat by Andy Stanley. In it, Stanley contends that we are all far too busy. We have too many commitments at work and at home; we’re stretched too thin, being…
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Stop, Drop, And Roll Before Answering

“I can’t believe what they’re telling me!”, that’s what the little voice in my head screams in some of my initial client meetings. Fortunately it usually passes through the marketing and PR filter en route to my mouth and it comes out “That’s interesting. How’s it working for you?” You wouldn’t believe some of the…
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