Zach on Leadership

I brought donuts into the office on September 11, 2001. I brought them in, but no one ate them. I eventually tossed them in the garbage. There are many stories from that fateful day. My story isn’t particularly unusual, but it’s mine, and I remember it well. 19 year ago Back then, I was a young professional, less than three years into my career. I got married the year before and we had just purchased our first house a few... Read More Read More The post Bringing Donuts into the Office on September 11, 2001 appeared first on Zach on Leadership.

At work, I’m known for my love of advanced technology. I enjoy being on the cutting edge. I’m an early adopter of everything new. I volunteer to be among the first to try out the new tech, even when the bugs need to be worked out. I like to play with smart boards, mixed reality, tablet computers, mobile apps, and collaboration tech. I also push hard on our pursuit of cloud technology. Because of this reputation, people often make the... Read More Read More The post Tech Leaders: Do You Live in the Smart Home of the Future or Little House on the Prairie? appeared first on Zach on Leadership.

Have you ever been told that you need to “elevate your thinking?” What does this mean? Why is my current thinking not elevated? How does elevated thinking differ from what I’m currently doing? Is this just management-speak, or does it really matter? In this article, I will answer these questions from my perspective. When I write my articles, I picture my readers as somewhere in the middle of a complex hierarchical organization. You have people that report to you. You... Read More Read More The post Elevate Your Thinking: Tips to Gain a Higher Perspective appeared first on Zach on Leadership.

I haven’t always been a technology leader. I used to be a systems engineer and I spent way more time in a data center than in a conference room. Approximately 15 years ago, I worked on a team that engineered and supported our enterprise application platforms. The job required some depth of knowledge, so we all specialize in different areas. One my specialties was the analytics systems. Analytics systems: back then Analytics systems back then are nothing like what they... Read More Read More The post Analytics Systems Have Been Democratized. We Still Need Curious Business Minds to Drive Forward. appeared first on Zach on Leadership.

The original Jurassic Park film was the summer blockbuster of 1993. I was 14 years old which put me at the top-end of age range to be captivated by this masterpiece. As an adult, I went many years without watching it, but since my third son, Josiah, first saw it (and other movies in the franchise), we’ve enjoyed the opportunity to watch it regularly, as it is one of his favorites. He fully plans to drive around in a Jurassic... Read More Read More The post Hold on to Your Butts: Leadership Lessons from Jurassic Park appeared first on Zach on Leadership.

Most of us focus all our time and attention doing our day job. What is your “day job?” It is on your job description. It is probably what you went to school for. It is on your goal sheet, and you talk about during your performance review. This is critically important, and it should take up most of your time, but not all of it. Other duties as assigned There is another category of work, which is the work your... Read More Read More The post Choose Your Own Adventure: Leaders Volunteer to Serve Beyond Their Day Jobs appeared first on Zach on Leadership.

I drive manual transmission cars. I always have. Everyone one of us inherits certain traits and ideas from our family of origin. We all learned about politics and faith from our parents. I also learned that drivers in the Hughes family prefer manual to automatic transmissions. My first car was manual. It made learning to drive harder, but I accepted the challenge. Nearly everyone else I knew started with an automatic. It didn’t matter that it only had a mere... Read More Read More The post Leadership Lessons from Driving a Manual Transmission appeared first on Zach on Leadership.

Many of us have been working remotely for over three months now. Most of us have implemented several adaptations and new routines for self-care to maintain our mental and physical health during these times. About a month ago, I chronicled my adaptation story which ended with me working from my backyard treehouse. If you missed that article, please go back and read it here, then continue on. Working from home to working from anywhere I enjoyed the journey of adding... Read More Read More The post If I Can Work from the Boundary Waters, You Can Work from Anywhere appeared first on Zach on Leadership.

George Floyd was killed nearly four weeks ago. The riots are over. The National Guard presence has drawn down. Social media is no longer dominated by a singular subject. Are we all just moving along? Dare I say, “back to normal?” Normal isn’t acceptable. I have not moved on. I’m not “over” George Floyd’s death. I’ve spent a great deal of time thinking about what all of this means to me. I think about what I can do about it.... Read More Read More The post Not Back to Normal: Understanding My White Male Geek Privilege in Information Technology appeared first on Zach on Leadership.

Pablo Picasso Whether you are an art fan or not, I trust that you are familiar with the works and style of one of the most famous 20th century artists, Pablo Picasso. You likely associate him with his distinctive abstract style. If you need a quick reminder for your mind’s eye, take a look at the famous Guernica from 1937. There is a fascinating story about Picasso that I found in the introductory pages of one of my all-time favorite... Read More Read More The post A Train Ride with Pablo Picasso: Learning the Art of Leadership appeared first on Zach on Leadership.

A week ago, I wrote my leadership reflections on George Floyd and the Minneapolis riots. This was a very rare case for me where I felt the intense need to share my real-time observations on what was going on in the world around me. I wrote it and published it on the same day. As time elapsed this past week, I’ve had more time to ponder and reflect. I’d like to more fully explore an important lesson that I touched... Read More Read More The post Now More than Ever, Leaders Must Listen appeared first on Zach on Leadership.

I had a different article queued up to publish today. It’s a good piece and I’ll publish it soon, but not today. Our community is inflamed and our city is burning. I find it hard to think about anything else right now. I’d rather not write about George Floyd and the Minneapolis riots, but I am compelled to. Like many of my readers, I am deeply disturbed by what is unfolding. As usual, I look at everything around me through... Read More Read More The post Leadership Reflections on George Floyd and the Minneapolis Riots appeared first on Zach on Leadership.

For the past eight weeks, I’ve been writing about how COVID-19 has impacted my work and my leadership approach. This week, I’m going to take a break from that theme and explore a completely unrelated curiosity of mine. Each week, I write my leadership musings for a committed cohort of friends, colleagues, acquaintances, and avid fan followers. Some have been with me since the beginning, but most have joined along the way. I’ve been writing this blog for just about... Read More Read More The post Searching for Leadership Answers: Zach on Leadership According to Google appeared first on Zach on Leadership.

Since most of us have been working from home for nearly two months now, I thought it would be a good time to share my personal journey through this era. If you are like me, this hasn’t been a static experience, but has evolved little by little along the way. I’ll share my insights with the hope that some of this will be relevant for enriching your experience. Evacuation mode I left the office the afternoon of March 12th and... Read More Read More The post Working from Treehouse: The Evolution of My Work from Home Experience appeared first on Zach on Leadership.

I received a call from my big brother, Jonathan, this past week after he read my previous article about our fourth annual innovation event that we call Invent. He works in the technology field, so we often talk shop. We talked a little bit about some of the innovative projects we are working on. We also briefly discussed the process of how we manage innovation, but we spent the most time talking about why. I launched into a thorough explanation... Read More Read More The post We Are Planting the Seeds of Innovation appeared first on Zach on Leadership.

Undoubtedly for everyone, COVID-19 hit at an inconvenient time. We were all working on our strategies and plans, and suddenly everything changed. We adapted and refocused our efforts on core and critical activities. For many of us, “nice to have” programs got put on hold or cancelled outright. In this article, I’d like to share a brief story about an important program that we rescued from the ashes. Innovation must go on For the past four years, my team sponsored... Read More Read More The post Innovation from Quarantine: Challenging Times for Our Most Creative Work appeared first on Zach on Leadership.

Many are using this time in quarantine to do some spring cleaning at home. Since we don’t have anywhere to go, we might as well do some of those chores we’ve all been putting off. Personally, I’ve been cleaning out my garage, but still have a long way to go. Many of us who are working from home are working harder and longer than ever. However, we are also working without commutes and without some of the typical distractions that... Read More Read More The post Your Inbox Needs Spring Cleaning. Now Is the Time. appeared first on Zach on Leadership.

Data-driven leadership is a concept we’ve all been talking about for a while now. The term has been popular in management jargon for at least a decade. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term, it’s mostly self-explanatory, but I’ll expound briefly. Many leaders (myself included) have a tendency to lead from experience, training, expertise, instinct, and relationships. These sources often serve us well, further reinforcing their continued use. These sources also work pretty well in the absence... Read More Read More The post Finally Learning to Lead with Data appeared first on Zach on Leadership.

Here we are, another week of trying our best to lead our teams from the confines of our laptop screens and webcams. By now, this is slowly becoming the new normal. Last week, I shared some of my core tips and techniques for leading effectively from quarantine. If by chance you missed it, I highly recommend reading it first, then coming back here. Leading effectively means tapping into human nature and relating to people on an emotional level. Leadership isn’t... Read More Read More The post Make It So: How to Bring Humor to Your Virtual Workplace appeared first on Zach on Leadership.

Leadership is, by definition, a people-centric activity. We know we are effective as leaders when people willingly follow our influence. Leadership in a condition of isolation seems like a self-contradiction, don’t you think? Well, most of us, who call ourselves leaders, now find ourselves in this self-contradictory position, thanks to COVID-19. So, how should we approach this challenge? I hesitated to write this article. There are ample articles already written on how best to manage a team remotely amid COVID-19.... Read More Read More The post Leading from Quarantine: Embrace the Opportunity appeared first on Zach on Leadership.