“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.” Bill Gates, Gates Foundation, Co-Founder of Microsoft.  Vendors are hired to deliver something organization needs or wants done more cheaply, accurately, thoroughly, expertly, and/or quickly than the organization could otherwise do themselves. Among the worst feedback a vendor could get is “you know, we really… Read More How To Keep A Customer in 5 Tips

“It’s a common misconception that money is every entrepreneur’s metric for success. It isn’t, nor should it be.”  Richard Branson Five 9s is so 1999. IT leaders need to think differently about the performance indicators for themselves and their organizations. 1.     The frequency of features and functions delivered to the customer. How often is your… Read More Five New Metrics for CIOs

“It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about?” Henry David Thoreau The late Steve Jobs would gather with his top 100 people to prioritize. They would hammer out top 10 priorities, and he would cut down to three, and declare that no Apple money… Read More Prioritize or Perish

This year’s theme: Balance for Better. My grandmother was a nurse and midwife in pre-World War II London. She delivered babies in conditions worse than what you see in “Call the Midwife.” She was a nurse in Europe leading up to the war. Smart and fierce and ahead of her time. She married late, for… Read More International Women’s Day 2019

True: “A measure of a man is what he does with power.” Plato  Sadly, not always true: “Pulling someone down will never help you reach the top.” – Unknown Most of us have experienced or have read about situations where an individual’s rise to the top is peppered with shoving others aside or down. OK,… Read More Five Costs of Bullying (“Too Nice” Costs as Well)

“It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it.”  Benjamin Franklin, American inventor  I wasn’t a favorite of some teachers in grade school, because I got distracted easily (if there was someone passing notes in class, that was probably me) however I tested quite well. Though… Read More The 2019 Test: Will You Pass?

“Let thy speech be better than silence, or be silent.” Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Greek historian and teacher of rhetoric  Let’s be real, for most of us it’s more comfortable to be in the audience than at the podium, clicking through PowerPoint slides and hoping you have cogent answers for the Q&A portion. For those of… Read More Five Ways To Avoid Failure